Pendulum and KathakaLi
Yesudas, Michael
a class in at college after having sat in Malayalam medium throughout the
entire life. So when I sat for the I PDC class at Mar Ivanios College, I was
really upset at the very first sight of only English letters being written on
the blackboard....
At first it was Mathematics, and the hush-hush sound told me that her
"pseudonym" was KathakaLi, due to the gestures and histrionics involved in the
exploring the inner labyrinths of Mathematics. Oh, yes it was fun.
"yex squared" (left eyebrow up) plus "why squared" (right eyebrow up) plus
"two yex why" (both eybrows up) eeez equal toooo "yex plus why" the holsquared
(both eyes bulge out)
Aha! This is really true! This is our ancient KathakaLi, I was convinced. And
she went on and on. Luckily for me she used to write all of them on the board.
And I used to ask the next guy, as to what the translation is and then wrote
it down in Malayalam in very small letters, lest should the other urchins from
big big convent schools see what I wrote and made fun of me. Either way I
understood very little of Mathematics, all because of the stupid parents. How
do they expect me to study all this, and that sore thought has never got out
of my mind.....
The next class looked more like "Plan B" of the murder plot; which needless to
say that I survived the "Plan A". And then came Physics. Professor T.I.Mathai.
My concept was that a professor should at the minimum have a beard, a suit,
and round glasses, but Professor Mathai, did not seem to any of these. On the
contrary he was clean shaven, in a T-shirt, and had square glasses. Oh! What
a letdown!
He started. Leave alone understanding, I never even understood that he was
talking in English. I saw the fellow sitting next to me writing the word "heat"
and I also wrote it down. And that was all he wrote. And so that was all I
wrote too. The fellow next to me was dozing, and so there was no question of
taking down anything from him anyway.
Ah! who is that girl? I forgot! Isn't she looking good? I remembered that
someone telling me that she was from Canada. Oh, then she must be understanding
all this English so easily. Why didn't my parents go to Canada? At least they
could go to Gulf and send me to an English medium school....
"You stand up!" I understood parts of it, and remembered Thankachan saar telling
us that often in the English class. But I was a little surprised that the next
part of the statement never came pouring out. "Get out!". Who was he asking
to stand up? Me? No, must be someone behind. The whole class of 80 was looking
at me, and I looked behind me. Nobody! there was no one behind me. The direct
consequence of which would mean that it had to be me. Gosh! I am caught for
some naughty act. I was not sleeping, the guy next to me was. But he was wide
awake now, and was looking as fresh as the recently caught tuna from Alaska....
"What is law of heat conduction?" (I did not understand that then. I had to
forfeit a large share of my bus fare to con Santosh as to what he said) I
stood up and blinked like a hazard light. And then was the shock. "Chothichadu
manassilayo?" "Manassilayi" I said, to avoid embarassment in front of the
class. "What is it?" Oh, my God! Let me look at the next guy's book! Son of
a gun, the only advance he has made after I saw what he wrote last was that
he had underlined the word "heat"...
"Thanikku entha, padikkaNam ennu vicharam ille?" Mathai.
" " (What do you want me to answer? Will you understand what I am going through)
"Ethu schoolinna thaan varunnathu?" Mathai
"Pattom Thanu Pillai High School" (I hid the original name of KuRavankoNam High
School, lest should the elite crowd laugh)
"Athevida?"
Now I am stuck. Peevishly I said
"KuRavankoNam" (I cursed my parents for assassinating my school education with
that place. The only worse one could be Gundukaad, I thought)
Surprise! The crowd did not laugh. But I could see the sympathy in the 80 pairs
of eyes staring at me. But the most dangerous question was yet to follow.
"SSLC kku ethra maaRku kiTTi?"
I thought for a fraction of a second, whether I should tell them that it is only
242 or not...
"272" I said
"Appo tank vechu kayariyatha, alle?"
The whole crowd laughed. My sleeping friend laughed longer. My heat friend
laughed in spurts. The Canadian girl (what's her name?) laughed loudly. The
realization dawned on me that I was being skinned alive by Mathai....
"Useless! Sit down!" Ah! there comes the crumb of mercy.
While sitting down, a voice deep inside me told the other part of my mind,
"Chummathalla IyaLe piLLeru Pendulum Mathai ennu viLikunnathu!"
Sincerely
Michael
Epilogue
11 years later at the University of Houston, Michael is still hopeful that
some day he will be able to understand the intricate details of Fourier's
Law of Heat Conduction, and has generated 8 programs each of 4000 lines or
so, delving deep into Finite Elements and Jet impingement and Critical Heat
Flux and on and on ...
Arun Madangarli
>One of the most "traumatizing" facts of life that anyone can face is to sit in
>a class in at college after having sat in Malayalam medium throughout the
A beautifully written article. I saved this one....!
Perhaps that was prompted more by my nostalgia for those halcyon days at MIC...
but what the heck !...the article was still wonderful.
>At first it was Mathematics, and the hush-hush sound told me that her
>"pseudonym" was KathakaLi, due to the gestures and histrionics involved in the
Who was "Kathakali " ? Don't tell me it was Santhamma, that lovely girl who
taught us Mathematics when we were first year PDC students at Mar Ivanios. (As
far as I can remember, she was only a few years elder to us). "Kathakali" may
have been since my time.
>say that I survived the "Plan A". And then came Physics. Professor T.I.Mathai.
>
>He started. Leave alone understanding, I never even understood that he was
>talking in English. I saw the fellow sitting next to me writing the word "heat"
Aha ! Pendulum Mathai ! ( a.k.a -at least to our batch- as "kaattaalan
Mathai" !). Some of my most cherished memories are from his class ! I don't
think any one has managed to unravel the mysteries of Physics, with the aid of
his lectures . Mostly, no one could ever figure out what subject he was
teaching. The only coherent (English) sentence that I remember from him is
the one he made on the last day of our classes. He came into the class room,
glared at us, climbed on to the podium, hitched up his pants (he had a peculiar
way of hitching up his pants, if any of you Ivaniosites have noticed), waved
his hands dramatically, and said ...." I declare the portions over !"...As
if he was inaugurating a sports festival or something !
>laughed in spurts. The Canadian girl (what's her name?) laughed loudly. The
>realization dawned on me that I was being skinned alive by Mathai....
>
Mathai had no compunction at all, in this matter ! He used blunt knives to
skin people. He was not above passing rather risque comments either. I
remember one chap in my class, who was dozing away peacefully in the backbench
(no doubt lulled to sleep by the heat of the summer afternoon and Mathai's
lullaby, when Mathai saar barked a question at him.
"Whwat is the Prllgrmm la of fwarces ?" (At least that is what it sounded
like).
The poor chap woke up with a start and strated blinking around, trying to
figure out where he was.
"Thannoda edo chodichathu ! Manassilaayille ?" - Mathai .
The unfortunate soul decided that it was best to keep a low profile. So he
did just that (Unfortunately for him). He lowered his face and stared at
the desk.
"Edo chodyam chodichaal 'matte' idathanodo nokkunnathu ?! " .
Stunned silence, followed by suppressed laughter, that rose slowly into
a torrent of purely uninhibited mirth.
Paraphrasing Mark Twain, let us draw the veil of charity over the rest of that
scene.
Faces that flash into memory... Panickarachan ( by the way Thomas, there is
no way Michael could have been hauled up by him. He left MIC in 1981 (I think)
and Michael must have been there only in 1983-85 . Right Michael ?),
Chuttippara, Kundamandi (the one who had a Plymouth or Studebaker or
some thing - which we used to call "Ladies Only"), Mannilachan (who taught
Syriac), Tinopal (later renamed Ranipal), Neves Pious, Kalyanasundaram,
Vadivelu (chemistry), most of all, Moreira.....and by no way the last or least
panickarachan's door keeper, the "Varantha Princi"....
And So many stories.....
It seems to me that it would be a good idea if the netters can post
amusing anecdotes from their college lives....Nothing can bring
back memories of home quite so vividly.
Arun.
Yesudas, Michael
(Arun Madangarli) writes...
>>One of the most "traumatizing" facts of life that anyone can face is to sit in
>>a class in at college after having sat in Malayalam medium throughout the
>..........etc.
>
>A beautifully written article. I saved this one....!
Thanks!
>
>>At first it was Mathematics, and the hush-hush sound told me that her
>>"pseudonym" was KathakaLi, due to the gestures and histrionics involved in the
>
>Who was "Kathakali " ? Don't tell me it was Santhamma, that lovely girl who
The truth is that, I don't recall her name. She was far from being young, and
less lovely. And she was married to a Prof. in Botany department.
>
>Faces that flash into memory... Panickarachan ( by the way Thomas, there is
>no way Michael could have been hauled up by him. He left MIC in 1981 (I think)
>and Michael must have been there only in 1983-85 . Right Michael ?),
Actually, I was there from 1982 to 1984. Either way, I never came across
Panickarachan.
>Chuttippara, Kundamandi (the one who had a Plymouth or Studebaker or
>some thing - which we used to call "Ladies Only"), Mannilachan (who taught
>Syriac), Tinopal (later renamed Ranipal), Neves Pious, Kalyanasundaram,
>Vadivelu (chemistry), most of all, Moreira.....and by no way the last or least
>panickarachan's door keeper, the "Varantha Princi"....
Yes, all these are very familiar, very very familiar.
I have just one question. I never wrote anywhere that it was Mar Ivanios
College, that I was talking about. And I think very few people on this net know
that I am from Mar Ivanios College. How did you guess that? It could have been
any other College!?
>
>And So many stories.....
>
>It seems to me that it would be a good idea if the netters can post
>amusing anecdotes from their college lives....Nothing can bring
>back memories of home quite so vividly.
>
Yes, PLEASE....
>Arun.
Sincerely
Michael