Our teacher

Be it sharing stories about his childhood days or his adventurous journey through adolescence or inculcating moral values in us, achan was very articulate. As kids my sister and I used to have tiffs. Achan always wanted us to be united and never fight. He told us bed time stories , my favourite was about the 4 united cows and the lion who got them to fight, so that he could attack them when they were by themselves.

He would say thats why we should never fight cause we are stronger together as a family, but if we fight we become weak and vulnerable.

He used to show us examples of other kids when they took care of each other and played happily and peacefully.

He always said no matter how many quarrels we have, in times of need we will be there for each other.

"Family quarrels have a total bitterness unmatched by others. Yet it sometimes happens that they also have a kind of tang, a pleasantness beneath the unpleasantness, based on the tacit understanding that this is not for keeps; that any limb you climb out on will still be there later for you to climb back" ~Mignon McLaughlin

I really feel sorry for all those times when we hurt him. But I guess if not for those times we would'nt have learnt such a valuable lesson.

Achan instilled some strong values in us early in life which laid the foundation for our later years. An incident that will never fade from my memory is when I had got the first place in the class test in the first grade, I was so happy! Achan had come to pick us up from school and I was brimming with pride and joy. Achan smiled and congratulated me and then said; Never be overjoyed when good things happen and never get too disappointed when things don't turn out right. Always aim higher! Those words echoed at every improtant milestone in my life. Likewise we have never ever cheated in exams or to get jobs. Never have done and will do anything dishonest or dodgy even in dire circumstances. May be thats why we have this intolerance to people who want to have things the easy way in life, who lie and cheat even though it is harmless.

As kids every summer vacation was spent in Kerala. We visited other relatives but our headquaters as such was at our favourite aunt and uncle's. Achan would join us for a few days and get back to look after the shop. When we got back he had wraped our school books with brown covers with lables (which was compulsory then) and bought our school uniforms and shoes for the new academic year. He enjoyed doing little things like that.

Achan also wanted us to be well read and knowlegeable. He bought us expensive books and weekly magazines and tried to inculcate the habit of reading in us early. Not that we could afford it, but achan didn't want us to be deprived of anything. He used to occassionally quiz us on general knowledge too to create an interest in reading the newspapers. I guess when fathers take interest in these lil things children also feel motivated to do well.

We have always looked upto achan our hero because he always worked hard, never wasted time, lived an honest life and family was his universe. He set his own standards and lead by example.