399. The Teacher Becomes A Learner!

"Grandpa! Shall I recite the Tamil rhymes taught by you?" asked Rithvik.

"Tamil rhymes? I have never heard of them! How could I have taught them to you?" asked Periasamy, surprised by the question.

"Don't you remember, grandpa? 'Aram seya virumbu,''Aruvathu sinam!"

"Oh! These are not rhymes. These are lines from the ancient Tamil classic 'Athichudi."

"Yes. That's what I meant. Please check whether I am reciting the lines correctly" said Rithvik and recited the thirteen lines of Athichudi.

"You have recited the lines correctly. Keep reciting them now and then. Otherwise, you may forget the lines" said Periasamy.

After a few days, Rithvik came to Periasamy along with one of his classmates and his mother. He introduced his classmate to Periasamy, saying, "Grandpa! He is my classmate, Ashwin."

Periasamy greeted Ashwin and then looked at his mother.

Ashwin's mother paid obeisance to Periasamy, through the gesture of bringing her palms together, and told him, "Namaste*, uncle! I am Ashwin's mother. Having listened to Rithvik recite Athichudi, my son Ashwin also wants to learn Athichudi. If you have time, can you teach Athichudi to Ashwin also?"

"With pleasure, madam! I am a retired person and I have a lot of time at my disposal. If your son learns ten minutes per day, he will be able to learn Athichudi in five or six days" said Periasamy.

"Thank you, uncle" said Ashwin's mother.

A couple of days later, Ashwin's mother came to see Periasamy, along with three other ladies.

"Uncle! Knowing that Ashwin has been learning Athichudi from you, some more parents desire that their children also learn Athichudi. There are about ten children. It will be good, if you can teach them ancient Tamil texts like Athichudi, Kondrai Venthan etc. If you can spare half an hour per day, that will be adequate. Please don't mistake me for saying this, but we will consider the sessions as tuition classes and pay you a small remuneration for your teaching!" said Ashwin's mother.

"I will be happy to teach the children hat I know, but I can't accept any remuneration for this. After all, I am not a teacher and my knowledge is also limited" said Periasamy.

"You can teach them what you know, uncle. That will suffice. Nowadays, these ancient texts are not taught in schools. Though we have studied them in our school days, we don't remember them now. In fact, I am learning these again, hearing my son recite them. My husband says that he feels happy to listen to these texts again, after several years."

"Ok. Whoever is interested may come. I will teach them what I know" said Periasamy.

"What dad! Nowadays, you have been borrowing Tamil classics like Kambaramayanam, Silappadhikaram etc. from the library and reading them?" asked Periasamy's son.

"As you know, I have been teaching ancient texts like Athichudi, Kondrai Venthan etc to the children. The children are excited to learn the verses. Their parents are also happy that they could relearn these texts from their children. Seeing this kind of enthusiasm, I also felt a desire to read other classics. So I have been borrowing books from the library and reading them" said Periasamy.

*Namaste - A respectful greeting

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 40
Education

Verse 399 (in Tamil):

thAm inbuRuvadhu ulagu inbuRak kaNdu
kAmuRuvar kaRRaRindhAr.

Meaning:

Seeing that the learning they enjoy is enjoyed by the world as well, 

the erudite fall more in love with learning.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'AththichUdi' by the same author.)

Verse 400
Verse 398