From a Teacher’s Diary

Henry B Adams, American historian and writer, is believed to have said that “one never knows where a teacher’s influence ends.” As a teacher, I have always striven to keep that maxim in mind while dealing with students. Even if I couldn’t wield any positive influence, I never wished to leave a scar on the psyche of any student of mine. Best of intentions notwithstanding, we make human errors and there may be students who were not quite happy with me especially since I never possessed even the lightest shade of diplomacy.

Tactless though I was, I have been fortunate, as a teacher, to have a lot of good memories returning with affection from former students. Let me share the most recent experience.

A former student’s WhatsApp message yesterday carried two PDF attachments. One was the dissertation she wrote for her graduation. The other was a screenshot of the Acknowledgement. “A special mention goes to Mr Tomichan Matheikal, my English teacher in higher secondary school, whose motivation and kindness was one of the paramount reasons behind my decision to pursue English Literature academically.”

Krishna Hari was a science student at school. But she wrote excellent poems in English and that’s how I, her English teacher, took note of her. I featured her here on my blog when she was in grade 12. See: Where do old birds go to die? Now, four years after she left school, I’m proud to read the dissertation she wrote for her bachelor’s degree. I’m even more proud to realise that I have a place in her heart.

Titled 'The Confluence of Marxist Ethics and Religion in Cinema: An In-Depth Analysis of Ranjith's Pranchiyettan and The Saint', Krishna’s dissertation is a scholarly study of an unforgettable Malayalam movie in which the protagonist Pranchiyettan struggles to realise the meaning of his life. Pranchiyettan – a hypocorism for Francis – is a successful and wealthy businessman who is driven by an acute sense of inferiority complex due to his lack of education and sophistication. He wants to get a Padmasree award to compensate for his lack of public validation. But a character no less than Saint Francis who appears in person to Pranchiyettan teaches him that the greatness of human life lies not in public validation but in faith, love, and compassion. 

A still from the movie

Krishna’s paper critiques the movie through two lenses: Christianity and Marxism. “Though Marxism opposes institutionalized religions’ upholding of the exploitative monopoly of the bourgeoisie, modern Marxist theorists cite compelling links between religious values and Marxist ethics, predominantly Christian,” Krishna writes in her dissertation. I used to describe Jesus as the first Communist in my classes. You never know where a teacher’s influence ends, though Krishna’s collocation of Marxism and Christianity may have nothing to do with my observations.

In Krishna’s interpretation, Saint Francis in the movie becomes a symbol of the eternal values versus the ephemeral capitalist values of Pranchiyettan. Eventually, Pranchiyettan moves from his ephemeral world towards the sublime heights that Saint Francis beckons him to.

A fortuitous coincidence is that Krishna’s dissertation came just when I stopped teaching at school officially. I bid farewell to school on 28 Feb. I’m thrilled to start my retirement with a reading of a former student’s brilliant dissertation.