I heard my telephone ringing and it was Robert Bellarmine, my college / hostel mate and former English Studies Officer, British Council (South India). After our college studies, we were on the staff of Loyola College, Chennai for two years from 1965. Later Robert became a scholar in English language and I a banker. Robert called to remind me about our participation in Loyola Alumni World Congress slated for October 1and 2 this year. More importantly, he informed me that Professor Thomas and Professor Dr.Stanislaus both of whom taught us Chemistry in St. Xavier’s College, Palayamkottai in the mid sixties and now living in Nagercoil were coming to the conference and had expressed their desire to meet us in Chennai.
Great memories
I was really thrilled as it was a great opportunity for me to meet them after 52 long years. As I had lost touch with them after leaving my alma mater in 1965, I started visualising how they must be looking now and what was in store for us to learn of their life stories and their additional academic excellences.
We reminisced how Professor Thomas used to teach Chemistry in a novel way by narrating very relevant short anecdotes to remember and balance the chemical equations and the resultant effects which helped us to remember well, even very tough, long and complicated equations. Both Professor Thomas and Professor Stanislaus were student -oriented and as they were bachelors at that time, they spent most of their leisure time with us students and helped us learn with ease the subject commonly thought to be a subject which refuses to stick to our brain, chemistry.
While we were able to recognise Professor Thomas easily as he had not changed much, it took some time, particularly for me to recognise Professor Stanislaus. The rendezvous after 52 years and the feeling that these are the people who made us what we are today filled our eyes and melted our hearts. As we wanted to honour our gurus and also have a long chat with them peacefully, we requested them to have a lunch with us the next day.
At the lunch table, in a quiet corner, the flood gates were opened and what all had happened in the lives of all four of us in the past five decades were shared in all elaboration. While Professor Thomas has preferred to remain a teacher throughout, Professor Stanislaus after serving as a teacher for about a decade had become a sought -after scientist, spent almost three and a half decades overseas and had returned to India after stamping his mark of excellence in many of the international conglomerates he had served. His adventurous escapade during the invasion by Saddam Hussein and safe return to research in Kuwait after the war are unforgettable.
As to Professor Thomas, his excellence in teaching and the creative techniques he had invented to inculcate a special interest in education in the minds of the students has brought him great accolades not only in Nagercoil but in many other districts around. We were really elated to hear that there are more than 1000 students trained by him who have become Doctors and strewn all over the world practising medicine. An equal, if not more number of engineers of today also owe their present status to Professor Thomas.
While we were happy meeting these two doyens in the field of education, we also felt sad that despite their remarkable performance, they remain unsung heroes as their greatness has not transcended beyond the little town where they live now.
The writer is a former English professor at Loyola College, Chennai, and is now a student counsellor and motivation trainer.
