Making a difference: In remembrance

Lakshmi School's 12th annual day programme not just showcased the talent of its students. It saw some heart-wrenching moments and taught us all the value of love and friendship

November 23, 2011 06:22 pm | Updated 06:22 pm IST

Mr. and Mrs. Muthukumar presenting the 'Ravevarmen friendship Award'. Photo: Special Arrangement

Mr. and Mrs. Muthukumar presenting the 'Ravevarmen friendship Award'. Photo: Special Arrangement

School annual day programmes are usually about celebrations. This show drew me for its Bengali connection. Lakshmi School at Veerapanchan paid tribute to Rabindranath Tagore in his 150th birth anniversary year by staging three of his stories – ‘Cabuliwallah' in Hindi, ‘The Rats' Feast' in English, and the dance drama ‘Chandalika'.

But what outweighed the evening's medley of flowing and flawless items was the arousal of an emotional appeal.

It is the power of emotions – and not necessarily reason and thought – that takes over characters in literature. One saw the exuberance of spontaneous affection in a beautiful relationship between eight-year-old Mini and an older fruitseller from Kabul and their final separation. The simple, bittersweet tale built an unsaid connection between people from faraway lands.

In Tagore's masterpiece ‘The Rats' Feast', mischievous young students are introduced to a new teacher, Kali Kumar Tarkalankar, whom they nickname “Black Pumpkin Fresh Chilli”. Ultimately they develop a liking for him. ‘Chandalika' embodies the essence of Tagore's humanism, relevant even in today's society, portraying stark realities like disparity and prejudice, exploitation and fear and finally the universal search for love, happiness and peace.

While each of the presentations, enacted well by middle and high school students, underlined the importance and value of relationships, they were merely a prelude to another tribute that left everyone with a lump in the throat. An uneasy silence descended on the auditorium when the family of M. Ravevarmen took centre stage.

Ravevarman was a bright student of the school who passed away in a tragic accident nine months ago.

In a stupor with sorrow, none of the family members could control their tears even as his father S. Muthukumar and mother M. Rhama presented the Ravevarmen's Friendship Award, instituted by them in memory of their beloved son. The award will be presented every year to one student each from class VI to XII.

The most poignant moment came when Ravevarmen's best friend, Meenakshi Sundaram, received the award. The father clung to him and wept. The mother covered her face in a kerchief and sobbed. The audience fell silent. Claps froze and even whispers stalled. The compere's voice quivered. Tears welled up in hundreds of pairs of eyes. There was a sense of emptiness. It brought an ache to the heart, which is not easy to fathom when someone unrelated dies. It was a long pause before everybody found themselves again.

Ravevarmen was no ordinary child. The then vice-captain of the school was also an all-rounder and captain of the cricket and football teams. He excelled in tennis, karate, hockey and skating. He loved to play the guitar, keyboard, flute and drums. He was a voracious reader and always among the top three in class. He was blessed with a creative flair and actively participated in essay writing and oratorical contests.

His paternal uncle, Dr. S. Prabhakaran, shared an incident. “By the time the Hall Ticket for IIT JEE arrived, he was gone. The area postman, who had seen him grow from a child, did not have the heart to return the admission ticket. When he finally did, writing ‘house locked' instead of ‘candidate expired', his father received a call from the office enquiring about the candidate, and later the Chairman of IIT Madras offered condolences.”

Visitors poured in over the seven days that Ravevarmen lay in a coma in the ICU at the Apollo Hospital. “Close to 1,000 get-well-soon messages and prayers were recorded in the visitor's book during that week,” said his father. “Only then we came to know how popular our child was. The whole school was affected by losing him. The deluge of regret and tributes was astonishing. We are lucky he was our son.”

The annual day's fusion of performances and hard work by all the students and staff was conceptualized as a tribute to the great poet. What lingered was the remembrance of a lovely young boy who made a difference in his short life. Swept away by his emotions, his father couldn't say all the things he wanted to say that evening to the students: Stay friendly with everyone, love everyone, wear a helmet, and save a life.

His family will not find it easy to face December 1, which would have been Ravevarmen's 18th birthday, had he lived. Still, in Tagore's words: “Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.”

(Making a difference is a fortnightly column about ordinary people and events that leave an extraordinary impact on us. E-mail to somabasu@thehindu.co.in to tell about someone you know who is making a difference)

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