K V Ramaswami Iyer (

K V Ramaswami Iyer (Part 1)

[[K V Ramaswami Iyer (Part 1) Source: prekshaa]]

I have already written about my Sanskrit teacher, Kashi Raghavendracharya elsewhere. ¹ I shall now move on to reminiscences of my English teacher.

It appears that Mulbagal secured the benefit of English education during 1900. Before this, there were only two or three people literate in English apart from those employed by the Post Office. One of them was Ramachandracharya from Kaveripattinam. I have made a mention of him earlier. ² Another one was an assistant teacher at the Telugu School by name Māraśèṭṭi. He hailed from the baṇajiga ³ community. The members of this community were among the disciples of a certain Śrīvaiṣṇava ācārya. One S Rangacharya was the Inspector of Sanskrit schools in Mysore. This Rangacharya’s elder brother was Vèṅkaṭācārya. He was a great scholar as well. Our Māraśèṭṭi and his ancestors were among the numerous disciples under Vèṅkaṭācārya’s tutelage. Māraśèṭṭi’s father Muniyappa, out of his regard for Vèṅkaṭācārya, had sent his son to Mysore for education. Māraśèṭṭi had learnt a bit of English during this time. It seems like he had completed an equivalent of Matriculation ⁴ that was in existence back then.

No one in our town was familiar with English besides these two. Even the government officials weren’t highly educated. The first person to come to our town as a government official who possessed a BA degree was Sub-registrar Ramadasappa. This was around 1901. Let’s revisit this topic later.

Fruits of Incessant Efforts

My father was among the forerunners who repeatedly wrote petitions to the government about the need for Sanskrit and English teachers at Mulbagal. Typically ten to twenty people signed on those petitions. Yet his friends mocked him with: “Isn’t all this for your son’s sake?” My father would respond with: “Today, it’s for my son; tomorrow, it will be for your son. What’s wrong with it?” And so, as the fruit of these incessant efforts, the government blessed the middle school by appointing an English teacher. The first teacher to beappointed thus was K V Ramaswami Iyer.

K V Ramswamy Iyer hailed from the Coimbatore region. His wife was a Mysore lady. His father-in-law was a śirastedār (government official) at the Sub-Judge’s court in Mysore. This śirastedār was friends with Venkatasubbayya, a lawyer who belonged to my community – mostly because both of them were working in the same court. It turns out that Śirastedār Iyer shared his plight with our Venkatasubbayya and requested for his help.

“Sir, I spent a lot of time looking for a groom and married off my daughter to him with great difficulty. He had passed his FA [Intermediate] ⁵ and was looking for employment as he couldn’t afford further education. I put in a word with everyone I knew. By the grace of god, he has landed a job as a schoolteacher. But in a faraway land. I heard that there’s a place called Mulbagal in Kolar district. That’s a province we’ve not even heard about! My son-in-law knows neither Kannada nor Telugu. How will he manage there? I’m worried. If you have any acquaintances in that region, would you please be able to write a letter to them? My daughter cannot go there for another two or three months. Some arrangements for his food and shelter have to be made. Will you be able to do it?”

Acquaintance

In response, Venkatasubbayya said, “How’s that any difficult! Sheshagirayya, a relative of ours, lives in Kolar. He is a lawyer by profession. Providing food to a guest for a family that’s as big as theirs is a trivial matter. They’ll happily agree. I’ll hand a letter to your son-in-law.” Thus he assured him. He also wrote a letter about this to my younger great uncle in Mulbagal with the details. K V Ramaswami Iyer first met with my grandfather in Kolar and then came to Mulbagal.

The day he arrived in town, there was a festive atmosphere at home. It was a joyous occasion to many others in town as well. Our headmaster Chandrashekara Shastri and Ramachandracharya were guests at our place for lunch that afternoon. In the following two to three months, Ramaswami Iyer stayed with us and became one of the mmebers of our household. There’s no need to mention that this became an additional convenience to my education.

By then I had passed the Kannada Lower Secondary ⁶. My elders felt it was necessary for me to learn English going forward. By that time I had begun learning English under Ramachandracharya. In the days of yore, Garthwaite’s children’s book was the prevalent one. Ramachandracharya had taught us from that book. A particular instance still comes to my mind. In the first four or five chapters of the book, there was a line that said, “He saw me. She saw me. They saw me.” While reading it, repetition of the phrase ‘saw me, saw me’ [which sounded like sāmi, sāmi] provoked my laughter.

“He-saw-me enu āsāmi!” ⁷ I said.

Ramachandracharya knit his eyebrows. But my great uncle, who was sitting right there, laughed out loud at my joke. Looking at him, Ramachandracharya also burst out laughing. Quite often such amusements about English usage cropped up in our study.

Owing to this sort of meager acquaintance that I had with English, Ramasway Iyer decided that I should be admitted to Class 2 of English. Then began Ramaswami Iyer’s teaching.

Divine Intervention

Ramaswami Iyer hadn’t willingly chosen teaching as a profession. He was just in search of some job he could find. His elder brother was a postmaster somewhere. Ramaswami Iyer had also worked as a substitute postmaster for a while. It must be said that it was only due to divine intervention that he landed a job as an English teacher in the Mysore province. Whatever others might have to say; for me, it was a divine grace. I’m saying this from the bottom of my heart: All that I know in English even to this day is only as much as what Ramaswami Iyer taught me. This isn’t an exaggeration. However, Ramaswami Iyer is too far away now to listen to my glowing words of praise.

For someone who worked only as a postmaster and never ventured to attend BA classes, I’m unsure how such great insight and proficiency of teaching English made its way into him!

This is the first part of a three-part English translation of the sixteenth essay in D V Gundappa’s magnum opus Jnapakachitrashaale (Volume 8) – Sankeerna Smruthisamputa. Edited by Hari Ravikumar.

Footnotes

K V Ramaswami Iyer (Part 2)

[[K V Ramaswami Iyer (Part 2) Source: prekshaa]]

Felicity of Language

Ramaswami Iyer learnt Kannadawithin three or four months of moving to Mulbagal. A few Kannada words were already familiar to him because he hailed from the Coimbatore region. The Kannada pronunciation is similar to Tamil, so learning Kannada was quite straightforward for him. Initially he became fluent with speaking in Kannada. In about four or five months, he also learnt to read Kannada. Then he became comfortable with teaching in Kannada. It appears that he had mastery over Tamil as well. Often he quoted lines from Tamil poems. After he became a pensioner of the government, he worked as a Tamil pundit in a high school in the gold fields region of Kolar.

After he moved to Mulbagal, Iyer also learnt a bit of Sanskrit. He held deep reverence towards Vedas and śāstras as well as the traditional practices and rituals. The first few books that I read on the Upaniṣads belonged to him. They were English translations by A Mahādeva-śāstri that were published along with explanations. Dakṣiṇāmūrtyupaniṣad, Bhāvanopaniṣad, Kaivalyopaniṣad – these were the books. Ramaswami Iyer would perform pārāyaṇa ⁸ of the Śrīmad-Rāmāyaṇa. The Rāma-navami festival was extremely dear to him. I’ve mentioned all this just to illustrate his nature.

Fundamental Elements

Based on my experience, I have formulated this theory. Whoever has been taught Kannada well will be able to learn English quite easily. The rules of grammar and constant practice are the two fundamental elements of language. When these fundamentals are mastered in any one language, it becomes easy to understand them in another language. Someone who is well versed with sums in the system ofRupee-Anna-Pie ⁹ will not find it difficult to calculate in Pound-Shilling-Pence. Someone who has learnt to make a chair from wood will not find it difficult to build a table. This is indeed the law of languages. Chandrashekhara Shastri’s proficiency in teaching Kannada [to us] made the English lessons by Ramaswami Iyer fruitful and successful.

A couple of points about Ramaswami Iyer’s English lessons must be mentioned. He had four students in the first year. A person named Vijalapuram Venkateshayya was notable among them. He subsequently cleared his BA, BL and worked at the Revenue Commissioner’s office before moving to Bowringpete as a practicing advocate. He was Ramaswami Iyer’s pet student. (Iyer himself had clearly stated that it wasn’t me.) Another one was Ganjigunte Subrahmanya. Later on he worked either as a Sanitary Inspector or perhaps as a Veterinary Inspector. The third one was Balasa Venkatarama Shetty.

One day, Ramaswami Iyer asked Balasa Venkatarama Shetty, “Why are you standing there?”

Shetty replied, “I am standing still.”

“Why are you standing still?”

“I am standing still still.”

After a hearty laugh Ramaswami Iyer explained both meanings of the word ‘still.’ Iyer’s intention was to illustrate the structure of English language.

Accessories

The accessories for teaching that the government had given him was just one: A dictionary by one [Charles] Annandale. Ramaswami Iyer had neatly wrapped it with a piece of binding paper—which is now called ‘craft paper’—and took great care of it. His binding of books was itself so elegant. His policy was to maintain his books clutter-free, without any wrinkles or folds.

Our headmaster had assigned a wooden trunk for the use of our English teacher. All six faces of the box had been given a tin lining to protect it from termite-infestation. Ramaswami Iyer used this trunk to keep his textbooks, the Annandale dictionary, and copies of the Educational Review, a monthly magazine. All these materials were a part of his daily use. He had three practices in his classes –

1. Reading the lessons out loud. This included reading out sentences from the [English] ‘Reader.’ Pronunciation of the letters, the modulations of the voice, pauses, and full stops – students must not go wrong with these. The pronunciation must be clear. A terminology in English that is referred to as ‘accent,’ which is a structure of systematic emphasis of letters, should not be dissonant. If a student went wrong with any of these aspects, Ramaswami Iyer would observe it carefully and correct the student. He wouldn’t overlook even the slightest of mistakes.

2. Meanings of words. A student must translate the meaning of each of the sentences into Kannada. When the teacher felt that a particular word seemed difficult, he would then elucidate its meaning. If it had multiple meanings, he would explain the meaning of each of its usages and provide examples for each type. He wouldn’t conclude unless the students had clearly understood the examples.

3. Meaning of sentences. A concept isn’t clear if only the meanings of individual words are understood. Words must be articulated in sentences to know their exact meanings. This is a special feature in English. What does ‘get’ mean? What does ‘on’ mean? What is the meaning of ‘get on’? This ‘get on’ is called an idiom. An idiom is a habituated usage of words. It may be called the practiced usage. This is an important concept in English. Ramaswami Iyer placed great emphasis on this concept.

The Practice of Using the Dictionary

When Iyer had any doubt [about the meaning of a word] he would never resort to casually using it in speech. Never did he hesitate to consult a dictionary. Our students must develop the practice of looking up a dictionary.

I’ll narrate an instance that I have heard. A person by name H J Bhabha was a teacher when he first came to Mysore. He was to teach a class. When he had to explain a certain English sentence while he was teaching, he would place his finger on the dictionary that lay on his table, close his eyes, and open a particular page. When he did so, a particular word that had to be explained would precisely be on that page. The thickness of the pages that must be turned to reach words starting with “M” and thickness of the pages that should be turned to reach words beginning with the letter “K” – he was capable of gauging these just by brushing his fingers across the side of a dictionary. To such an extent he was well-versed with using a dictionary. Apparently it is possible for a mother to recognize her child or the child to recognize its mother simply by touch. Bhabha shared such intimacy with the dictionary. Ramaswami Iyer also belonged to the same category. The English word, its root form, multiple derivates coming from that root word, their pronunciation, their varied usages – he would observe all these details, assimilate them, and imprint them on to his mind.

To be concluded…

This is the second part of a three-part English translation of the sixteenth essay in D V Gundappa’s magnum opus Jnapakachitrashaale (Volume 8) – Sankeerna Smruthisamputa. Edited by Hari Ravikumar.

Footnotes

K V Ramaswami Iyer (Part 3)

[[K V Ramaswami Iyer (Part 3) Source: prekshaa]]

English Reader

In doing so, Iyer would also explain the classification of nouns in English, the usage of tenses, structure of singular and plural forms, and also additionally mention their Kannada equivalents. Among the concepts in English, the toughest is the usage of prepositions. This is a special feature of the English language. The root word ‘get’ associates itself with different prepositions to form idioms like ‘get in,’ ‘get on,’ and ‘get up.’ This is a special characteristic of the language. Ramaswami Iyer would not only quote examples for these prepositions but he would also involve students and ask them to illustrate a few.

The New Oriental Reader published by the Macmillan Company was a common textbook used in those days. And along with that, grammar. The Christian Literature Society of Madras had published a series of grammar books. The first one—called ‘primer’—was a children’s volume. The second one—called ‘manual’—was a ready reckoner for the middle school. The third—called ‘advanced’—was for high school students. It is my opinion that a grammar book as good as that never come out afterwards. It was a book written by scholars of English and was intended to suit the needs of Indian students. Ramaswami Iyer taughtus from those books.

I tried very hard to secure a copy of these books. As in Kannada, likewise in English – hundreds of such valuable books have been washed away in the flood of scholarship.

Teaching in the class constituted only a third of Ramaswami Iyer’s teaching. Another element was conversation practice and its correction. He would typically talk to students in English and expected them to reply in English. He corrected our mistakes. He would show us examples of good usage of English. In our time, a major portion of this conversation practice was included in the curriculum as the ‘conversation lessons.’

Additional Study

The third element of Ramaswami Iyer’s exemplary teaching was the additional study – i.e., study of supplementary literature as per the recommendations made by the Department [of Education]. Ramaswami Iyer followed this systematically. Typically, four or five students gathered every evening at his house at about seven. One of us had to read aloud a piece of literature for about an hour while the others listened. When things seemed difficult, the teacher—who would be right there—stepped in to ease the situation. I remember three or four of the works among the ones that we studied in this manner –

1. Evenings at Home ¹⁰

2. Robinson Crusoe ¹¹

3. Swiss Family Robinson ¹²

4. Sandford and Merton ¹³

I really liked Evenings at Home. A family relaxes around a campfire, warming themselves on a leisurely evening. One of them comes up with a story that he can think of. Those stories are interesting because of their exceptional storyline. Amidst the fascinating plots, a moral or tenet was hidden. One of the stories was ‘Eyes and No Eyes.’ We walk on the streets with our eyes wide open and yet we fail to make many important observations – these were the kinds of stories it contained.

What’s wrong with our country? Why don’t we preserve such works by keeping them in circulation?

An Intimate Friend

Ramaswami Iyer’s influence wasn’t limited to books; it wasn’t confined to the classroom. He was like a companion to his students. During the vacations, he would make a group of three or four of us and take us hiking up the hills. After reaching the summit and descending from the hind part of the hill, he would take us to the water canal and the grassy fields around it. It was a delightful experience for us. He drew our attention towards the plants and trees. He showed us the spectacle of germination and the charm of water. He would open our minds to the beauty of nature. Indeed, beauty lies in nature. But the statement that our eyes stay open to them isn’t so true. Someone must force open our eyelids and turn our focus towards beauty. Ramaswami Iyer was a person who did this. Trees bearing pagaḍè flowers or pāṭala flowers would be spotted on the hills or in some other place. Ramaswami Iyer was passionate about Śrī-rāma-navami festivities and about Śrī-rāma-mūrti in general. He would be delighted if students collected pāṭala flowers or pagaḍè flowers and presented it to him in the form of a garland. He proudly dedicated it to a framed painting of Śrī Rāma, claiming it to be a ‘service by the students.’ While roaming around the fields near our town and during times when we climbed to the hill-tops, he introduced us to several English words. He is the one who instilled the practice of speaking in English. He also taught us etiquette in talk and in behavior. This was his remarkable virtue.

* * *

Ramaswami Iyer often had to face miseries in his personal life. He remarried after his first wife passed away. She too passed away within a year. His elder brother and other relatives pressured him to marry yet again. He did not agree. It was during this time that he turned towards the Upaniṣads. But Chandrashekhara Shastry, along with my father and my great uncle, compelled him into another marriage. It was from this marriage that he had children.

A Gentleman

What’s there to write further about a schoolteacher? Ramaswami Iyer was disciplined in matters of finance. He was uncompromising in matters of school admissions, promotions, and in the dignity of teaching. There were occasions when a few people were upset due to these attributes of his. But he was never bothered about this anger of others.

Ramaswami Iyer was a devotee of the Supreme. He would be at the Someśvara Temple during the dīpārādhanā without fail. During that time, Chandrashekhara Shastry would recite the mantra-puṣpa and he was eager to listen to that Vedic recitation. At times, he would also attend the harikathās by Accappa-dāsa.In addition to being gentlemanly, he was also a friendly person. A tall portrait of him speaking Tamil-studded Kannada descends upon the porch of my memory every now and then.

Concluded.

This is the third part of a three-part English translation of the sixteenth essay in D V Gundappa’s magnum opus Jnapakachitrashaale (Volume 8) – Sankeerna Smruthisamputa. Edited by Hari Ravikumar.

Footnotes