At 5:00am we would hear a soft voice calling “Get up, girls”. The call would be repeated a few times and to those unresponsive, a gentle tap would follow. Once you feel the tap, we move to the praying posture. After a minute you’d hear snoring sounds from the praying posture. Through all this there would not be any reprimand or scolding, just the persistent “get up girls”. I have not seen a more patient teacher than our dear warden and mathematics teacher Miss. Manimehalai.

Miss. Manimehalai did not yell and scold though we girls were disobedient many a time. But she would always appreciate us when we obeyed. That was her style. She did not believe in scolding. Once we were chit-chatting loudly during our study time in the dormitory. Miss. Manimehalai came out of her room and stood beside us silently for a minute without telling a word and left. We got the message. We did not speak again that evening.

She was my favourite teacher at school. I had so much admiration for her that some would call me Ma’am’s daughter. This admiration grew over the years. I fondly remember some incidents that stand out showing her warmth and love.

One day when I was a little girl in sixth class, it was my turn to serve milk during the breakfast for the seniors. The bucket was very hot and heavy. Since the serving jug was also very hot I was not making much progress. Some of the senior girls at the other end of the line began to get impatient calling out rudely. Miss. Manimehalai at this juncture intervened and told them that they shouldn’t heckle a small girl in the manner they did and rather should help me in the chore. This was a very kind gesture and she became my hero. She always stood up for the weak and the poor.

Once when I was down with flu, she came to visit me in my bed. She checked my temperature and brought me bread and milk. Then she proceeded to dip the bread in the hot milk and gave me to eat. This was a touching gesture. This warmed my heart that night.

Another time, I was down with jaundice and was confined to the ‘sick room’ away from the others. It was getting me lonely and I longed for company. During this time Miss. Manimehalai came to visit me a few times. She would enquire about my progress and chitchat for a while. This lifted my spirits.

To this day I treasure the gift she gave me when I turned sixteen. It was a small diary in which she signed “May God bless you.” One day when I had gone to her room for some chore she treated me to a glass of grape juice. Now a glass of juice was such a treat in the boarding school. It made my day.

She made me the dormitory leader when I was a senior. She put much trust in my abilities that in turn gave me self confidence and boosted my performance. When I was a little girl, she selected me for a fancy dress competition and dressed me up like a doll. I won the prize for “SV show doll” that year.

Though she was not my mathematics teacher, she would help me in the subject in her spare time since I was not doing well in the subject. This was a very kind gesture that I treasure in my heart.

During the initial days of Anand Niketan, Miss. Manimehalai was posted there for a year. That year we had a different warden at the senior girls dormitory. Very soon we realized how much freedom we had enjoyed under Miss. Manimehalai’s stewardship. She was sorely missed by us girls.

I cherish the time at school and especially those with Miss. Manimehalai. I’m thankful to God for her.