JOIN USWhen little Jayalalithaa regaled class by imitating teacher
Tributes were paid to former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa during a memorial service at the Bishop Cotton Girls’ School on Wednesday.
Organised by the Old Girls’ Association, the service was attended by Cottonians, former principals and five of Jayalalithaa’s classmates.
Principal Lavanya Mithran said, “From being a demure student, she rose to become the chief minister. We are proud that this school had some role to play in her development.” Jayalalithaa was a student in the school from 1952 to 1958. “Every year, we celebrate her birthday on February 24 and used to distribute sweets she sent,” the principal said.
Girija Shankar, a classmate, recollected that Jayalalithaa had joined them again in Class VIII for a few months.
“We had a Burmese teacher who had a funny way of pointing at us. Once when her back was turned, Jayalalithaa imitated her and we all, burst into laughter. We were punished for doing that,” she recalled.
Dorothy Sampath proudly had her memories of the chief minister to share.
“She was in Barton House and everyone used to cheer for her during sports events. Jayalalithaa was particularly good in the 100- and 200-metre races.” Dorothy described Jayalalithaa as an excellent student who had her share of fun.
“When we would ask her what she got in tests, she would shyly say ‘A’ grade.”
“She seemed to have had an ambition, unlike the rest of us who were just having fun in school,” said Alice Jesuadian, who studied with her in Class IV.
Former principal Stella Samuel was pursuing her bachelor’s degree at Queen Mary’s College, Chennai, when she met Jayalalithaa for the first time.
“She was in Class X and had come to my college for a dance competition,” Stella said. When Jayalalithaa did not turn up for the next competition, they heard that it was because she was shooting for a movie with M G Ramachandran. In 1999, Stella became the principal of Bishop Cotton Girls’ School.
“People said Jayalalithaa studied here, but none knew exactly which year. I dug out old records to find the details.” According to the records, Jayalalithaa, daughter of Veda Jayaram (actor Sandhya), entered kindergarten on January 18, 1952 and left on April 17, 1958. To her surprise, she also found the name of Fathima Jaffer, one of the teachers, in the registers. “I was so shocked. I had not known that I joined school the same day as her,” Fathima said. Stella found a group picture taken when Jayalalithaa was in class IV and got it restored. It took her three months to get the names of all students in the picture.