School marks 100th year

Old students of Delhi Tamil Education Association Schools meet in Bengaluru and relive fond memories

The Delhi Tamil Education Association (DTEA) Schools hosted a special event in Bengaluru to mark its centenary.

Called Felibrate, it is among a host of events being organised across the country to commemorate the school’s landmark year.

The day-long celebrations, at the MLR Convention Centre in J P Nagar last Sunday, saw performances by noted alumni and teachers.

Ramani Bharadwaj, Tamil music producer (with films like ‘Autograph’ and ‘Vasool Raja MMBS’ to his name), an alumnus of the school, was one of the performers. The guests were also treated to a Bharatanatyam performance by Rajeshwari Ramana, an alumna-turned-teacher who is in her 60s.

Padmavathy Bandopadhyay, another alumna, made history when she became the first woman to become an air marshal. She was honoured with the Padma Shri. Other prominent alumni include tennis player Ramanathan Krishnan, Bharatanatyam expert C V Chandrashekar, film star and MP Hema Malini, Carnatic vocalist O S Arun, violinist duo Ganesh-Kumaresh and V Rajaraman, who is known as the father of computer science in India.

“People spoke about their memories of the school and how it had shaped them,” says Parthsarathy Sudarsanam, chartered accountant and alumnus.

Looking back

The school was set up in 1923 with one teacher and one student. Rao Bahadur Gopala Iyer, employed as financial controller under the British government in Delhi, wanted his daughter to learn Tamil. He hired P H Sundaresa Iyer, a teacher from Tirunelveli, to teach her. News of the classes, held at Rao’s home, spread, and other Tamil families began sending their children to Iyer. As the numbers grew, Rao asked for support to expand the school.

This led to the formation of the Madrasi Education Association in the 1930s. The school was located in Mandir Marg, known as Reading Road then. Gradually more locations were added across Delhi. Tamil was the medium of education until a certain class. It was set up for children from Tamil families, to ensure they were in touch with their roots. It is now an English medium school, with Tamil as a subject.

Time travel

Serial entrepreneur K Ganesh (promoter of BigBasket, Portea Medical, Bluestone, HomeLane) recalls his years at the school. “This was back in the 1970s. My dad died in a tragic scooter accident when I was nine. It would have been impossible for me to continue my education if the school fees hadn’t been so low — 22 paise a month. A week after my father’s death, I had my Class 4 final exams. During the exams, almost every teacher came up to me and helped me with some answers. Thinking about it now, I am so touched and grateful. I never felt the same, even when I got a distinguished alumnus award from IIM Calcutta and Delhi College of Engineering,” says the Bengalurean.

“Back then, for classrooms, we had tents and they were not waterproof. We would all pray for rain, because then our classes would be cancelled for the day. These are some of my happier memories,” he told Metrolife.

Air Marshal Padmavathy, currently based in Bengaluru, was the only girl in class interested in sport. “I went up to my physical education teacher and told him I wanted to play ring tennis. He said, ‘Girls don’t play sports’. The other girls weren’t interested,” she says.

R Sri Kumar, former director general of police, Karnataka, was in DTEA for 11 years, from Class 1 to 11. “In 1965, the year I graduated, about 30 students from my school were accepted into IIT Madras. One memory I can never forget is my Sanskrit teacher making me and a group of other students stand up on the bench because we were being unruly in his absence. He said I would never get a distinction in Sanskrit. I ended up getting a distinction. If he were alive and I could meet him, I would ask him if he is happy with my achievements,” says Sri Kumar.

Rajni Venkatesh, former women’s national cricketer, credits her school for giving her the opportunity to pursue her interests.

“I was on the Delhi team and then the national team. I would miss a lot of classes, but I was always encouraged to explore other interests,” she says.