I' O' ...Papa Vanne

Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children, and no theories.

John Wilmot

Dear JY,
Ayyo..! Ayyo….! Pappa Vanne (Brother is screaming)
It was summer, But all the days were set with rain (Mango showers). Our cricket matches had been abandoned for weeks. As a better alternative we started swimming (!) in a pond which is near to my Mother’s home. Village pond is a natural one with algae covered flat rock at the center and boundaries are built of uneven rocks. Sometimes small rat snakes are looking at us from their small caves. Water in the pond neither rise above the knees in the rainy June nor dry even in the hottest summer. On one rainy evening, we were playing in the pond. But all omens in the nature were bad, crows on the jackfruit trees were crying….Dogs from far were barking…. .Cousin who is having a better knowledge on Nature’s language told us... “Things are not fine, we would get some surprise news today”…A few minutes later Our Uncle called us loudly from the home and told us…’Your Papa has arrived’ ….We felt the news like a thunderstorm… My brother replied back.. “Whose Pappa..Our’s or Cousin’s”…. “Yours”…He looked up to the skies and ran down to the fields with a loud cry, Ayyo Pappa vanne ..

You know, In early child hood itself he showed some prophetic skills…He knows, Summer vacation is changing to summer schools..He knows, all coming evenings would be busy with calculating LCM & HCF. He knows, our body would be well ploughed by sticks at the end…He knows, we couldn’t go to sleep before 10’0 clock.

His helpless cry was an omen of the future happenings. Years passed over, nearly 15…But still I am remembering the brown picture of his fear filled face. Sometimes I mocked him with this story.

Story of a Hibiscus rosa-sinensis in our garden Only plant in our courtyard is Shoe flower plant. Sometimes we felt that only purpose of the plant as a tool of punishments… It has a short life varying from one to two years. It depends on our papa’s leave…What a bad fate… Mother tried to explain him about its medicinal properties .But nothing happened … However ‘Hibiscus rosa sinensis’ played an important role in developing the skills in mathematics.

Unfortunately there was no difference in My School too. Our History & Geography Sir, One King Marthandavarma, (Proudly telling, I gave the name) , He got the name by his ‘war’ skills… Pupils didn’t know where he was keeping the ‘Sword’ ,After asking some tough historical and geographical questions, he took the stick from somewhere…It was moving like a snake in the air…calling each one by name..Unfortunately he called me twice in a class period and gave the ‘sweets’..After getting ‘one’, I used to spend some time near to the cold school walls by pressing my back to transfer the ‘hot’(thermodynamic principle).But still I don’t know how my brother bear 10 continuous beats on the way to prove the Isosceles theorem. On those days we only know the last line of the theorem…ie, RHS=LHS, Hence proved…
Sunday School lessons
One of my first lesson from the Sunday schools was Ayyo,Kallam Parayalllee, Kannu potti pokum’…Later I stopped my catechism classes due to some ‘technical reasons’. How long we could see the same old lady in the Sunday school classrooms. I told to Amma, i cannot stay three years in the same class. They need to pass the yearly exams, class tests for the promotions…Frankly telling I didn’t get any values from my Sunday school days, only some religious concepts..That also I forgot.

Retrospect
Am I a better being after getting all this ‘good’ punishments & ‘good’ advises?

Ennu Snehapoorvam
Subin

Related Facts...
 I am doubting whether our next generation will get a quality mentor (Parent, teacher (School/Sunday schools)), a value based education, or even a developed family atmosphere.

 We are learning for 20 years (majority) for getting a position / job/ priesthood, or for earning money or for running an institution. But there is no good resource trainings ‘on mentoring a child’ (Parenting). If my belief is wrong, please consider as my ignorance.