(Part 20 here)
Maths/Class Teacher - '96-'97
Mrs.Nalini Balasubramanian - Nalini mam was a fair, very very slightly plumpish teacher who was my class teacher in 7th std and also taught us Maths that year. I think she initially taught in KK Nagar and got a transfer from there. Her hand-writing was especially neat & looked pretty on the board. Needless to say, her Math was good. Two incidents I remember with her -
1. She once had Madras Eye (though the city was renamed Chennai by then...ok ok, sorry :D) and for a week or so, wore big black glasses. If I'm right, her eyes were also swollen a bit then.
2. During my childhood, I was prone to injuries. On one such occasion that year, I was ottifying Nithya (a classmate who recently got married) and when she came chasing me, I immediately shot off without looking where I was running. And suddenly, I turned to see where I was headed when I ran into the parapet wall and collided - result: a deep gash between the eyebrows and lots of blood. What pissed me off most was not the pain or the blood, but the unsavoury location my veera-thazhumbu (I was by now quite proud of my injuries) would have - the next day, I came to school and Nalini mam asks me - "What man, this new Naamam and all?" much to my classmates' delight. And incidentally, she also had this habit of including "man" while addressing us guys. :D
(Part 22 here)
