The exceptional among exceptionals

 Ayyappanicker Sir belonged to a generation of exceptional teachers who knew their students well and who cared for them. Sadly the generation is extinct today. Now it's nothing else but business.  

There was an interesting article on the legend  in the  Malayala Manorama of 19thAugust2023

 When Lila read this, she went down the memory lane. 

Susheela Ammamma, her elder sister did her MA English at the University College, Trivandrum - an institution that turned out doyens after doyens at that time.

 Ayyappapanicker Sir was teaching the class. 

He was leading them to a  sublime level.

Suddenly he saw a fellow teacher who was passing by the corridor. Unfortunately, the teacher was the subject of ridicule by the students he taught and Ayyappapanicker Sir had been aware of it.

As he was teaching the class could see he was shifting his eyes looking up and then at the passerby.   he Swift was the comment,  "From the Sublime to the Ridiculous."

Lila says, unlike all his contemporaries who taught English, he was well versed in Malayalam as well

According to Lila, he was masterclass in playing with words at will - the exceptional among exceptionals.