Today I will be attending Dr. Elizabeth Kurien aka Ms. Prema’a farewell lunch (for those of you who don’t know her she’s my former teacher at B.C.M., former H.O.D. & much more). I just thought it would be appropriate to pen down (or rather type) some of my reflections on her.
For the past six months or more, she’s been the only person persistently insisting I return to B.C.M. again as faculty. Nobody else even seems to think about such a prospect. Perhaps she realized how much some of the girls meant to me. Or maybe she realized that nobody else was bringing in the dramatic changes that I had somehow managed to bring in. Whatever it is, she has been doggedly persistent that I return no matter what, and firmly believes I will be back next year to take the college head on. That’s faith for you.
My student recollections though of this persistent person are of a rather different sort. She was one of the quietest people in the department, so quiet that you may not have even noticed she was there, had it not been for the bustling activity of the people on either side of her. When I was with her as a faculty, she was still quiet though her occasional comments would either have us put on our thinking caps or rolling with laughter.
It was at a tour that we also got to see quite a bit of her sense of humour. The girls related to me, how as they were sitting on a rock posing for a photograph, Ms Prema came up to them and told them in a very serious tone that they should definitely put the photograph in the college magazine with the caption “B.C.M. Monkeys”! The girls had a fit.
I remember though she would never go for tours except for this one batch that studied alongside mine. The next and last one was in 2009, just before retirement. Luckily I was a part of it though now as a part of faculty.
What I shall always remember most about this Libran is her level-headedness. Even in the midst of a desperate situation, she kept her cool. And you could always rely on her prompt decisions as H.O.D. – they were balanced and met the situation at hand.
The quality that she best emulated as a teacher is none of these but one that I believe is essential for a good teacher: love. Her care and concern for those around her were obvious in very subtle ways. Be it a wedding present for a faculty that had left long ago or a kind word to students in troubled waters, she embodied motherly love. No wonder she got nicknamed by one of the batches ‘Prema Mummy’!
The thing that I will miss most about her is her enduring support for me while I was in heaps of trouble for all the wrong reasons. The fact that she believed in me despite everything made a huge difference to me. Knowing that my pillar has left B.C.M. makes it difficult for me to envisage the college without her. Somehow, walking into an English Department minus Miss Prema brings visions of a ghost town (okay, I know that is far fetched but you get the idea). It feels as if the last of the stalwarts has left.
Without you Miss Prema, the English Department will now feel emptied. When we return, it will be the memories that remain and fill our minds. I hope even in your retirement you will continue to spread your abundant wisdom and joy to everyone.
