Tt is not easy being a Tutor to a "Prince"... really, a Prince. Sivaganga Raja Doraisingam's son Prince Shanmugha Rajah had Sri Jatadhara Rangaswamy Iyer (JR) as his personal tutor.
One day, while lessons were going on, Prince got curious about life of the tutor. He asked his tutor " Unga Raaniamma enga irukkanga" (where is your Raani). Prince could think of everyone as Raja and Rani only.
JR replied "enga aranmanaiyila" (in my Palace), though the "palace" was a small house with simple furniture. Prince now wanted to visit the "Raani" and of course "the palace".
How JR prepared the Prince for the visit to his own palace is the interesting part..
He told him " enga maaligaiyila, nakshatram ellam theriyum" (in our palace you can see stars) and gave further description in these lines to describe a simple house into a seemingly beautiful palace with wonders that the Prince cannot see in his regular dwelling palace.
Now the Prince was so curious he had to see the palace and a day was fixed for the visit.
JR took him to his humble abode in the late evening around 8 pm when the stars were visible through the tiled roof of the house. Prince was so mesmerised seeing stars lighting up the house and was amazed seeing the Raani in simple elegant saree. Simple food was served with so much affection and the Prince went back to his palace admiring his tutor's home and the queen.
This is how teachers taught their students - no question of the student was difficult for them to handle; at the same time, social inequalities were not shown in a bad light. How to enjoy everything in life and how to appreciate everything and everyone was taught through such examples.. Salutation to such a teacher!
With pride I should add that JR is my own maternal grandfather who is a role model for all of us - me and my siblings and my cousins..
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