A Telephonic Conversation with the Great LSR

After years of gap, I had the honour of talking to one of the most wonderful human beings I have ever come across till date, Shri. L. S. Raman (LSR). A well known Hindi Lecturer who taught at the Navodaya Composite College at Channarayapatna, has been for a long time, one of the best authorities on Hindi language and literature in Karnataka. After retiring in 1993, he kept himself among little kids, something that he enjoyed, by joining as an advisor and teacher at the Chaitanya Vidya Shala primary school. He was very deeply involved with the school till 2006, after which he moved to Chennai, where he is settled now, with his family.

What was striking with the conversations I had with him this week was that, although nearing 80, he still has the same levels of affection, memory, clarity of thoughts and expression, which made him the favorite among his students. I still remember him teaching Hindi, English and sometimes even Social Sciences to us at Chaitanya Vidya Shala. I don't remember him ever raising his voice to any of his students, let alone scolding them. His affectionate approach to teaching was such that he would have the most mischievous of the kids of the class captivated. That meant that he had, and still holds, the utmost respect from every one of his students as well.

What caught our attention as little kids was his simplicity, approachability, sense of humour and depth of knowledge. His affection to every kid in the school, irrespective of how good he or she was with studies or with co-curricular activities, was always on display. Below are a couple of pictures from my school days, where LSR is presiding over the annual school day functions (LSR is the one not distributing the prize in both pictures). What these wholehearted smiles of LSR brings to the fore are, how happy he felt for every little kid who came over to receive the awards for their "achievements". In his eyes, you could always see the innocence of a kid.


With that feeling of nostalgia, I'll end this post here, with a hope of meeting LSR sometime when he comes to Bangalore, and wishing him long life and good health.

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