Namakkal: We often hear stories of students disrespecting teachers. But this Teachers' Day, some students in Tamil Nadu have been very thoughtful and have presented their teacher with a gift very warm and touching.
To Sir, With Love. An 83-year-old retired school teacher, Soballapuram V Venkataraman, has got a new 1200-square feet, two-storeyed house in Namakkal as a gift from his old students.
This was after they came to know that the man who taught them everything had got into a debt trap. He had exhausted his savings to get his two daughters married and was struggling to even pay his house rent.
His old students, 250 of them, now doctors, engineers, industrialists and bureaucrats got together and raised Rs 10 lakh to build the house.
"I want this to be an example for other students in the country on how to respect their teachers," Venkataraman said.
It was meant to be a Teacher`s Day gift. But as one of the students will reach the village only on the September 6, the grand old man has decided to postpone his house warming ceremony.
Dr. S Mohanraj, a former student, said, "We can never forget how sir used to take free tuitions for poor students in his house."
The house it's clearly a 'concrete' example of 'guru dakshina'.