This happened in late sixties, when I was a student of Engineering. It was a fancy for students in those days to study foreign languages as most of us were nurturing the ambition of going abroad. I joined Milton Academy, Secunderabad, an Institute for foreign languages. I chose German language as technologically Germans were considered to be perfectionists and superior to most in the world. It is a different matter that I never crossed the Indian shores for many years after my graduation.
It was a class of twenty, consisting of mostly young boys and girls. There were some middle-aged professionals, who were learning the language due to their professional demands. There was one odd person in the class who was in the middle fifties. He was always clad in simple dhoti and said that he was learning the language to widen his knowledge. He was out of tune with others in learning. While the young students were fast in learning and answering the questions in the class this gentleman was always having difficulty. There used to be peals of laughter from us whenever he mispronounced a word. Mischievous glances were exchanged whenever he answered the questions wrongly. We used to wait eagerly for his turn for answering and were delighted whenever he erred. He used to stoically bear all these acts of fellow students and used to simply say “Boys I have not come here to compete with you and simply here to gain some understanding of the language.
A year passed and we all had our exams and we managed to get good grades while this gentleman managed to scrape through the examination. We all had a group photo and had a farewell gathering after the award of certificates.
One day we visited our friend and happened to show this Group photo to his father, who was in the media business. He remarked “What is this dhoti- clad Gentleman doing with you fellows”. We told him that he was studying German with us. He remarked “Oh this is Ramesan, IAS officer and secretary in Andhra Pradesh Government”. We were totally shocked at this revelation and were feeling guilty of the fact that we were having fun at the cost of such a powerful Government servant. We had expected a person with such high official status to be over bearing and arrogant. It surprised us to no end that such a learned man can be so simple and at no time revealed his real identity despite our mischievous taunts in the class room. It was one great lesson in simplicity and humility this gentleman taught us by example. Perhaps another lesson he gave us was “Never to estimate any one by his looks or his dress”. We never picked up the courage to meet him again.
When we friends met we always talk of this great man and the good lessons of life we learnt from him. If someone says that I am simple, I owe this complement to this gentle elderly class mate.
