It has been more than 20 year since I left Pallikoodam, but the memories are as clear as yesterday. I still recall the iconic signages, the writing on the wall if you will – “if you can read this, thank a teacher” and “think education is expensive, try ignorance!” But to understand their real meaning, one had to meet the iconoclastic Mrs. Mary Roy, and to appreciate her unwavering devotion to excellence in all that she did.
I am often told that school is a dreary business. In Pallikoodam, it was anything but. Steered by a fabulous group of teachers, and shuttling between school plays, athletic meets, and debate competitions, learning was a creative act. It was also a tremendous amount of fun. But perhaps most enduring were the friends that one made, unburdened by the professional rivalries or transactional politics – they were simply companions on a shared journey.
A few years after I left school, I accompanied a friend from college to show him the school and meet Mrs. Roy. She spent the most part of an hour grilling him about his own school (Rishi Valley). When the meeting concluded, he remarked that his interviewer really thought hard about her craft. And in that moment, I realized that this was what Pallikoodam was really about – to nudge us to think hard about our own lives and vocations, and to seek our own meaning in them.
