Who Put The Honey In Your Heart? - True Story

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When I read the sentence "who put the honey in your heart", the name of the person that swept my mind was of my high school Principal "Papanna". Papanna was my high school principal for my 9th and 10th standard at a school called S.V.K.H.S in Bangalore. The reason for abbreviating the school name is just to simplify the complex name of my school. Papanna used to teach "math" for us. If he was just a "math" teacher, may be I would not have remembered him while reading the phrase "who put the honey in your heart". He not only taught us "math" but also gave us exposure to other hobbies which defined my life and many others.

When I look back, one of the things in my life which contributed to the position or status I am currently in is- Table Tennis and Papanna was the instrument in making me a reasonably good table tennis player. I still remember the first time I met Papanna. My mother who was working as a teacher in a government school in Mysore got transferred to Bangalore. I had completed my 8th standard (grade) just then. We moved to Bangalore and I went to S.V.K.H.S where Papanna was the principal. He asked me about my Math. I replied that I was quite okay in it. He asked me the formula for (a+b) whole cube. I knew the formula for (a+b) whole cube and told him. He asked me to bring the admission fees and join the school.

Papanna was a bachelor. Not sure whether it was by choice or by his life's circumstances. I remember him mentioning once that he did see few girls for marriage but nothing worked out. Without any responsibility of raising his own family, he had taken up the responsibility of encouraging his students in various activities.

He had bought two table tennis boards at the school from his own money. He had imported the table tennis equipment from Japan which he handed to a selected students at the school. To the new students, he would give locally made TT racquets or Chinese made TT racquets. To me he had given the Chinese made 'Shields' racquet with 'pimpled' rubber on both the sides. Not sure whether it was my destiny or because I had nothing else to do other than studying, grazing cow or buffalo depending on which one was at our home at any given time or may be to prove myself, I took a keen interest in TT and started playing it seriously on a regular basis. But, there were certain issues. One of them was, since I was already in the 9th standard, Papanna encouraged students from 8th standard as they had three years at school compared to my two years in the school. The other issue was, for some reason I was holding back my forehand without stretching my right hand completely, which is considered absolutely important for good strokes like Top spin, loop...etc.

Papanna would come to school everyday in the morning around 5:30 am. Many students who played TT would also come around the same time. Papanna would bring a number of TT balls and have the students practice various strokes till 7:30 AM or 8:00 AM. May be due to the above reasons, I was not given much chance to play with the senior players, where as students from 8th standard got more opportunities to play with them. This annoyed me. However, it also motivated me to perform better in the sport. I took this as a challenge and forced the students from 8th standard to practice with me during evenings and weekends. I improved gradually and pretty soon I was challenging the more established players at the school.

Papanna recognized my efforts and gave me a better racquet which was reserved for the senior players. He also took us to the State Youth Center where we could play with the other players. A new coach had also started coaching at state youth center. Papanna took us to the tournaments outside Bangalore which were necessary to get more points and get rankings. I ended up as state number 5 in sub junior category during my 10th standard. Along the way I also helped my school to win inter-schools BSA SLR TT junior championship there by winning a bicycle for myself. I also played an important role in my school, finishing second in the senior category in the same tournament there by winning an HMT watch for myself.

Eventually I became Junior state level champion when I was in 2nd P.U.C. that is 12th grade. TT also helped me to get admission in the Engineering college under the sports quota without any donations, I am not sure whether I could have made it without the quota.

Other than helping me and other students with Table Tennis, Papanna also inculcated us the interest in Astronomy, bird watching, photography and trekking. He also played an important role in my classmate Raju's life by helping him become a state champion in Chess. Papanna was an expert bird watcher. His specialty was in locating bird nests. Various famous bird photographers in Bangalore would take Papanna with them so that they could photograph the birds at their nests, hopefully with their chicks.

To this day, I continue to walk the path that Papanna lead us on. Even though I don't practice all the things Papanna taught us on a regular basis. I continue to practice them as much as I can. Papanna definitely put honey in my heart and that honey shows up in more ways in my life than I have ever imagined.