Prof V L Antony - 1

 I joined CMS College in 1981 as a junior lecturer. Stepping into the campus, almost instantly, I fell for the serene beauty of it. The fascination the campus held for me remains undiminished even after all these years. Despite coming from St: John's College,Agra, my love for the campus kept growing. One day, someone told me that there was a film show in the Chemistry department at 5.30 in the evening. I went there just out of curiosity and that evening turned out to have a profound influence on my life in CMS.

There were only four or five people to watch the film show on a 16 mm projector. Those days college teachers were well dressed and used to walk around with the look of intellectuals, strenuously created. Now a man in frugal native attire was busy arranging the projector, focusing it on the screen for greater picture clarity. For the minuscule audience the picture was reasonably clear and was eager for the show to begin. But the man working on the projector was focusing, refocusing, adjusting the angle of projection, the distance between the projector and the screen etc: as if some VIP was attending the show. After quite some time, testing the patience of the people assembled, he started giving a brief description of the film. I was perplexed for a moment. This simple man, in white dhothi and white shirt ..... unassuming..... talking in Malayalam... no airs..... yet talking with such authority? That day's film was a Chinese one on the topic of migration of birds. He even talked briefly on the subject of migration of birds. Oh, this is a classic case of 'deceptive appearance', I told myself. Yes, the multi faceted genius of Prof V L Antony was shrouded in what I described in the beginning as frugal native attire.

Very soon, Prof V L Antony became Antony Sar for me and all these years occupied a huge space in my mind. I will narrate some incidents that are etched in my mind. Most of the stories may sound very silly, but were important for me particularly during my formative years as a teacher.