English

4 Comments Posted on January 7, 2022December 9, 2022 by Reji Koduvath Canada, Indian Army, Parenting

Learning and Studying

Two words – studying and learning – have always been interchangeable for me until I joined the Indian Army as a Second Lieutenant in 1982. That was when I commenced applying the knowledge I had gained – especially in trigonometry and physics – while calculating various ballistic parameters for the long range guns.

Studying was the formal education I received at school and at the Academy where I gained knowledge – the basics – which stood as the foundation for all my learning. Learning was all about applying the knowledge in many situations and there were many errors, mistakes, commissions and omissions. I learned more with every passing experience. While learning, there was always a chance of failure – I won some and lost many.

Let us examine the definitions of the two words:-

To Learn – to gain knowledge or skill by studying, practicing, being taught, or experiencing something. Learning is absorbing the information, testing its validity to the point of being able to understand the information.
To Study – to read, memorise facts, attend school, etc, in order to learn about a subject. Studying is the act of gathering the information and poring over it, deciding what is relevant and what is not.

One studies to learn. Many a times one studies a lot, but learns hardly anything. One tends to forget what one studied, especially when the aim was only to score a few marks in an examination. Here there is neither any addition to one’s knowledge nor development of any skills.

Studying is pushing and learning is pulling. The content is pushed to the students and learners pull the content what they want to learn. In order to increase one’s English vocabulary, reading the dictionary alone will not suffice. It is mere studying. Reading a book and referring to a dictionary is the ideal way as one learns more from the context the word is used than from its dictionary meaning. One may study English grammar for days, but without getting into real communication – both speaking and writing – it’s hardly of any use and one is learning neither the language nor the grammar. We learn the alphabets of a language by-heart, we learn to associate these alphabets to form words to read and write. We learn grammar, but study literature.

In mathematics there are only two digits – 0 and 1 – the rest are all combinations of these. There is only one mathematical operation – addition – subtraction is addition of a negative number, multiplication is continuous addition and division is addition of fractions. If a child learns this basic fact, rest will follow.

Doctors while at medical school memorise all Latin medical terms, and by constant usage familiarise with these terms. They apply their knowledge and learn to diagnose and also carryout a procedure or a surgery.

To be successful in any profession today, studying and earning a degree is not enough. A bachelor’s degree is the minimum educational requirement to become a Lieutenant in the Army, but the selection criteria is more about leadership qualities, empathy, problem solving ability, etc. In today’s digital world with machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, these skills are more important than the marks scored and degrees earned.

For many, studying is associated with reading. It may be true as one grows into an adult, acquiring knowledge and understanding various concepts. Babies are constantly learning, but are neither studying nor reading. Learning occurs at random too – with one’s observations and correlating the same with the knowledge already gained. Listening to someone well experienced in the field, one learns a lot. It can be from a new experience, or from what one reads, analyses and perceives.

Studying at school (including home schooling) is vital because it teaches students essential life values. More than studying or learning, it is more about developing social skills and being a team player. Many students realised it during the pandemic.

School gives the students the basics – alphabets, numbers, sounds, arithmetic skills and social skills. It develops problem-solving skills in students. Expertise of the teacher helps students understand and gain knowledge. Schools also help develop many hidden talents in students. It guides and motivates students to bring the best out of them. It is also an avenue to interact with other people. It is a place to meet new friends and colleagues. School enhances social skills with students dealing with different kinds of people.

Owl, Reading, Book, Bird, Study, Animal, Line Art

Learning never exhausts the mind – Leonardo da Vinci

For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them – Aristotle

The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you -B.B. King

Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere – A Chinese Proverb

4 Comments Posted on November 26, 2021March 16, 2026 by Reji Koduvath Indian Army, Sainik School

Running Away From Studies

The Arrival: Twenty Cadets from Kerala

In July 1971, about twenty of us landed at Sainik School, Amaravathi Nagar, in Tamil Nadu. We arrived armed with little more than our mother tongue, Malayalam. English, Hindi, and Tamil were entirely alien to us.

Our medium of instruction was English. We began with the English alphabet under Ms. Sheila Cherian, gradually progressing to Wren & Martin’s grammar and Ridout’s English Today. It was a slow, painstaking journey into a new world of words.

The Language Gauntlet

Tamil as a second language was out of the question – it would have required us to cram Thirukkural and ancient poetry from the start. Tamil literature is not easily grasped by beginners. So we were assigned Hindi as our second language.

We fared predictably badly. Hindi became our nightmare, especially during the Grade 10 public examination. Only the Almighty and the examiner who evaluated our papers know how we managed to pass. Our method was simple: cram until the last alphabet and reproduce everything on paper. Fortunately, Grade 11 and 12 required no second language.

Tamil remained our third language, taught by Mr. M.V. Somasundaram and Mr. K. Ekambaram. We began with the Grade 1 Tamil textbook in Grade 5. The only saving grace was that our agony ended in Grade 8 with a Grade 4 textbook – four years of effort condensed into four grades of progress.

The 10+2 Revolution

Our 1979 batch became the first to face the newly introduced 10+2 education system under the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) – an extra year of studies. The previous batch had graduated in 1977 after Grade 11.

Grade 12 loomed as a particular terror for those like me, academically undistinguished, never having achieved any scholarly glory throughout school.

The Escape Plan

Why did I join the National Defence Academy (NDA) and subsequently serve the Indian Army for over two decades?

The honest answer: I ran away from studies.

The bonus of clearing the NDA entrance examination was immediate: we joined after Grade 11. No Grade 12. No culminating public exam. What relief!

School had led us to believe that NDA training was predominantly outdoor activities – Physical Training, games, drill, weapon training, equitation, military tactics – with minimal academic demands.

Reality dawned upon arrival.

The Reckoning

We had to complete a Bachelor’s degree programme covering over thirty subjects, from Engineering Drawing to International Relations, culminating in a degree from the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) – the only Bachelor’s degree this premier research university confers.

The Gods had not forgotten my academic transgressions, particularly in linguistics. How could they spare me from Hindi and Tamil?

Commission and Consequences

I was commissioned into the Regiment of Artillery – 75 Medium Regiment (Basantar River). The Regiment then had an intriguing class composition: one battery of North Indian Brahmins, another of Jats primarily from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, and a third manned by soldiers from the four Southern states.

Now I had to master Hindi as spoken by Brahmins and Jats, and Tamil as the medium of communication for South Indian soldiers. The languages I had fled returned to haunt me.

The Irony of Escape

I had joined the military to escape studies. Two decades later, I retired having never stopped studying -and having never stopped running.

Even while commanding the Regiment, learning continued unabated. Modern high-tech radar systems, survey equipment, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones) – all unfamiliar, all demanding mastery. Command required understanding, and understanding required poring over volumes of operational and maintenance manuals.

The Lesson That Lingers

My studies did not end when I hung up my military boots. They continued. They continue still. They will continue forever.

The boy who fled from textbooks discovered that learning cannot be outrun. It follows. It pursues. It eventually catches up, transforming the runner into a reluctant but perpetual student.

Perhaps that is the ultimate irony – and the ultimate gift. The escape artist became, despite himself, a lifelong learner. And in that transformation, discovered that the running itself was the education.

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young – Henry Ford.

13 Comments Posted on December 20, 2015September 1, 2026 by Reji Koduvath Sainik School

The Atheist

The first atheist I ever encountered in my life was Mr. M.V. Somasundaram (MVS). He was our Tamil teacher in Grade 6, taught us Social Studies in Grade 7, English in Grade 8, History in Grade 9, and Civics in Grade 10. He was as versatile as the subjects he taught, possessing a masterful grasp of them all. A remarkably soft-spoken man, he hardly ever raised his voice. His son, Aravazhi, was our classmate.

During our days at Sainik School Amaravathinagar, we always said grace before and after every meal to thank God for our food. While in Grade 7, I noticed that Mr. Somasundaram always remained seated during grace. When I asked my friend Sundar about it, he told me that MVS was an atheist. Having never heard the word before, I had to look it up in the dictionary.

Mr. Somasundaram was a rationalist fiercely opposed to the superstitions plaguing society. He believed that our day-to-day lives gave undue importance to religion. Yet, he never forced his viewpoints on anyone, nor did he try to indoctrinate his students. Needless to say, I did not become an atheist, but the seeds of rationalism were sown by him. Today, Mr. Somasundaram lives a peaceful, retired life in Coimbatore with his son Aravazhi.

MVS subscribed to Viduthalai (Freedom), a Tamil newspaper and the official mouthpiece of the Dravida Kazhagam (DK). (His son confirms that he still subscribes to it to this day.) Delivered by the postman, MVS always brought the paper to class. Once in a while, he would leave it half-open on the teacher’s table, giving me the chance to steal a few glances. The paper featured unique characters of the Tamil alphabet—especially in its title—that stood out to me. Once again, I turned to Sundar for details. Sundar explained the significance of Viduthalai and told me that the great social reformer, Periyar, was Mr. Somasundaram’s mentor and the raison d’être for his atheism.

The Mentor : Periyar

Erode Venkata Ramasamy (1879–1973), affectionately called Periyar by his followers, was a social activist, politician, and businessman who started the Self-Respect Movement in South India. As a rationalist, he inspired people to realize that all human beings are equal, and that liberty, equality, and fraternity are the birthrights of every individual. He propagated that religious leaders invented myths and superstitions purely to keep innocent people in the dark. A staunch atheist, he was famous for his blunt anti-theistic declaration: “He who created God was a fool, he who spreads his name is a scoundrel, and he who worships him is a barbarian.”

Periyar started Viduthalai as a magazine in 1935, and it evolved into a daily newspaper by 1937. The publication aimed to foster a rational, secular, and democratic society while combating superstition. Crucially, the script used in the publication was modified to adapt to evolving printing technology. Periyar believed it was sensible to change, simplify, and reduce the number of Tamil letters. He argued that the older and more “divine” a language was claimed to be, the more it desperately needed reform.

In 1978, soon after M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Periyar’s ideas on script reform were officially accepted, and the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed an act bringing these changes into effect. By reducing the total number of characters, these modifications inadvertently made Tamil the first Indian language easily adapted for computerisation.

A Battle of Ideals at School

Shortly after the script reform act was passed and the Viduthalai font became the standard Tamil script, our school hosted an open house forum to discuss its implications. The discussion was led by Mr. Somasundaram and moderated by our Headmaster, Squadron Leader Manickavasagam. Students from Grades 9 to 11 were in attendance.
During the debate, Mr. Somasundaram launched a scathing critique of religious priorities. He pointed out that when the State Bank of India opened its branch in Amaravathinagar, only our school Principal, Colonel A.C. Thamburaj, and the school band attended the inauguration. In contrast, when a small branch of the Ganapathy Temple opened near the bus stand, the public celebrated by dancing in the streets. He cited this stark contrast as the exact reason why the country failed to achieve true scientific and material progress.

Some teachers in the audience took offense and demanded that Mr. Somasundaram withdraw his statement. MVS stood firm. Our Headmaster gracefully retrieved the situation, noting that the audience was mature enough to draw their own conclusions and that there was nothing objectionable in sharing an opinion. Looking back, I believe Mr. Somasundaram was entirely right—and public attitudes have changed very little since.

A Legacy of Reform

Periyar first rose to national prominence during the Vaikom Satyagraha (1924–1925), a nonviolent protest demanding temple entry rights and access to public roads for lower-caste individuals in the princely state of Travancore (now Kerala). Arriving in Vaikom in April 1924, Periyar was promptly arrested by the Travancore Police. Undeterred, his defiance energised the movement. Mahatma Gandhi later visited Vaikom to negotiate with the Queen Regent of Travancore, leading to the removal of police barricades. This historic satyagraha paved the way for the landmark Temple Entry Proclamation of 1936, signed by the Maharaja Chithira Thirunal, opening temples to all Hindus.

In 1944, Periyar transformed the Justice Party into the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK). The DK was envisioned as a non-political, socio-cultural movement—a mantle it maintains to this day. Members were asked to renounce British titles and drop caste suffixes from their surnames.When India gained independence on August 15, 1947, Periyar controversially declared it a day of mourning. In his view, the event merely marked a transfer of power from the British to upper-caste elites. Yet, despite his deep ideological differences with Mahatma Gandhi, Periyar was profoundly grieved by Gandhi’s assassination on January 30, 1948. In a tribute to the Mahatma, Periyar even suggested that India should be renamed Gandhi Nadu.

By 1949, political rifts fractured the DK. Younger leaders like C.N. Annadurai, M. Karunanidhi, and MGR harboured electoral ambitions and sought a path into governance. They found their catalyst for separation when the 70-year-old Periyar married 30-year-old Maniammai. Annadurai led a mass exit, claiming the aging leader had set a poor moral example by marrying someone so young, and subsequently founded the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Personally, I find it hard to fault Periyar. At 70, he was clearly still young at heart, going on to live another quarter-century while relentlessly continuing his social crusades.

In 1970, UNESCO officially recognised his monumental impact, honouring him as “the Prophet of the New Age, the Socrates of South East Asia, Father of Social Reform Movement, and Arch enemy of ignorance, superstitions, meaningless customs and base manners.

8 Comments Posted on September 16, 2014October 7, 2022 by Reji Koduvath Indian Army, Sainik School

Linguists

In 1971, after the anti-Hindi agitation that raged through Thamizh Nadu, I joined Sainik School Amaravathinagar in the state then known as Madras. The school almost resembled any British Military School as all the military words of command were in English like “Attention” and “Stand-at-Ease”. There I started to learn Thamizh and also English and Hindi.

Thamizh is one of the longest surviving classical languages in the world and the script has only 18 consonants unlike Devnagari script which has about 37 consonants. When Devnagari script has क, ख, ग, घ (ka, kha, ga, gha), Thamizh has only க (ka) and similarly for the other corresponding consonants. All the other South Indian languages namely Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu follow their own script similar to the Devnagari script. Further these three languages unlike Thamizh, have a lot of Sanskrit vocabulary. Hence learning of Hindi or any Devnagari script based language becomes difficult for a Thamizh in comparison to the people from the other states.

After the anti-Hindi agitation in Thamizh Nadu, the Official Languages Act was amended in 1967 by the Indian Government to guarantee the indefinite use of Hindi and English as official languages. This effectively ensured the current bilingualism and use of English in education in India. This bilingualism has helped the Indians to a great extent in ensuring acceptance all over the world.

Hindi as a national language was not accepted all over India due to the implementation issues. The Hindi Pundits coined many a difficult terms to replace commonly used English terms. Many of the terms coined were not even accepted by the Hindi speaking population. Lot of money and efforts were pumped in by the government for the enhanced use of Hindi as an official language, but it never had any results other than a few Members of Parliament making a foreign sojourn to study the use of Hindi in some country or the other and the practise still continues.

To further make the matter worse, all forms were printed in both Hindi and English and so also all the government publications. This resulted in higher production costs without serving any purpose. While serving in the Indian Army, I recommended all my subordinates to read and understand the pamphlet ‘Glossary of Military Terms’. The pamphlet was printed in Hindi on the left page and English on the right. I also used to advise them to read the Hindi side whenever they got bored – the Hindi equivalents were hilarious and many a times grossly incorrect.

In our school the English department was headed by Mr KG Warrier and the Thamizh department by Mr M Selvaraj. Both of them were strong linguists and always ensured that they spoke the language with purity in that when they spoke, they always used only one language. Both had excellent communication skills and were near perfect in their pronunciations. Both of them never taught me at school, but I had extensively interacted with them during various extra-curricular activities.

(Mr KG Warrier with our Class-mate AP Sunil Kumar at Kottakkal. The photo is of 2013 when Mr Warrier turned 90)

Mr KG Warrier hails from the family of world renowned Ayurveda Physicians of Kottakkal in Kerala. He is currently enjoying his retired life at Kottakkal. He is staying with his daughter, Rathi. The Warrier community connected to the Vaidya Sala stay at ‘Kailasa Mandiram’ in the Vaidya Sala premises at Kottakkal, Malappuram District, Kerala.

His specialty was that he dressed in his starched and pressed cotton pants and shirt, wear a felt hat and hold a pipe in his hands. I was always intrigued as to how he managed to maintain the crease of his pants perfect even at the end of the day.

A few days before leaving school to join the National Defence Academy I met Mr KG Warrier and he asked me in Thamizh as to when I was joining the academy and how the preparations were progressing. My answer was in the usual ‘mixed language’ of Thamizh, Malyalam and English. To this he said “உனக்கு தமிழும் தெரியாது, மலையாளவும் தெரியாது, ஆங்கிலவும் தெரியாது. உனக்கு என்ன தெரியும்? (You do not know Thamizh or Malayalam or English. What do you know?)”.

I still recollect a few words of advice Mr KG Warrier had given us. He said that everyone should always carry and use three books – a Dictionary, an Atlas and a Wren & Martin Grammar book. At the beginning of each year at the school, these were the first set of three books we were issued with. Later on during my army service I did carry these three books. Nowadays with the power of the internet with browsing tools like the Google, most information is at one’s fingertips and these three books have become almost extinct.

Mr M Selvaraj was well known for his voice and his oratory skills which were showcased during all the cultural programmes at the school. His orations in both Thamizh and English will be remembered by all his students. I was very curious as to how he managed to handle the two languages independently and so effectively. During my final year in school, I did manage to summon enough courage and asked Mr M Selvaraj about the secret.

Mr M Selvaraj said that when he joined the school he had very little grasp of English having done his Masters degree in Thamizh. Major MMR Menon, then Headmaster of the school had advised him that to be a successful teacher in a school like this, mastery over English would go a long way. So with reluctance he approached Mr KG Warrier, but was surprised when Mr KG Warrier accepted to be his Guru and thus he started to learn English. He ended the chat by saying “the English I speak is all what Mr KG Warrier and Ms Sheela Cherian had taught me like any student who graduated under these great teachers.”

Mr M Selvaraj left our school in 1987 to be the first Principal of Navodaya Vidyalaya at Mahe. After establishing the school, he moved as the Principal of Navodaya Vidyalaya at Pondichery and now leads a retired life in Trichy.

After leaving the school, I always tried to complete a sentence in one language and many a times I did fail. After joining the army, I picked up Hindi. Luckily for me, I served mostly with the Brahmin soldiers from North India and that helped me improve my Hindi to a great extent. Now with Hindi also joining the bandwagon of languages in my mind, maintaining purity of language became near impossible.

Hats-off to all those Thamizh news readers in any television channels, they speak pure Thamizh only and would use another language vocabulary only in case it is unavoidable.

REJINCES