K.Subramanian was born to Krishna Iyer, a village Karnam, who was earning a sum of Rs.6 per month and his wife Dharmambal in the year 1920.
K.Subramanian was born to Krishna Iyer, a village Karnam, who was earning a sum of Rs.6 per month and his wife Dharmambal in the year 1920.
He did his SSLC at his native Pudukottai (Maharaja’s High School) and later on moved over to St. Josephs, Trichy for his Intermediate and BA thereafter. Subramanian joined the St. Joseph’s High School as a teacher and on seeing promise in him, the people at the helm sent him to the Saidapet LT College for teacher training.
Thereafter Subramanian worked for 10 years at St. Joseph’s before moving over to one Saraswati High School at Konapet village near Karaikudi as the Head Master for a 6 year period.
The Sengottiah School at Kurichi in Coimbatore was his first destination in western Tamilnadu and he settled down at the St.Michaels Higher Secondary School by the year 1962.
He served there until his retirement in the year 1976. Unfortunately his official record added 2 years to his real age and therefore he had to lose a few years of active service.
Post retirement, Subramanian began teaching from his house in P.M.Samy Colony near Thadagam Road. The house had been built by him in the year 1977. Subramanian married Thangammal in the year 1943 at Palani and they had a happy matrimony lasting 71 years until she passed away at the age of 87.
The couple were blessed with 2 sons, 3 daughters, 8 grandchildren and a number of great grandchildren. They had lived earlier in the 4th street of Gandhipuram for a number of years .The couple had been with their son S.Viswanathan and daughter in law Rajeswari since 1993. The daughter in law, Rajeswari Viswanathan was recognized for her teaching skills at the Ramakrishna Mission School in Chennai.
Nonagerian K.Subramanian was eager to share details about some of his students, "One of my tuition students Gopal was a Panchayat President another student Alalasundaram was an engineer.
Both M.Krishnan and M.Murali, the two sons of Mahadeva Iyer, Founder of Sri Krishna Sweets were my students. On one occasion, M.Krishnan the energy behind Sri Krishna Sweets answered all the 12 questions in spite of the direction that it would be enough to just answer 10 out of 12. All the answers were correct and I gave him 120 marks out of 100 marks in order to recognize him.
The Head Master Father Chinnaiyan who was my batch mate in LT at Chennai was quite surprised to observe the happenings and had to be told why this was done. However, the mark sheet displayed a centum in the place of 120 marks. The students of the yonder years were a committed lot and quite disciplined. I was a terror and would make sure the kids attended the school assembly on time. Those were the times when schools did not achieve 100 percent results but the students were more geared for life. Emphasis was given on quality education and results based on rote learning was not the end all or be all. I was the Assistant Head Master while retiring. I still remember K.S.Ramanatha Iyer of Sengupta Street in Ram Nagar who was known as 'walking maths' by his colleagues and students from St.Michaels. He used to walk all the way from Sengupta Street to our house in order to collect contributions for the Kodandaramaswamy Temple in Ram Nagar."
The old maths teacher had faced a lot of hurdles during his childhood for he had lost his father at the age of 9 and lost his mother by the time he was 22 years of age. He had been brought up by his elder brother K.Veeraraghavan (1905 - 1982) who was just earning a sum of Rs.25 per month at the railways .Subramanian is grateful to his brother who had got him educated in spite of several among the near and dear discouraging him from helping the younger brother. He was keen to share more details about his economic plight those days, "I just had one shirt and had to use the same to college while others used to wear blazers. I belonged to a poor family of Brahmins and did not possess ancestral property. Therefore every single paise and morsel had to be earned. I used to tell my students that knowledge will fetch freedom. He requested them to study and then engage in the freedom struggle or in politics". He still remembers the old board exam question papers.
S.Viswanathan, his son had this to say, "My father used to dictate both formulae and problems simultaneously. He was sincere about the tuitions and believed that teaching was more important than money. In spite of pushing 98 years, he remembers every single detail. He continues to watch cricket and reads a lot.
The series 'Artham Ulla Hindu Madham' by Kannadasan is an all-time favorite. He was always surrounded by books. 'Kurai Ondrum Illai' by Mukkur Lakshminarasimhachariar is among his best reads. He had met Ramana Maharishi about 70 years ago and considers it to be an important event in his life. The teacher in him has kept him away from simple habits like the chewing of betel nuts and betel leaves. He considers teaching to be a sacred profession. Father uses a mobile phone and recites Vinayagar Agaval, Kanda Shashti Kavacham, Krishna Kavacham by Kannadasan and the 33 verse Subramanya Bhujangam by Adi Sankara regularly. The Subramanya Bhujangam is said to cure stomach related ailments. He recites the Gayathri Maha mantra 108 times, thrice a day while also reciting the Vishnu Sahasranamam. His Ishta Devata happens to be Shirdi Baba and fortunately he does not suffer from diabetes or blood pressure."
K.Subramanian was glad to share his experiences and reasons for contentment, "My son Viswanathan and daughter in law Rajeswari look after me very well in an era when most elders are left to the confines of an old age home. I am happy to be in their company. I felt really blessed when Mahaperiyaval Chandrashekharendra Saraswathi accepted the 5 Lakh Rama Namams written by me by placing a garland of Tulasi leaves on them"
"I have written about 75 Lakh Rama Namams and consider it to be my good fortune to have been blessed to do so. I love cricket and therefore a lot of time is spent watching the matches played by India", K.Subramanian
The committed teacher was awarded the "Asiriya Peroli Virudhu" in the year 2012. The Rotary has recognized him and 10 of his students lead by his student Auditor S. Krishnakumar have contributed Rs.1,00,000 towards a corpus in order to institute the K.Subramanian award.
The interest from the corpus is meant to be given as the cash prize for the best outgoing maths student from the St.Michaels Higher Secondary School on Big Bazaar Street in Coimbatore. The son Viswanathan, a retired banker teaches mathematics and commerce to a number of students.
Anupama and Vani, the granddaughters through his son Viswanathan are really doing well for themselves as editors of the lovely monthly magazine "Spark". The "complete" life of Maths Teacher K.Subramanian stands as a testimony to good teaching, conduct, and discipline.