She spoke her mind, stood her ground, followed her heart. And there wasn’t a time in the life of Rajalakshmi Parthsarathy (Mrs YGP) that it was any other way. Whether it was when Mahatma Gandhi asked her if she spoke Hindi, to which she replied — do you speak Tamil? Or whether it was in 1958 when she decided to start a school on the terrace of her home, which today, has grown into Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan, one of the foremost educational institutions in the country.
On Tuesday afternoon, Mrs YGP, the 93-year-old doyen of education, died of cardio-respiratory failure. “The school in 1958 was basically five boys on the thatched terrace of her Nungambakkam home,” says R Ravichander, one of her first batch of students. “But as we grew, the school grew,” says Ravichander, now group president, business development (south), Yes Bank. “By the end of the year we had moved to new premises in Nungambakkam, and by 1967, the school had its first university topper. All eyes were suddenly on Bala Bhavan,” he says.
Despite derision from the more established schools for her decision not to follow the Anglicised method of teaching, Mrs YGP, say her staff, was determined to inculcate Indian tradition in children. “Good morning” was replaced by ‘Shri Gurubyo Namaha’. “She would enter the assembly hall and say the words, and there would be pin drop silence,” recalls composer Anirudh Ravichander, a second generation PSBBian from his family.
Despite the growth of the school, Mrs YGP, who held degrees in journalism, education and history, never lost sight of the reason she started the institution — her love for teaching. Her granddaughter Madhuvanti Arun remembers her grandmother coaching her through the Class X social studies exam. “Her notes for me were so detailed that ‘Mrs YGP’s social studies notes’ became part of the prescribed reading material at school,” says Madhuvanti.
In 1981, Mrs YGP acted in the Kamal Hassan starrer ‘Raja Paarvai’, playing a teacher, a role she had perfected over the years. Mrs YGP, whose husband Y G Parthasarathy was a dramatist, established Bharat Kalachar on the school premises to promote the arts. The Padma Shri awardee once spoke of an antiquated rule that did not allow women to be principals of all-boys schools. Not one to give in, Mrs YGP spoke to Indira Gandhi about this at a conference in Kashmir, after which the rule was amended.
“We are always forbidden from asking why. I believe, why not?” said Mrs YGP.
Mrs YGP’s cremation will take place at 4pm on Wednesday at the Besant Nagar crematorium. She is survived by her sons Y Gee Mahendran and Y G Rajendra.
On Tuesday afternoon, Mrs YGP, the 93-year-old doyen of education, died of cardio-respiratory failure. “The school in 1958 was basically five boys on the thatched terrace of her Nungambakkam home,” says R Ravichander, one of her first batch of students. “But as we grew, the school grew,” says Ravichander, now group president, business development (south), Yes Bank. “By the end of the year we had moved to new premises in Nungambakkam, and by 1967, the school had its first university topper. All eyes were suddenly on Bala Bhavan,” he says.
Despite derision from the more established schools for her decision not to follow the Anglicised method of teaching, Mrs YGP, say her staff, was determined to inculcate Indian tradition in children. “Good morning” was replaced by ‘Shri Gurubyo Namaha’. “She would enter the assembly hall and say the words, and there would be pin drop silence,” recalls composer Anirudh Ravichander, a second generation PSBBian from his family.
Despite the growth of the school, Mrs YGP, who held degrees in journalism, education and history, never lost sight of the reason she started the institution — her love for teaching. Her granddaughter Madhuvanti Arun remembers her grandmother coaching her through the Class X social studies exam. “Her notes for me were so detailed that ‘Mrs YGP’s social studies notes’ became part of the prescribed reading material at school,” says Madhuvanti.
In 1981, Mrs YGP acted in the Kamal Hassan starrer ‘Raja Paarvai’, playing a teacher, a role she had perfected over the years. Mrs YGP, whose husband Y G Parthasarathy was a dramatist, established Bharat Kalachar on the school premises to promote the arts. The Padma Shri awardee once spoke of an antiquated rule that did not allow women to be principals of all-boys schools. Not one to give in, Mrs YGP spoke to Indira Gandhi about this at a conference in Kashmir, after which the rule was amended.
“We are always forbidden from asking why. I believe, why not?” said Mrs YGP.
Mrs YGP’s cremation will take place at 4pm on Wednesday at the Besant Nagar crematorium. She is survived by her sons Y Gee Mahendran and Y G Rajendra.
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