Yesteryear musings(3) - Nick names

We used to attach benign nick names to teachers. I don’t know if the practice continues today or has taken some different shape. The names were mostly functional or related to an attribute the teacher possessed. In any case there was no malice. I can recall the following:

Dhrabai: This was the teacher’s pet swear word when he wanted to scold someone. This was a superlative form of the less aggressive asadu and indicated uselessness

Sevvai kizhamai: This teacher was fond of Tuesday – let us have the test on Tuesday, next Tuesday we will have no class, today is Tuesday, so let us begin the new lesson tomorrow and so on.

Jilpa: This name indicated that the teacher sported long hair in the style of Dhoni of earlier days.

Ottadai kombu: This is the instrument used to clean cobwebs on the roof of the house. It is characterized by being long and slender. So the teacher who was tall and lanky was ottadai kombu.

Onne mukkal anna: This requires explanation. In those days one rupee was divided into sixteen annas and one anna contained twelve paise. Onne mukkal anna was thus written as 0 – 1 – 9 (rupee, anna and paise in that order). The teacher in question had initials OVG. His signature resembled 0-1-9. Hence the name.

Thundu beedi: This was the Physical Training instructor who was often spotted smoking small sized beedis

Arisi mootai: Obviously a short fat teacher who resembled a bag of rice.

Balli muttai: To this day I have not been able to figure out the connection between the nick name and the teacher. The nick name literally means lizard egg.