Alamelu Gopalan, former principal of Vidya Mandir school, Luz passed away on March 25. The funeral is to be held on Friday.
The end was sudden and has shocked a huge community of former students and school elders who knew her closely. Since last night, tributes have been flowing in via social media and continue to do so today.
Alamelu was considered to be a great math teacher and a warm school Head. Having taught many generations at this famed campus and many alumni have seen her as an iconic teacher.
Here are a few posts on social media –
Alamelu Gopalan Miss !! The person behind me joining one of the best schools in Chennai, says Vaishnavi Poorna.
Amazing amazing lady who nurtured thousands of young minds with a strong moral compass., posted Ram Sundaram.
Unable to sleep… Just thinking of all the moments I shared with AG miss… What a teacher! What a kind soul, posted Bhargavii Mani.
As a parent, I would like to place on record yeomen service on her part in installing the confidence of her students. As has been rightly said she lives in the heart of all those students and there is no question of her soul resting in peace. Memorials are for the dead and persons of her calibre serve as beacon light for ever. The duty cast on her students is to lead a meaningful and purposeful life in the way she has visualized so as to make her dreams come true at all times in their life. Parents never felt uncomfortable while meeting her as she has bee patience personified besides being most accomodative.
It is hard to digest this shocking news. How can we forget our beloved AG Miss. Right from the early 1970s from the time she was staying at Balaji Ngar Royapettah till recently at Sriram nagar….she was an allrounder in Vidya Mandir. Conducting the morning prayers, taking classes not just maths but science too It was way back in1972-73 she was our 3rd std science miss beautifully describing the life cycle of a housefly, butterfly and frog not only with wonderful chalk setch but with “Abhinayams” too. Probably the Nrithyodaya genes runs in her blood too.(she is the niece of the legendary Film maker Doyen of South Indian cinema sri K.Subrahmanyam)..Again the Probability theory (with wonderful examples of marbles/tops….Goli and Pambaram…) and Set theory (Union and Intersections) with examples from Hindu mythology….something different and innovative…..The Friday morning prayer with a sanskrit sloka specially composed for Vidya Mandir in highr and lower octaves…in unison is worth mentioning. Quadratic equations and Integration, Indices and Matrices, Co-ordinate geometry, Differential equation and derivatives, Pythagoras (Adhu Piththa Goraas illa…Pai tho goras….darbaiyai pottu posikkinaalum……kku varaadhu Eppo ungalukkellam ind aruma theriyaadhu, veli naadu pona appa puriyum)……Her wonderful choreography for Inter house Dramatics or Schoolday functions and the one-to-one talk during her leisure hours inside the staff room…Saththiyama inimae andha maadhiri role model paarkkavae mudiyaadhu. I will not pray for her soul to rest in peace for she is immortal and is always with us…..for ever Shankar Venkatraman 1968 to 1982 Vidya Mandir cell:9942990839
A WONDERFUL PERSON VERY AFFECTIONATE AND CARING, I WAS FORTUNATE TO WORK FOR HER AT VIDYA MANDIR.MAY HER SOUL REST IN PEACE
Mrs PUSHPA JANARDHAN