Geetha Rajagopalan, former English teacher at P. S. Senior Secondary School, Mylapore, passed away on February 11 at her residence in Alwarpet. She was 85.
Geetha was born in July 1939 to Dr V. Padmanabhan, son of Sir S. Varadachariarar of the then judge in the Federal Court (presently Supreme Court) and Mythili, daughter of K. S. Krishnaswamy lyengar, a former judge of the Madras High Court.
Their house was then in Kalvivaru Street, Mylapore where the primary section of the Vidya Mandir school now functions.
She studied in Rosary Matric School and got married to Rajagopalan, an agriculturist while doing her intermediate at Stella Maris College.
Geetha’s passion for studies surfaced in her 40s when she pursued a masters in English literature and followed this with a M.Phil. programme.
She joined the English department of P. S. Senior in Mylapore and contributed much here. She was called ‘Sweety Miss’ in school, because she used to call all her students ‘Sweeties’ and they were veritably her life, says Murari, her son.
She took voluntary retirement and moved to Perugavazhndan village in Tiruvarur district in 1993 along with her husband and dedicated her time to teaching English to the rural students.
She shifted back to Chennai in 2003 and continued to teach poor girls of her colony for free, counsel young women in distress as well as teach school children dramatics.
Her other interests were Carnatic music, Bharatanatyam and English theatre.
She is survived by her son R. Murari, a geochemist from IIT Kharagpur and daughter Ramya, an interior designer and their families.
The family is at No.14/6 Natesan Colony, Alwarpet. R. Murari can be reached at murarirajagopalan@gmail.com. Ph: 9500070859
