Name: Pearl Devasanageetha
Millennia Institute
Pre-University, Year One (Arts)
It felt like a shrivelled raisin.It had definitely seen better days.Every vein had a different story to tell.Every storm,trial and adversity,it had faced them all.It was rough to the touch like the bark of an old oak tree but yet,I felt safe.I felt loved and I never wanted to let go.My grip grew stronger than ever on my grandmother's callous,endearing hands as she accompanied me to Nee Soon Community Centre to receive my Edusave Award in 1997 when I was in primary one.
Heroes.They're only found in fairytales and are fiction.Are they?Well, it depends.We grow up in a day and generation where whether SpiderMan is our hero or not,Tobey Maguire is definitely our hero.However,I'm being very stereotypical by saying,'OUR hero'.Someone who is a hero to one may not necessarily be considered a hero to all.It's like how most people are torn apart between Superman and Batman,but realise something?They have all helped someone.They have all saved the day and they have all made a difference in somebody's life.One such person to me would be my maternal grandmother.
She was someone I accepted quickly into my life.I always had utmost respect and love for her and I grew immensely closer to her after my parents' had filed for a divorce when I was four years old.Ghana Santhosham Jesudason.Its a simple and normal name to many.Never the less,how do I perceive it?
"SUPER-Ghana Santhosham Jesudason-GRANDMOTHER". Now that's more like it.
She was born on 3rd November 1929 in India.She would be 79 this year.She got married to my grandfather and came to Singapore for better employment.He found work as a tamil teacher in Canberra Primary School.Both of them had four children.Life was simple yet blissful.However,tragedy struck in 1962 when he passed away from cardiac arrest.Everything changed after that.There was no income for the family and it was hard on her as she had barely completed her O'levels.Yet she never gave up.She attended night classes and took
She may be a teacher but she definitely taught me both christian and universal values that were outside the textbook like discipline and being humble.She then retired from teaching in 1969.
Something that is very fresh in my memory would be the time when I had just received my O'level mother tongue results for the June paper.I had gotten a B3.I felt demoralised.I had disappointed my grandmother but she did not hold it against me.I was also weak i nother subjects.Hence my teachers told me to concentrate on them and not re-take my tamil because I might get a B3 again.It seemed as though the teachers had given up on me and I was heartbroken.However,my grandmother was supportive.She believed that i could do it and that I shoudn't be a quitter.Thus,I sat for the paper.As much as I wanted a distinction for myself,I wanted it even more badly for her.
When I received my results,I had gotten an A2 for tamil.I was over the moon.When i told her,she said,"Hmm,you probably got a 74/100 and missed your A1 by one mark".When she said that,I started laughing because I knew tha
Now,it feels like a kitchen tile on a cold rainy day.It is still rougher than ever and unusually cold but like how you hold a piece of plasticine for a long time and it gets warmer,I will give her warmth,safety and love,just as she has done for me and i won't let go as my grip grows stronger than ever on her callous,endearing hands.
As i sing the praises of this unsung hero,reminising and recollecting the ups and downs of her carousel life,I bear in mind that she is anything but plain.She is anything but simple.She is your average-everyday-ordinary hero in her extraordinary ways.There is magic in her touch,power in her voice,she is incredible yet she is no Incredible Hulk.She is perfection personified yet she is no Wonderwoman.She is no Powerpuff Girl yet she is a pwerful woman.She wears no cape,just a simple cotton sari.She is always in all ways,my grandmother, My Hero.