Ambi and his wife also built a one of its kind school in the 1970s that has helped students "aim for the best without being aggressively competitive"
Here's a look at how he built the two institutions!!
It
was time to part ways at college. A set of friends had had a jolly good time in
the 3-4 years that had just gone by. But there was a tinge of sadness in one man.
He was keen to continue the strong friendship that he had built with many during
this period and was looking for an idea to keep them bonded for life.
It
struck him that presenting plays was one good way to do that. It was an accidental
meeting at the RR Sabha that led to him to bringing together his group of
friends into a full-fledged troupe that over the next 50 years would go on to
present well over 5000 hugely successful plays (he lost count after the magical
mark of 5000!!!).
That’s
‘Ambi’ Rajagopal (SRG to his friends) for you, the man who anchored this
success story. He also roped in his elder brother ‘Cho’ Ramaswamy to pen the
stories for his plays. Mohd Bin Tughlaq was an all time favourite, one that was
staged over a 1000times. In Saraswathi Sabatham, he created a revolutionary
rotating stage as early as the early 1970s.
The
plays became the talk of the town. There was a period when Ambi staged over
30plays in a month, with even multiple plays in a day. The ‘Cho Written-Ambi
Staged’ plays had caught on like forest fire and the audience was always
looking forward to the next play. The troupe continued their success story till
2004, the last one that they presented was Nermai Urangum Neram, after which
Cho decided to stop writing.
Anchoring a Radio Programme during the school days
Ambi
had had an early exposure to stage plays. When he was in the 4th
form at PS High School, Lakshmana Iyer, his teacher there, roped him in along
with a few other students for a radio show that he was producing. A year later,
the teacher eased himself out and gave Ambi (and his friend PN Kumar) the
responsibility to produce and anchor. Ambi anchored a 30 minute programme on the
radio that included children’s play. That was his first initiation into
‘plays’.
And
then there was a lull. He had no contact with dramatics till his first year in
college.
A Guest in waiting becomes an artiste
Ambi,
who spent the first 20years of his life on North Mada Street, used to walk back
from Vivekananda College with his neighbour and college mate PN Krishnaswamy
(PNK). One
evening PNK, who was already acting in dramas, asked Ambi to wait for a while
longer as he was finalising the artistes for the annual college drama. Suddenly
someone in that group stretched out his hand and pointing at Ambi called him out
as ‘Aiyyaswamy’.
Along
with Narayanaswamy (Joint Secy), Muthuswamy and Kothamangalam Mali (Treasurer),
Ambi founded Viveka Fine Arts and started staging plays.
Once
he accompanied Muthuswamy to RR Sabha (the latter used to get free entry there)
to watch Manohar’s Lankeswaran. Ambi was sitting on a cement bench near the
green room when Natesan Iyer passed by. He looked at Ambi and asked if he would
be interested to stage a play. And that was a life changing moment for him.
Ambi grabbed the opportunity with both hands and there was no looking back.
The Big Moment - Roping Cho in
Their
play ‘Thenmozhiyal’ was favourably received by the audience. He was looking for
a 2nd play and Cho’s ‘If I get it’ fell on his lap. Cho had joined
UAA as a stage assistant. With Pattu writing the plays for UAA, Cho’s story was
rejected. Ambi seized the moment and roped Cho into his troupe. He went up to
his brother and picked up the story. It became a roaring success. This was
staged over 20times in a single year. Along with his troupe, Ambi shot into
prominence.
Over
the next decade, Cho wrote a number of plays each of which was written in a
single sitting. Slapstick and Repartee Comedy and later political satires -
‘Don’t tell anybody’, ‘Wait and See’, ‘Why Not’ and ‘What for’ - had all become
super hits that decade. Mohd Bin Tughlaq topped the list. And he always had
people wanting more. They just could not resist VFA’s plays.
As
the secretary of the club, Ambi was clear. He would not stop plays for any
reason. If any artiste was absent, there were substitutes in place. If electricity
was a challenge (and it was many a time in those days), he would have people
hold ‘emergency light’ in hand so the play could continue.
Ambi looked back at that golden period with a great sense of satisfaction – ‘We
didn’t have ego, no axe to grind, absolutely no commercial interest. There were
no personality clashes and nobody wanted prominence. It was a pleasure to work
with the entire team over such a long period of time.’
Launch of a Residential School
While
the drama success is the more well known side of his life, Ambi along with his
wife Shantha launched ‘La Chatelaine’, in 1970, a school that has been
revolutionary in many ways over the last 45years.
During
one of his trips to the Swiss Alps, Ambi and his wife came across an
interesting finishing school. Impressed with the concept, they started a
similar one in Chennai. Students were taught horse riding, music-
western/Indian and dance, among other extra-curricular activities in addition
to academics. His idea was to keep it down to around 50 students. However,
demand for the offering increased dramatically to almost four times this number.
He
bought a five acre property in Valasarvakkam in the mid 1970s and set up a
1000 children residential school with students joining in from all over the
world. Children were monitored 24 hours a day. Parents fully trusted and
depended on Ambi and his wife to take care of their children. Ambi roped in a
battery of teachers for the non-academics that included a cultural wing within
the school.
Shantha had been a professor at the QMC.
When they decided to set up a small school in Chetput in 1970, there were many
who were apprehensive as she had no previous experience in school management.
With Ambi shuttling between the refinery and the Sabhas, she was left with the
day to day management in those early days “It
has been a wonderful and a most satisfying experience taking care of the
children over the last 45 years. Many of my students are still in touch with me
and we feel happy that they are all doing well in life."
Interestingly,
a lot of what he did for students in the residential school still continues in
the current set up - free lunch for students and teachers. The children
do not carry books, lunch boxes and big bags to school. Every child is given
‘protected’ drinking water. Ambi’s has been the only private school here to provide full
lunch to teachers and students without any charges. In the late 1990s, his was
the first school to totally computerise teaching of all subjects in the primary
section.
In
a golden period for stage plays, Ambi Rajagopal as the Secretary of Viveka Fine
Arts captivated and enthralled audiences on stage through his 5000+ plays. And over
the last 45 years, he has helped provide quality education to several thousands
of children though his philosophy of ‘helping them aim for the best without
being aggressively competitive’. The children at his school make friends
through good manners and absorb ethical and moral values not as a dogma but as
a way of life. And that gives a great deal of satisfaction for Ambi.
(Ambi
Rajagopal passed away recently)
2 comments:
Thank you for the blogpost and all the details. They were academicians class apart and truly cared for the children. We will miss them both dearly.
Shri Ambi and Smt Shantha were great souls. They have touched the lives of many children in the best way possible-providing quality and affordable education. In these days of commercialisation of education, to find such persons with philanthropic bent of mind in providing quality education is indeed God's work. They are noble human beings and my children have benefited by their love and care when they studied under their wings. We shall always be indebted to them and will always have special place in our hearts and mind. God Bless their souls and their near and dear ones. Wishing the new administration of La Chatelaine to continue with the good work of these great personalities in the way they have wanted it to be.
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