At 71, Samuel is jack of all trades, and master of many

KOTTAYAM: T.G. Samuel is a state award-winning school teacher with a difference. At 71, he is the  district  body-building champion at the master’s level.  For the last five years, he has maintained that position in the competition meant for those  above 60 years. The multifaceted teacher is also  long-distance runner, who came first in the 10,000-metre sprint at the state level when he was 55. He was an activist of the anti-liquor movement and a close associate of Prof M.P. Manmadhan.

When this reporter met him at Mullankuzhy near Kottayam railway station on the eve of  ‘World teachers day,’ he was browsing through his vast collection of books neatly arranged in the front room of his house. “I was very particular that I should impart real knowledge to  the students. I used to train them in the right spirit and hence collected a lot of books over the years which are now mainly my assets,” said Mr Samuel, who was a teacher of chemistry and English in six schools under the Marthoma Church management in  a career spanning 33  years.

The books range from English literature,  philosophy, Gandhian thought to moral stories. His passion for body-building began  from  school days when his father L.George was an LP school teacher at Perinad near Kollam. His mother Annamma Peter was  headmistress  of the government LPS, Panayam North in Kollam.

Mr Samuel, who was a councillor from the railway station ward (1982-1997) to the Kottayam municipality, also held a 1001-day protest at the Gandhi Square in Kottayam demanding a   ban on politics in schools. “This was  when I was a teacher with the MT seminary school in Kottayam. A student who had no political connections became a victim as a result of student violence. While I was taking him to the MCH, he died in my hands. Hence, I resolved to end the student politics in schools and protested for 1001 days by holding a placard demanding a ban on politics in schools. My efforts paid off when the court banned politics in schools,”  Mr Samuel added. His day begins  at 5 a.m. when he goes for jogging for at least five km. He takes only  routine food.  After breakfast, he works in his house compound where he has cultivated some plants and trees.