Erode: On Friday morning. 52-year-old V.Gunaesekaran and his son Tamizheezham, offered prayers at their house near Gobichettipalayam and left for the public examination hall together. The father did not leave the son in the examination hall and return home.
Instead, he hotfooted to his examination hall to write the plus-2 public exam. In a rare spectacle, both father and son appeared for the exam in Erode district, though in different examination halls.
A government road worker in the state highways department at Kavundanpadi near Gobichettipalaym, V.Gunasekaran dropped out of school when he was in Class VII. But he did not drop his zest for learning. When his younger son, Tamizheezham appeared for Class X public exam, he prepared for the exam along with his son and cleared it.
Unfazed by the sniggers of his relatives and friends, he decided to study along with his son for the plus-2 exam too. For his son, it is a moment of pride.
“My father is a role model for not just me, but many students.
At the prime age of 52, he has not lost his passion for learning. And has been studying day and night for the plus-2 exam. I am really proud for him,” gushes Tamizheezham, as he rushes to the examination hall at his Bharathiya Vidyalaya school to write his language paper.
For the son and father, it was a sort of an academic competition on who scores more. In Class X exam, the son outscored the father by over 150 marks. While the father scraped through with 282 out of 500, the son scored 459 out of 500 marks. “I wrote the Class X exam out of my interest in academics and also to get a promotion in my job. Now, I am appearing for Class XII exam with strenuous preparations to emerge as an example for all the school drop-outs,” says Gunasekaran. His eldest son, Arulmani has completed engineering course and is employed in Coimbatore. His second son, Tamizheezham is keen on becoming a doctor. “ Hope I score enough marks to get medicine and serve my people,” smiles Thamizheezham, who has opted for science group. But his father has taken up commerce, accountancy and political science.
