17. Madras Eye

In Search of Swami series. Semi-autobiographical work about my school days. Sri Vidya Mandir, Salem.

If there is one guy who was equally loved and hated by all the students it should be the doctor. Venkatesen, the doctor, will visit the hostel daily in the morning. If a student is sick or have some health issues he can inform the hall in-charge and meet the doctor at the hostel office room.

Doctor with his thick nerdy glasses will always carry a smile; he was very energetic, that even if you talk with him few words, the sickness will run away. Students visiting him will be always looking forward to his report- “Need rest” in the report then he’ll become our angel, because need rest means no school for the day. But the “Need rest” carried caveat- Injection, like all the doctors at that time, injection was mandatory. 

After faking stomach pain, the most common seasonal disease (or infection) was Madras Eye. Whenever Madras Eye season comes, doctor will have the extra work to treat those red eyes. Parthasarathi, a kid who posed a natural spike hair and one who introduced frisbee to us took pride in Madras Eye. Reason- He was from Saidapet, Madras (Chennai was still Madras then). Unluckily, Parthasarathi never got madras eye and never got “need rest” report from doctor. He used to fake red eye and was gracefully chased away by Dr. Venkatesen.

This Madras Eye had a yearly ritual. Once a student is identified, he will be put into a “solitary confinement” like setup. There will be a make shift madras eye ward at the Shradha Hall. At any point, there will be five to six inpatients (students) with bleeding red in the ward.

Like Partha, I never got Madras Eye.

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*** Above image by the blogger