Hi,

The question is asked from the novel Swami and Friends which is written by the novelist R. K. Narayan. In the novel, Swaminathan was apprehensive of Mondays.

As he gets only two days Saturday and Sunday to relax and enjoy, he feels Monday as the most unpleasant day.

Swami is a student of the First Form.  As Swami sits on the table in his ‘room’ which is merely a table in the dressing- room of his father he finds that he has a lot of home work to do, and only two hours for doing it. He feels bored and tired, and is in no mood for work.

He reaches the class on time and we are introduced to the fire-eyed teacher Vedanayagan, the class-teacher and also arithmetic teacher. Swami does not like him and we get a taste of Narayan’s verbal humour when we are told that Swami’s “criticism of the teacher’s face was that his eyes were too near each other, that there was more hair on his chin than one saw from the bench, and that he was very very bad-looking.” All the sums done by Swami are wrong, they are crossed out, the remark ‘very bad’ is given, he is very severely pinched over his left ear, and told to go back to his seat.

Then comes the History period, and the teacher is Dr Pillai. His method of teaching is interesting, but it does not conform to any known principles of education. It is followed by the scripture period and the teacher, Ebenezar, is a fanatic Christian. He constantly criticises and abuses Hindu Gods who, for him, are merely pieces of stone