Ex-teacher recalls Jaya as girl who ate nuts from project work

COIMBATORE: In 1960, when former chief minister J Jayalalithaa was a Class 7 student, she was assigned a project by her geography teacher, Leena Jane Thomas, to map out agricultural production in India.
It was no surprise that the class topper submitted an excellent project, sticking the actual crop for each state on a large map of India, and scoring 9 out of 10.For Tamil Nadu, Leena vividly recalled that she had stuck ground nuts.
What surprised her was that a week later, when she had checked her star pupil's assignment book, she found the ground nuts missing from the map. When she questioned her, Jayalalithaa revealed amidst peals of laughter that she had eaten them up! "I too burst out laughing," said the 92-year-old teacher who taught English, history and geography at Church Park Presentation Convent between 1954 and 1960.
Thomas, now a retired teacher living in Race Course, Coimbatore, remembers Jayalalithaa as a cheerful extrovert who was remarkably adept, even at that young age, in persuading those around her to do her bidding.
"Jayalalithaa and her friends, including the daughter of Raja of Pithapuram, managed to convince us teachers to plan a picnic," she said.
In another incident, they were travelling in Jayalalithaa's friend Rajalakshmi's car when the driver lost control and hit a tree. "While we were all shaken by the incident, Jayalalithaa remained calm, reminding the driver to be careful for the rest of the journey," said Thomas who was her teacher from Classes 5 to 7. "To distract us, she made us laugh by imitating Shivaji Ganesan during the rest of the drive," said added.
Even at that tender age, Jayalalithaa's people skills were evident, said Thomas. "The principal, an Irish nun named Celine was very fond of her. She often scored 99 or 100 in most subjects. Thus, I had saved some of her old note books and mark sheets to show school children," said Thomas.
In 1960, when Leena Thomas moved to Coimbatore, she began teaching at St Joseph's Matriculation School. "I always knew that she would make her mark in the world as she was multi-talented, respectful and had the unique ability to get along with everyone," recalls Thomas.
When Thomas first heard that Jayalalithaa was acting in films, she said she was surprised and felt a certain sadness. "I clearly remember an afternoon when the students were discussing their future plans. Although Jayalalithaa was not clear about what she wanted to do with her life, she was determined not to enter the cinema world, even though her mother was an actress," recalled Thomas.
However, that was not her destiny and the rest is history.