For , school beatings by his teachers were par for the course. or signup to continue reading Unknowingly having , Dr Mamootil struggled to recite and write the alphabet. Without paper in rural schools in India more than 90 years ago, teachers sent home letters scribbled on palm leaves for their young charges to write in the sand the next day.
"I was caned regularly for failing to write or recite," he said. "I failed every class until even my younger brother jumped up in the class above me." About age 14, he was put to work on his father's farm in the rice fields at Kumbanad, where he soon made up his mind to find another job.
He decided he would become a dentist and knew he had to finish school. "I was determined to get off the farm," he said. "On my third attempt at the age of 21, I finally passed high school! "I was the worst student among my peers but despite the humiliation, I just kept going.
" Now aged 98, the Albury resident reflected on his punishing upbringing in his new memoir, . Plagued with scabies, whooping cough, conjunctivitis, roundworms and year-round flu, he didn't have the constitution to thrive but he certainly retained his unwavering drive. Dr Mamootil wanted to study at Calcutta Dental College, nearly 2500 kilometres from his home town, despite his father's wish for him to stay on the farm.
He arrived in 1949, two years after India gained independence from the British. Initially told his college application arrived too late and he'd need to re-apply for t.