OFF TOPIC:- FOR FIRDUAS BHAI FOLLOWERS : QUITE INTERESTING ACHIEVEMENT OF OUR'S FIRDUAS BHAI'S MOTHER

Mrs. Perin Faredoon Lalkaka
Her journey as an educator
Being a teacher was Perin Lalkaka’s childhood dream. She started giving private
tuitions while still being in the 8th standard and earned a princely sum of Rs. 10 p.m.!
Born in 1930, she was one of seven brothers and sisters. She did her schooling from Mt.
Carmel Convent in Ahmedabad. Her father’s very strict orthodox views did not permit her
to study beyond matriculate.
Married off at just 19, her first brush with education came about in 1959, when her elder
son Ruzbeh was in Kindergarten at St. Xavier’s School, Mirzapur. Being a very cranky
child, she had to sit outside his kindergarten class everyday. Whenever the class teacher
was absent, the principal would request her to mind the kindergarten class. She
substituted the class teacher a few times. Observing her good command over English
and excellent class control, the principal expressed his willingness to offer her a teacher’s
position provided she did her Teacher’s Training course. Upon completing the Teacher’s
Training course in 1960, she joined as a teacher at St. Xaviers School, Mirzapur at a
salary of Rs. 100 p.m. !
What triggered her DREAM to start her own kindergarten school was the speech by
the chief guest at the convocation ceremony of the Teacher’s Training course in 1960.
While giving his speech, the chief guest said, “…and with this qualification, even you
can start a school of your own one day !”
While this statement kindled a burning desire in her, having neither a place nor the
financial resources to start her own school, she continued to teach the primary section at
St. Xaviers till 1974. In fact, so strong was her desire, that way back in the sixties, she
had even decided that whenever she did open her own kindergarten school, she would
name it THUMBELINA ! But why THUMBELINA ? Thumbelina, if you all recollect, was a
thumb-sized fairy, a character created by Hans Christen Andersen. As a kindergarten
school had little children coming to it and as they all had the purest of hearts, there was
no better name for a kindergarten school other than THUMBELINA !
She had quite a few odds stacked up against her during her years of the grind ! With her
elder son in a boarding school in Abu and her husband being a hundred kilometers away
at the factory where he worked, she raised her younger son all by herself at Ahmedabad
while staying in a joint family. Her day started at 4 am and ended at 11 pm.. In addition
to teaching at St. Xavier’s, in order to build her financial resources, she gave private
tuitions, knitted sweaters, wrote articles on cookery and child psychology in various
magazines and newspapers. What she possessed back then was a willingness to work
hard and BELIEF in HERSELF that she could do it ! It was her resilience, tremendous
work ethic, ability to multi-task independently coupled with a never-say-die attitude that
built her mental toughness over the years.
In the year 1974, she moved into an apartment opposite St. Xaviers Loyola Hall, in the
Navrangpura area. When her request to seek a job transfer to St. Xaviers Loyola Hall
was turned down as she had not done her B.A., B.Ed., she decided to quit her teacher’s
job and start her own kindergarten school as she now had not only years of teaching
experience but most importantly, a place of her own !
Amidst hundreds of naysayers who bent backwards to discourage her from starting her
own school, there was only one family friend, Dr. Manu Chudgar, whose moral support
and encouragement gave her the courage to take the plunge ! “Perin,” he said, “You
have the PASSION and the EXPERIENCE, you possess a great WORK ETHIC and
above all, you have HONEST INTENTIONS…those are the key ingredients that
breed SUCCESS ! There’s NO WAY you’ll FAIL ! Just go ahead with what you
WANT TO DO and just don’t bother about what others say !”
And that’s how THUMBELINA NURSERY & K.G. SCHOOL was launched in 1974 from
the sitting room of her 3-bedroom ground floor apartment ! It was a humble beginning
with a seed capital of Rs. 10-15,000 which were her life savings built out of giving
private tuitions, knitting sweaters, writing articles on cookery and child psychology in
various magazines and newspapers. She purchased teaching aids, etc. from M/s.
Jaychand Talakshi (Wadhwan city) and got a swing and slide fabricated. As she couldn’t
afford advertising in the newspapers, she printed out pamphlets announcing the opening
of her kindergarten school and her younger son Firdaus, would go out on his bicycle
every evening after school and distribute them in every house in the vicinity !
Thumbelina started with just 2 students, which grew to 10 by the end of the first month
and to 30 by the end of the year. With all her students gaining admission into St. Xavier’s
and Mt. Carmel, the two most sought after schools in Ahmedabad back then, she realised
that she had delivered !!! In year 2, the strength rose to 60 and in year 3, it rose to 80 !
Growing numbers and a court case filed by the residents of the apartment claiming it to
be a nuisance, left her with no choice but to look for a bigger space. She immediately
started looking for an independent plot in the vicinity and found a wonderful premises
quite close by. But alas ! She didn’t even have a third of the money that the seller
wanted ! Even her bankers refused to lend her the money ! But God always shows the
WAY to people who are hard-working ! And prayers DO WORK !!! She remembers
praying to God to show her a way to find the money needed to buy this property. That
was when, she got the idea of writing a letter to her existing parents appraising them of
the situation and telling them that she had identified a wonderful and spacious property
where the school could be shifted but as she didn’t have all the money required to buy
that property, she might have to close down her school unless the parents agreed to help
her out with an interest-free loan of Rs. 1000/- which she would return to them after a
period of 2 years. And would you believe it ? While her own bankers refused to finance
buying of the property, it was her parents who helped her out whole-heartedly !!! She
gives complete credit and will always remain indebted to her school’s parents for
helping her out and ensuring the continuity of her institution !
Coupled with her teaching experience at St. Xavier’s, over the years, she gained a deep
understanding of a child’s capabilities. According to her, kindergarten children were most
responsive to the “Play-Way” method of teaching developed by Madam Montessori.
Through a lot of experiments and trials, Perin Lalkaka developed teaching methods which
enabled children to understand things conceptually rather than simply through learning by
rote. She developed techniques which would enable teachers to gain better class
control, maintain better discipline and increase the attentiveness of children in class.
Keeping in mind that most families don’t have an English-speaking environment at home,
she designed her own course curriculum in a manner that would not only help the child
overcome this limitation but which also took into consideration the child’s growing
physical and mental capabilities. All this knowledge and hands-on experience
equipped her to develop her own teaching methods and train her own teachers and
enabled her school in achieving the goal of laying in a firm foundation in children
regardless of their language background and in preparing them for their academic
journey in the years ahead.
Today, Thumbelina is a 35 year-old institution and boasts of having laid in a firm
foundation in thousands of students. What makes her feel most fulfilled in life is when
her own Ex-Xavierite or Ex-Thumbelina students approach her to seek admission for their
children and grandchildren in Thumbelina !!!
She calls Thumbelina, her 3rd baby ! She can never see herself retiring….ever ! She
considers herself to be one of the fortunate few who found her calling in life…being an
educator…and when that happens…the efforts you put in, turn into a LABOUR OF
LOVE rather than WORK !!!
The message she’d like to give to people is : “Don’t let anybody steal your dream !
There will be challenges on the way. But, if your dream is BIG enough and STRONG
enough, then such impediments won’t demoralize you ! Just BELIEVE in YOURSELF,
have FAITH in God and work hard as if it all depends on YOU !
Courtesy:-
Firdaus lalkaka
ahmedabad