My son took me on the backwaters near Kozhikode last week, first boat ride in ten years. The water was so still that the coconut trees were standing upside down in it. I did not take a photo, I just wanted to keep it in my eyes.

It is past midnight and the house is asleep, so I sit on the terrace with my chilli plants. I keep wondering where my first batch of students went, the ones from 1988. If any of you had a teacher who believed in you, message them tonight. They are probably awake too.

People come to Kozhikode for the biryani, and yes it is good, but do not leave without walking down Mithai Theruvu for the halwa. I buy the black one, sit on the pavement, and eat it slowly like it is 1985 again.

The boy who failed my exam

One boy failed my Malayalam paper three years running and his father shouted at me at the gate. Last month that same boy, now a lorry owner, sent a driver to drop vegetables at my house with a note that said thank you mash. Marks measure one morning, mone, not a whole life.

New here, be patient with me

I am 63 and my grandson set this up for me, so forgive the slow typing. For 38 years I taught Malayalam in a school near Kozhikode, and now the classroom is quiet, but I still like to hear how young people are doing. Consider me the mash in the back bench this time.