This is the legacy left by RD Naidu, the former principal of SMK Cochrane in Kuala Lumpur and High School Bukit Mertajam in Penang, whose dedication continues to touch lives years after his passing in 1993.

In an effort to preserve his story and personal achievements, his daughters Gomathi and Gowmathy Devi Naidu have worked on his biography, “Waves Don’t Rest”.

The book tells of how Naidu climbed the social ladder to leave behind a challenging life to become a respected educator, and also shares what he was like as a father.

The siblings told FMT they had longed to write this book since 2015, when Naidu was awarded a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award, but it was only during lockdown in 2020 that they found the time to do it.

‘Needed to be told’

“Our father had a sad and difficult life,” Gomathi said, revealing that their grandfather – Naidu’s father – had died during World War II, leaving behind his young family.

Once, while visiting Ipoh, Naidu showed them his tiny childhood home. They said his challenging life experiences had driven him to become a productive individual, never sitting still and almost always having a book in hand.

“He once said the only reason he moved up in life was because he studied and he got an education,” said Gowmathy.

So many decades later, the sisters still receive emails from former students living overseas sharing how Naidu’s guidance had shaped and changed them as individuals.

“We realised how much he had touched many people along his way,” Gowmathy added. “They talked to us about how he had helped and encouraged them.

“It has been nearly 30 years since he passed away, but people still remember him. So we thought his story needed to be told.”

As they were living apart at the time, the sisters collaborated online, working daily on their respective parts of the book. Newspaper cuttings and scrapbooks were important resources as they worked to piece together their father’s life and many achievements.

“Waves Don’t Rest” was completed in August and released in late March.

Their father, Gomathi pointed out, contributed to the national education system through his published articles and extensive research, including on better ways to teach Bahasa Malaysia and the reasons students were failing the subject.

He was also a volunteer with the anti-drug organisation Pemadam, and worked hard to ensure his own pupils never went down the road to addiction.

Naidu was further instrumental in encouraging his students to pick up sports such as rugby and cricket, which, in turn, created many athletes out of them.

Outside of the academic setting, he was an avid animal lover, with dogs and cats finding a home in the Naidu household. “At one point, he even rescued ducks from the market that were meant to be eaten!” Gowmathy recalled.

From their research, the sisters uncovered many facts they had previously not known – for instance, that he had been the founder of SMK Cochrane’s parent-teacher association (PIBG), and that he was also the author of a paper studying school dropouts in Perak.

“He brought it to the attention of the ministry that there was a problem that had to be addressed,” Gomathi said, adding that most of these studies were born out of his desire for all students to get the education they needed and deserved.

So what was it like for the sisters to realise their dream of telling Naidu’s story?

For Gowmathy, it was “an enjoyable experience”, while Gomathi added: “There were many poignant and emotional moments throughout the writing, both happy and sad. We were in tears as we typed.”

The sisters believe Naidu’s former students will find his biography to be worthy of a space on their bookshelf, and they hope to keep celebrating his legacy by working on a new book – this time around, incorporating Naidu’s unpublished manuscripts on his experiences during the Japanese occupation.

Until then, they are grateful to be able to share their and others’ experiences of this man who had inculcated in them a love for learning.

Asked to describe him, Gowmathy said: “He was a very genuine and kind person without a mean bone in his body. He was strict and had a temper, but he was still a good, principled man, and a loving father.”

Added Gomathi: “Disciplined and punctual, too!”

Email [email protected], or send a WhatsApp message to Gomathi at 017-6182939 or Gowmathy at 017-8890090 for your own copy of ‘Waves Don’t Rest’.