From the KIS Kitchen: 43 Years of Memories with Ribake Anna

For 43 years, J. Ribake has been a familiar and much-loved presence at Kodaikanal International School. To generations of KIS students, however, he is simply Ribake Anna.

Ribake began his career at the Tamil Nadu Hotel in Kodaikanal before joining KIS on 23 August 1983. What began as a job in the school kitchen became a lifelong connection to the school, its students and its community.

When Ribake first arrived, the kitchen was much smaller than it is today. Over the years, he has watched it grow and expand, just as he has watched KIS change around him. But when he talks about his 43 years at the school, it is the people and the memories that stand out most.

“I like the school and I like working with the children,” he says. That connection with students is one of the reasons he has stayed for so long.

Over the years, Ribake has worked alongside many people who became an important part of his life. He particularly remembers Mr. Raja, Mr. Jerome and Mr. Kesar, colleagues and managers from his early years at KIS who remain part of his memories of the school.

His memories stretch well beyond the kitchen. He remembers school camps and activities from his younger days, including trips around Kodaikanal to places that have changed considerably over the years. For someone who has spent more than four decades at KIS, those memories are woven into the history of the school itself.

Perhaps most importantly, Ribake remembers the way the KIS community supported his family.

When his daughter was young and needed special medication from abroad, the school helped make arrangements to bring the medicine to India. He also remembers the care provided by Dr. Bruce Lee.

That experience has stayed with him and is part of what makes KIS special in his eyes.

For Ribake, a school is not only a place where children come to learn. It is a community that looks after its people.

“School is providing education to the children and medical [care]. These two things are very important.”

After 43 years, Ribake has seen generations of students come and go, buildings change and the school continue to grow. But perhaps what has remained most meaningful is the sense of connection — the relationships built between students, staff and families, and the feeling of being part of something bigger than oneself.

That is what makes a school community special. And Ribake Anna has been part of that community for more than four decades.

When asked what he would say to the students of KIS today, his message is simple:

“Study well and do well.”

And he has one more thought to share — one that speaks to what KIS has meant to him throughout his long journey:

“School is a wonderful institution. It is all in our hands. How do we care for the school? How do we behave in the school? That will keep us here longer.”

For 43 years, Ribake Anna has cared for KIS in his own way — through the meals he has prepared, the children he has known, the colleagues he has worked alongside and the community he has helped to build.

His story is a reminder that the heart of KIS is not only found in its classrooms, fields or buildings. It is found in the people who give the school its character, year after year, generation after generation.

And Ribake Anna is, without doubt, one of those people.