Firm Sangeetha Sir - Thammaiah - The Amazing People in My Life Series

When I was in High School at Hassan we had 2 periods in a week for Music. One class for Carnatic and one more for light music. It was not a period to learn simply music. It was a time of a lot of discussions of national interests, values, and behaviors.

All the students called him Sangeetha Sir, rarely we referred him by his name which was Tammaiah. He had a great ability to remember each and every student's name. where they sit normally and how they sing, talk, etc. He could easily point at a student who is not in sync among 50 girls singing in the class. He had some amazing abilities.

I had more interaction than this with him as I was the person who read all his letters and other posts which were in English. He was visually challenged from birth.

He would come looking for me during the breaks or after school with the letter and ask me to read. Sometimes whenever there was a break,  I went to the staff room to check if he had any letters for me to read. During this time he would also tell me many other interesting things also ask me about things he did not know and could not feel. In a way, I got interested in social issues, and politics through these interactions. He also had figured out my strengths and had advised me on my professional choices as well.

His knowledge and enthusiasm to learn things amazed me. I always believed that he would have been a great teacher in other subjects as well if he was allowed to be. He had impeccable Kannada and was a good orator too. In school, if heard of indifferent treatment by a teacher he would flare up. He had a deep sense of responsibility as a teacher and he always put students' interests first. In a sense, he was a fighter!

After school, I lost touch with him until I reconnected after a couple of years. This time he was not a Teacher, after promotions he had become Director in the Education Dept. Now he was busy visiting many schools for audits and inspections. Though he was busy those days he attended my wedding. 

Sangeetha Sir came home for a flash visit on my daughter's birthdays just based on his memory.

The Unique thing about him is he never stayed more than 30 mins anywhere. As a principle, he never has food at anyone's place. Whenever  I whine about this, he would say that it will be an inconvenience for the people as well as for him as he has to take help from others to reach the washbasin, etc. He hates being dependent.

After he is retired, he went on a pilgrimage not once or twice but 5 times. He has visited Dhwadasha linga, Chardham, Vaishno Devi, Tirupathi, and many more temples. He became a heavy traveler, I was shocked to know that he would cover Adi ranga - Madhya ranga- Antya ranga in a day!

During one of my trips to the US, he had asked me to get a phone with keys suitable for the visually challenged. He was having difficulty using smartphones as it has soft keys. I could not get him one which bothers me even today! 

After this, he came for a flash visit to my home and I was astonished to see the way he has started using the smartphone with the audio option settings. I got very emotional seeing this. I felt very proud of his perseverance and drive.

During the lockdown, he had to go through a lot of difficulties as he lives alone. His food came from neighboring Hotels and messes which got closed. He suffered both physically and psychologically as he lost interaction with people due to restrictions on travel. That's when he started to use WhatsApp to connect with people. He is broadcasting his life stories, his struggles, his achievements every day by recording as an audio story and the message will be there every day in the morning at 4:30 am! 

Every time I meet him I realize the pure potentiality of a man and he is one of the very few people I have met who live and die by their principles.