To the Man who Made me

When I was in the 7th grade, a rather plump, old man came into our class for a one off session and spent a whole period discussing something in science, but I don’t remember what. Little did I know that he would shape me, my thoughts, my values and principles that I have today. That man was Professor R. Ananthan, fondly called Thatha by us students.

Two years later, through my sister’s friend, my mother got to know that there were these ‘enrichment classes’ conducted by Ananthan and convinced me to go. These were meetings held weekly on Sundays where Ananthan would introduce some concept in physics to us. Invariably, these sessions lasted about 3 hours. Soon enough, I started enjoying these meetings for some reason that I can’t recollect. A typical enrichment class had a maximum of six students — those who were genuinely interested in learning. These sessions were extremely unique and I’ve never been involved in anything since in spite of being in academic circles. There was no agenda since the things we discussed was never from any syllabus; simply things that were interesting to talk about. The best part of these discussions, as it progressed, was that Ananthan never really taught us. In many sessions, he would simply be a silent observer. He would just kindle us to go from step one, which he would address, to the end result on our own, in a sense mimicking discovery. The whole goal of learning is to discover and understand things for yourself rather than ‘knowledge’ given to you in the form of facts. There were innumerable instances when we as a group of students would, by ourselves, stumble upon ideas that the great men of yesteryear came up with several decades or centuries ago. The feeling one gets from rediscovery is indescribable. The ecstasy literally brought me goosebumps.

Ananthan did not teach us physics. He taught us how to learn physics. He taught us how to enjoy learning. This, today, is my most valuable possession — the fact that I love to learn. I will be a student for the rest of my life.

Ananthan had one principle in his classes/meetings. No question was to be deemed as a dumb question. The purpose of this is that it removes most, if not all the inhibition a student has while learning things. This initiates discussion and the process of active learning where one genuinely understands an idea or concept.

Another quality he brought out in me is being honest. Academic honesty is extremely important. One thing is to be honest to the outside world and something that is never given any thought is being honest to yourself; making sure that you don’t fool yourself. Learning happens only when you are brutally honest to yourself and shamelessly accept your ignorance.

Looking back, I think I’ve figured out the reason why Ananthan was so successful. He sincerely, genuinely loved his students. He wasn’t doing this for money; if he were, he would have taken at least some money from his students — all his classes were free. He wasn’t doing this for fame; if he were, he’d be bloating all over and the world would have known about him. He was selfless and all he had was unconditional love — pasam we say in tamil, for all his students. A classic example that’s there for everyone to see is Ravishankar. People who know Ravi would know how much he loved Ananthan and vice versa. Ananthan was Ravi’s everything.

I feel extremely privileged to have been a part of the last batch that he conducted enrichment classes for (he had to stop due to age). I can’t begin to imagine what my life would have been like had I not crossed paths with this great man.

Ananthan’s ultimate goal as a teacher was to mould students into what he called ‘Original Thinkers’. Today I realize how hard it is for one to truly be an original thinker, in the way he defined it. I don’t think I qualify even remotely as one of those people but I will strive very hard to be one. But I will promise this — I will, to the best of my ability, carry forward Ananthan’s legacy. I will promise to transmit and live by all the values he stood for. If I am able to achieve even a fraction of what he has done in his life, I would have lived a life that I’d be very proud of.

You will forever live through the thousands of people whom you’ve inspired. Even if you are physically not here, your ideas have already spread throughout the globe in the form of your students. You have truly made the world a better place.

To the Man who made me.

Rest in Peace Thatha.

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