I feel like I am struck by this deep sense of grief, the first news of death that has impacted me in such a way in my entire 30 years of life. He was one my favorite teachers. I am proud to say the Mathematics that I can proudly claim to have understood is everything he taught. He was a teacher with an attitude; absolutely brilliant, orthodox in his approach to the subject and unorthodox in his teaching style.
I still remember those days when I was conscious of every thing I wrote in Mathematics, I remember those days whenever I did a division of variables, I heard him demanding in my head "boothulu rayaddu.." As simple as this formula a+b = a^2-b^2/a-b, 'what happens when a=b????'; he would have said in his satirical tone. Obviously we didnt care, the very thing we are defining could be undefined and we couldnt care less. How he would try to nail these things down into our thick heads!! Not caring was equal to blasphemy for him.
The voice faded as years passed by. I learnt to ignore that voice. I told myself a little blasphemy wouldnt hurt, especially when there was no one to notice.
Now he is no more... how relieved must I be.. nobody to scrutinize those little definitions and indefinitions, I am free to commit crime in the name of Mathematics..So it seems!! His voice seems to be echoing more than ever. Sometimes absence has effects worse than presence. If my conscience takes over from his absence, there couldnt be a better tribute to my favorite teacher.
He was not a perfect human being. He would smoke in class non-stop, I would have detested that from any other person. He was the only one from whom I was willing to endure the smoke in return for part-taking in his motivating class. And most of his fans would agree.
The world is going to miss one of the best Real Analysis teachers ever.
He was the only person who called me 'amma lata', and lata amma for sure will miss him. 'amma lata' ra vachi cheyyi board meeda.. that was the prize I would vie for in his class. and when he thought we nailed it down.. he would say 'Thats fantaaaastic!' This sentence was music.. if he thought something was fantastic, can you imagine how elated a student could be?
Here are some of the things his students say after his death
- I will finish the last homework he gave us on hyperbolic functions more sincerely than ever
- that he once said "idi vastadi, dani babu vastadi, dani tata vastadi.. naa students ki aa pogarundali" in his traditional bandar accent.. refering to a tough problem.. that his students should have the arrogance to solve the toughest of tough problems in Math.
- one student says.. "may his soul get plenty of cigarettes to smoke even in heaven".
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5 comments:
very nice, akka.. thanks for bringing back memories of those days.
Sorry to hear about u'r favorite teacher.. I don't know anything about him and his teaching but my eyes were filled with tears by the time i finished reading what you wrote and i wish even i could have attended his class.
Wow Siri.Excellent piece.I missed him a lot for a long time.I read this today and miss him all over again.It has been close to 3 yrs. Memories are starting to fade but this brought it all back- which is a good thing.
Today, I am missing him again. He being only one of the two people in the last 10 years from whom I learnt something of significance. Your blog brings back more inspiring memories - blurred images but nevertheless memorable ones. Thank you.
You are right. One of my friend who is the student of koteswararao gaaru, said the same. I have also referred his notes. They are beautiful. At the intermediate age you guys have learnt a lot of analysis. I very much liked his unique style of punch dialogues.
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