The insufferable trustee

I received a speed post on a lazy afternoon. It had the hall ticket for the Science national talent search exam, followed by a call on the landline (It was the 90's). Janaki Mami was on the line asking if I had received the hall ticket. She was excited about my prospects in a SCIENCE TALENT SEARCH! The fact that I could barely spell chemistyr or didn't understand the gravity of newtons law didn't matter to Janaki Mami. In the few minutes of our conversation, I felt like a 'musk'y whizkid who would churn out the next tesla. The results turned out as Bernoulli's error was another matter for another day! The fact that her investment in my science talent turned out to be penny stock didn't bother her a bit! Perhaps, she was an angel investor of yore.  

In a nutshell, that was the story of her life.  She trusted and invested in people who crossed her path. The reciprocation didn't make an iota of difference. There wasn't a gene in her body that doubted her benefactor's skill or intent. She saw unicorns in all of them. Some horses bolted, some sauntered, some rose like the mythical creatures, but all of them, without exceptions, neighed their gratitude at her stable. 

Many tributes to her have often spoken about a monetary endowment for educational trust. That's an easy way out! An authentic tribute to Thangam would be to demonstrate trust in the untrustable. The benefactors know the difference it has made in their lives. That was her lasting legacy.

Throughout her life, she was indifferent to wins and losses, victory or defeat, riches and limitations. She treated all of that with callous irreverence. Instead, she appreciated knowledge, and that was her currency. She emphasized a premium on reading, learning, acquiring knowledge in her lifetime, and she distributed that like a religious offering.

Her loud reading of the newspaper was music to my ears. I vividly recall her describing the details of India's nuclear blast to an eighty-year-old. She had an innate ability to distill something complex without much effort.

In the end, She lived a life that mattered. What mattered was not her competence but her character. What mattered was not what she learned but what she taught many of us. What mattered was not her literal GPS skills but the guidance pathway system she institutionalized by trusting the untrustables. What mattered was not the money she gave away but the self-confidence she instilled in many of us. What mattered was not her adept dealing with myriad challenges but her unmitigated joyous laugh on life's little travails. Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident. She made those choices. She lived a life that mattered.     


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