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A special thanks to one of my teachers
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“Upbeat” is dedicated to my teacher Mr. G. Seetharam who taught me a few courses in the classroom but a lot more life lessons outside the classroom. Mr. Seetharam was the Principal of Sarvodaya College at Tumukur in India. I met Mr. Seetharam at a time when I was ready to make a few life decisions (such as “what exactly will I be doing right after school?” ) I am really glad I met him precisely at that time. The very first meeting with him was memorable and energizing. I kept thinking what was special about that meeting and at that time I could not explain it. Every subsequent meeting with Mr. Seetharam had the same effect on me. It was like Mr. Seetharam had some sort of energy overflow and some of that excess energy was touching me in a very special way. He was full of life and he enjoyed what he was doing and we all ( the students ) benefited significantly from this. He was the candle that lighted the lives of most of us.

Here are a few lessons I learned from Mr. Seetharam. I am writing only a few lessons here. If I write about all the lessons, I might have content for another book

1. Focus on the fundamentals: He insisted EVERY time that I understand the fundamentals behind something rather than learning what is required to get good grades in the exam.

2. Be Curious: He rarely asked questions. But would trigger something in me that made me ask NEW questions.

3. Stay Hungry: Once these questions were asked, I had to have the hunger to find the answers to those NEW questions. He created the hunger in me to start this quest

4. Raise the Bar: I still remember one of those evenings when I used to be at his home having a part philosophy and part science discussions. He was teaching me a concept in Physics and I picked up my notebook to write down something. He asked me to stop and listen first. He said the only way to learn quickly it is to approach it as if you were going to teach it to someone else. At that instant, he changed the way I looked at learning.

5. Expect More: Rarely did he ask me to work hard or study more. He simply expected more from me. In all our conversations, there was never any pressure just a nudge and a reminder that he expects me to do VERY well.

There are many many more lessons and I am eternally indebted to the selfless gifts that he handed to me over the two years. Thank you Sir. I wouldn’t be who I am today without your help.