In Memoriam: Ananda Rajah

I received the news of Prof Ananda’s demise two afternoons ago, while I was on my way home. It came in the form of a short message from Clem that went to this effect: “Ananda Rajah just collapsed in his office…Gana is bringing him to the hospital”. When I asked if we could do anything, or go to the hospital to provide comfort, the one-liner replied: “He was pronounced dead upon arrival”.

The past two days have been emotionally demanding as I struggled to make sense of his demise.

Ananda Rajah was a good man, and great teacher.

I consulted him once, when he was my lecturer for “Culture and Society”. I was driven that semester, to do well for all my modules, and Culture and Society was no exception. Although it was only the third week of term, when students were just barely settling into the tempo of things, I had already written up a full proposal for a paper concerning the ill effects of fast-food on modern urban societies. I met him after lecture, when he was having a smoke break. Looking at the paper, he gave me a grin, and said “Its pretty fine. You’ll be alright. Don’t kan cheong la!” Those few words made my day.

Those few words have stuck with me since then.

The press reiterated this point: “The professor was described as a passionate, committed, approachable and generous soul whose happiest moments were spent interacting with his students.”

Ananda Rajah was a smoker, and a heavy one at that.
Perhaps it was the never ceasing drive to put his students first, in lectures and after class, that drove him to exhaustion? Tabitha mentioned that his “smoker’s cough” could often be heard in lecture. And suddenly, the haunting image of Prof Rajah telling a joke – and being interrupted by a fit of coughs – came floating back into view of my mind’s eye.

Ananda Rajah was a human being.
“A well-loved and respected professor from the National University of Singapore (NUS) died suddenly on Tuesday afternoon — the seventh person in the last three months to die from a sudden cardiac incident… The 54-year-old professor had no medical history of heart trouble…He had gone for the usual check-ups, with no indication of any significant problems…(His death) was heart related and it was very sudden." Assoc Prof Ananda had been speaking with one of his students in his office at about 2pm when he suddenly fainted, related his colleague, Associate Professor Lian Kwen Fee. "A medical doctor from NUS health services and the civil defence people were here and had to resuscitate him. They then took him to the accident and emergency department at NUH, but couldn't do anything for him," he said.

Ananda Rajah, Assoc Prof was pronounced dead at about 4pm.

A light in my life died that day.