Latha Ramamoorthy Subramaniam Sundar

Latha Ramamoorthy was born to a wealthy North Indian family in the city of Calcutta, India. She lived in Calcutta for about nine years, but around 1972, she had to move to Madras (in Tamilnadu) because my grandfather (Ramamoorthy Subramaniam) had serious business problems and his 100-crew factory had to be shut down. They were quickly bankrupted, and the family was reduced to scavenging in the trash for clothes and selling coconut husks for money.

Even in their mendicant state, my grandparents still wanted only the very best for their daughter. They put her in one of the most expensive schools in the town: Holy Angels Convent School. Nuns occupied the ranks of head mistress, teachers, and pretty much everything else. The student population consisted mainly of Anglo-Indians (English-Indian “mixes”).

She was, unfortunately, teased mercilessly at the school. Once, a feisty student pushed my mom off the monkey bars at the convent. She fell headfirst on the floor, which was made out of concrete. She bravely took the pain, but she fainted in a few minutes. She soon grew to be the favorite of all the teachers, acing all the exams and finally earning a scholarship.

Once, when she was 16, my mom saved a man’s life. The man was riding his bike on the street when an incoming city bus hit him. The bystanders who happened to be sitting or standing nearby in the bus stops either quickly hurried away from the scene as if to say, “I didn’t do it!” or stood gaping at the ghastly spectacle. My mom was doing chores to get money for her family when she heard the bang, and came running over to see what happened. When she saw the mess of metal that was once a bike, when she saw the man crumpled on the floor and choking on the piece of mint he was chewing and his own blood, my mom plunged into action. She handled the choking problem with the Heimlich Maneuver and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Then she stopped a car and commanded the driver to take the suffering man to the nearest hospital. The nearest hospital refused to take him in, because the man was so poor and could not afford to pay for the visit. She then ordered the driver to take the man to the next nearest hospital, and that hospital agreed to take the suffering victim in.

My mother did many more brave things, like walking in the pitch-black darkness in the middle of the night to get her work in the company lab done. She is currently around 40, and lives in San Diego, California in a condo in University City. She lives with her two sons, Sharad (me!) and Arun, and she has the prestigious Ph.D. degree.

My mom is a hero for the many brave, courageous, and compassionate things she has done.