“How can the dead be truly dead when they still live in the souls of those who are left behind?” – Carson McCullers

This post is a long overdue tribute to my loving uncle Ram Mohan Rao (RMR to many but Rammam to me) who left this earth on the 24th September 2019 after a long illness.

Rammam to me, has always been a larger than life personality full of life, laughter and full of energy. After losing my Dad, he was the father figure in my life and would always took this role seriously. He always said to me that I was the daughter he never had, He was proud of what I had achieved in my personal and professional life like I was of him.

Ram Mohan Rao was the elder of the two sons and second child of prominent Mangalore lawyer and stalwart of the Konkani GSB community, Annappa Kamath. After being groomed to take over the flourishing law practice of his father and his grandfather before him, he finished law school and reluctantly joined the law firm. But somehow, it did not excite him and after a while, he decided to give it up and ventured on a new career in banking and finance.

With his enthusiasm, wit and energy, he excelled in this new job and rose to become CEO of a Nationalised Bank and a position of so much responsibility and respect. With his unique style he managed to deal with employee issues and union bosses at a time of some stress and unrest in the banking sector. He was always stern but fair and was willing to listen to both sides and sort out issues. He was so well known and respected in the banking circles. He had good examples to follow in his father and grandfather.

For us kids in the family, he was the Rammam with a big belly laugh. I used to be quite scared of him when I was young, more intimidated by his large presence than scared. He never really related much to us kids like any of the other adults in the family except my aunt Ashamai – wife of my second uncle. But as I grew up and eventually got married and became a parent, he was different person or at least I saw as someone more approachable.

We went on holiday with him and my aunt to Darjeeling and Sikkim and it was such a wonderful time. I learnt then of his love for travel, food and meeting people. I still remember the sheer joy on his face when we were sitting on the open balcony of our Sikkim hotel having breakfast on a crisp November morning and admiring the sun rising over the hills.

Golf was one of his passions after he retired from his busy banking career. I’ve been told that he was a graceful golfer with a couple of holes in one to his credit. He played for the love of golf and the pleasure of playing with friends and was not one for competitions even though he could have done well if he took part.

He was such a devoted dedicated family man who was very proud of his wife and his two sons. Even after my aunt fell ill and became house bound after a stroke , he made sure she was comfortable and had all the help she needed. After her death nearly two years ago, he was a lost man and was never the same person. He suffered silently and would rarely speak of his illness which he was struggling with even during the final year of my aunt’s life.

Such a wonderful human being, man of so much talent, a man who took pride in his job, his heritage, his family, his community. He will be missed by all, especially by me. RIP Rammam..