It was a sad moment for me when I heard Kanagalingam aththan had passed away. I was sad not because the message was unanticipated but at the loss of an unusual person, someone whom I always considered a pure soul. Life has been changing, we are all thrown in together, it is becoming almost impossible to be what we want to be. In such a hotchpotch world, there was this person, with an army of relations and friends looking up to him and wanting to be with him, who was yet able to keep himself detached from the hurly-burly of life, remaining calm and never losing his childish innocence. He was a clean slate all the time. There was no pretence in him, he had no prejudices. He listened to people with full intent and did what he could with least publicity. He was a humanitarian in every sense of the word. I never saw him in temples, nor heard him mention anything like god or prayers. Perhaps god was with him and so he never had to look for him. His frail look and silence belied the strong character within him. I have watched him in parties trying to be unimportant while lot of eyes and attention were actually on him. It is a sad experience to lose someone who captured so much of my admiration. But it is also very unlikely that I could be the only one who could have fallen for Kanagalingam aththan’s quiet charm. - Thambithurai