BAREILLY:

, the iconic 64-year-old principal who had been running a popular school in Saharanpur (UP) from her sick bed for the past seven years, died earlier this week, leaving thousands of grieving parents, students and teachers behind. Uma was completely paralysed from her neck down but had fought adversities to administer the National Public School in the district every day, albeit with the help of technology. She was highly regarded both as a teacher and as a human being for her indomitable will and courage.

“My mother was as strong as Stephen Hawking,” said her daughter

, 45.

Uma lost her husband in 1991. Life struck another blow when her only son Rajeev (21) passed away in 2001. In 2010, Uma lost her youngest daughter Richa. In 2009, she suffered partial paralysis. Multiple tests to diagnose the cause were in vain. Her condition worsened till, by 2010, she was completely paralysed, with only her head and hands moving. However, it was hard for Uma to leave behind the school she had founded in 1989.

“After I became fully paralysed, I decided not to give up on things, and continue engaging with what I love: administering the school on a daily basis,” she had earlier told TOI.

Dish antennas were installed at her residence in

and the double-storey junior school in Jwala Nagar, situated around 2 km from her house, so that live audio and video feeds could be transmitted. Uma monitored activities through CCTV cameras installed all over the premises. She also interacted with teachers and students frequently over her tablet and called them over to her house to discuss activities at school.

“She was an iron lady in the true sense. She never considered herself a patient and managed the school single-handedly. We feel completely helpless without her,” said

, manager of the school.

Uma’s other daughter Neha Sharma, 43, said setbacks in her mother’s life were only "setups for extraordinary comebacks". She added: “My mother had taken admission at the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi but she had to discontinue studies as she got married only six months after joining the MBBS course. My parents sold off a movie theatre in Saharanpur so that my father could start his business. Meanwhile, my mother continued her studies and earned a postgraduate degree in English literature and a BEd later. She subsequently started a kindergarten school in 1989 with 60 children which is now the National Public School with 600 students and classes up to VIII.”

Simple Makani, the school's coordinator, said, “Every time I met Uma, I would return home inspired. She would crack jokes and made tough situations appear as if they were nothing. There were very few like her around anywhere."