From Ms. Subhashini (Brother's Daughter)

Dear all,
 I am deeply saddened by the passing away of Kannan Periappa. When I heard from appa that he was admitted for breathing problems, I never thought it would become life threatening. To me, Kannan Periappa in his spotless white clothing and Vasanthi Paeriamma with a bright smile and Kondai with flowers is an image that personifies Srirangam vacations. As Vandana mentioned, I fondly recall the Sai bhajans that he made us all sing in Srirangam.

What I admired most about him is that he took everything in his stride. He even shrugged off the pain and discomforts from ulcer and was not once afraid of death. He was also a vey enthusiastic person. Once when I was suggesting that we should all go to Lalapet sometime, he immediately expressed enthusiasm and said he would definitely like to join. He did not even hesitate because of health issues etc.

My son Akshath had a great attachment to Kanna Thatha even as a child. At Dhyaksha's engagement Akshath started crying when Kanna Thatha was getting ready to leave. So Periappa delayed his departure and waited to make Akshath feel better. To this day Akshath remembers him fondly.

His death has left us with a great void. My only consolation is that he lived long enough to be a part of important celebrations such as Prasanna's wedding and Soundar anna's 60th birthday. I cannot imagine passing via Indra Nagar with Kannan Periappa not being there anymore. My heart goes out to Periamma especially for whom this is a irreparable loss. May Lord Ranganatha be with everyone in Periappa's family and guide them thorugh this tough period.
Subhashini

From Mr. Ponnukrishnan (a former CLRI colleague)

Having known Mr. R. Venkatesan since 1959, it is with a profound sense of personal grief that I learnt of his sad demise on 20th April, 2011.  Mr. Venkatesan was a dear friend and a valued colleague.  His passing away is a great personal loss for me.

Eleven years ahead of me in age, I have always been considering him as my guru and one of the finest human beings I have come across in my life.  A rare human being with impeccable integrity, great compassion and great humility.  He never offended anyone or compromised with the principles he believed in.  He was a fair-minded person and a perfect gentleman.  A man of mettle and morals.  A brilliant man, he made a deep impression on me and would be one of those.  I would always remember with respect.

His distinguished tenure in CLRI is marked by outstanding devotion to duty, excellence, dedication, diligence, loyalty, sincerity and integrity of a very high order.  He has certainly been an example for others to emulate.

He was a lover of books and a regular reader of newspapers.  His extensive reading made him extremely knowledgeable and well-informed.

It was a treat to listen to his interesting speeches studded with wit and wisdom.  He was an enchanting conversationalist.  He was able to speak fluently in English without struggling for words and used to entertain his friends through elegant humor.

Every letter he wrote was a masterly document bearing the finesse of drafting dexterity.  His style of writing was brilliantly lucid and easy flowing.  He had an amazing vocabulary in English.  His standard of English has catapulted him to fame.  He always used to say that the English language is a treasure that has been handed to us and it is our duty to preserve it.

Always impeccably and well-dressed, his slim, trim, and youthful looks belied his age.  His face was a picture of contentment.  He was good-looking, witty and intelligent.  He had an uncanny knack of getting things done and with his suave personality and urbane manners he was getting along fine with his colleagues and was respected by the people of his circle.

His career was one of continuous rise.  He never knew defeat.  He retired from CLRI gracefully and peacefully.

Till almost the very last he was in full possession of all his faculties.  The end was quiet and peaceful.

My wife joins me in extending our heartfelt condolences to the members of his bereaved family in this hour of profound grief.  We pray to the Almighty to give eternal peace to the departed soul and strength and fortitude to his ennobling family to bear this irreparable loss.

P. Ponnukrishnan

Controller of Administration (Rtd.)

S.E.R.C.,  Chennai

From Mr. R. Veeraraghavan (Santhanam) - Brother

A Titan fades away

The news of my eldest brother’s sad demise on 20^th April 2011 at 11:50 AM, left all of us gob snaked. His not being with us is a blow most terrible to bear. A Titan has passed away, answering the clarion call of the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent.

I venture to say a few words about him only because I happened to have joined the band of octogenarians for which I reached the magic age of 80.

The most amazing aspect is that he lived a married life with distinction for over 63 years. What trials and tribulations he had gone through in his early years of marriage, before he landed in a permanent job, perhaps Manni only knew them all. He weathered all the storm through sheer honesty, hardwork, self-confidence and self-improvement, which are worthy of emulation.

Though he was born in very affluent circumstances, in later years, when he grew, he had to shoulder heavy responsibilities as eldest son of the family. He bore the brunt along with my parents through thick and thin as their conscience-keeper. Later in life, he was blessed with much better days, but he didn’t change his lifestyle. He continued to be simple and self-dependent. Following the example of the unparellelled intellectual, Rajaji, he used to wash his own clothes till the end.

He was always, well-dressed impressively mostly in spotless white.

He was a great devotee of the great Sathya Sai Baba. He used to participate in the Bhajans in ‘Sundaram’ for many years. He was a repository of innumerable anecdotes on the miracles performed by the great Baba on his devout disciples, which he used to reel to his friends and family members in private conversations and informal gatherings.

He had high respect for his friends and he used to appreciate particular aspects of their specialities.

He always felt very bad when they departed. He had qualities of leadership and he would stand out in any functions or meetings. He was associated with RSS for many years and was a Mukhya Sikshak of Srirangam Shakha.

He participated in family functions with great zest and enthusiasm and spread light and mirth.

He had abiding faith in Hindu Dharma and his devotion to Lord Ranganathar of Srirangam was boundless. He was somewhat disappointed that he could not settle down in Srirangam in his last years.

He was a voracious reader of religious and other worthy materials – one may call him a bibliophile. He would participate in spiritual gatherings and meetings that would contribute to enrichment of knowledge.

He had cultivated high proficiency in English in which he received excellent groundings from his teachers like S/Shri K.N.Rengaswamy, S.K. Mathrubhutham, Kasturiranga Iyengar, Professors G.Varadachary, A.Rama Iyer and V.Saranathan. His writings were treats. It was a pleasure to read them punctuated with interesting anecdotes written in his own adorable, steady and inimitable handwriting in bold letters. I used to think that it reflected his character and thinking. How many students in the present day schools could answer satisfactorily the following question is a matter for conjecture. In 1940s, when high standard of English was followed in schools, a quotation from the then British Wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill was given in SSLC question paper asking for a brief expansion in a paragraph. The passage was: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”. That was the standard then when my brother studied in school.

He had a great sense of humour which was reflected in his family and friends meets.

He loved his family members and did many things for them overtly and covertly, but always within the bounds of law and rules and regulations.

He was very hospitable and welcomed all with open arms.

Having dwelt on his general qualities of head and heart, I seek your indulgence to say a few things about how personally I benefitted immensely due to his involvement and guidance. His contributions in my applying for CSIR job from A.G’s office, in my getting relief before joining NAL, Bangalore, in joining CSIR Madras complex after selection, which was instrumental in my return to Chennai after an absence of about 11 years and in arranging for my meeting the Nobel-Laureate Dr. S. Chandrashekhar of USA….. On many other occasions, he had tendered useful tips and advice, which I shall always cherish.

He has cast his mortal coil and joined Lord Vishnu in Vaikuntam. We can no longer see him with our naked eyes, for which we now need spiritual perception. All of us who respect him must join hands and tread his path unitedly. That will be the best homage we can pay to his hallowed memory.

Let me conclude this note with a quotation from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar:

His life was gentle,

and the elements

so mix’d in him that

Nature might stand up

and say to all the world

‘THIS WAS A MAN’

From Ms. Amba Sanjeevi (a former CLRI colleague)

Mr. R. Venkatesan     2011- written by  R. Sanjeevi and  S. Amba

Though both of us would have been extremely happy to write about Mr. Venkatesan, our mentor, guide, well wisher and friend, the circumstances in which we have to do so is painful and grieves us a great deal.

We not only looked up to Mr. Venkatesan, we also looked to him for help and guidance especially when things looked bleak for us at our place of work. He not only guided us but also gave us the mental strength to face various trials and tribulations.

A man of sterling character and strong sense of values, he was ever ready to help those who were in trouble. Not only did we approach him for help for us but we never ever hesitated to approach him on behalf of others and needless to say, in every instance, he came forward to help them whenever he felt that right was on their side. He never hesitated in expressing his views and did so with impunity even to the highest official without any thought about how it would affect his career or him personally.

Though he presented a stern exterior and would sort of appear intimidating, we soon found out that it was only an exterior pose and that beneath he was a very caring person who felt for others and wanted to help them in whatever way he could. We are sure that during the course of his career, he would also have faced innumerable problems but not once did we see him grousing or expressing his dissatisfaction with life. The only dissatisfaction we ever heard him express was when work was not done satisfactorily.  

We enjoyed talking to him during the lunch break periods as he was a fount of knowledge and well read and would discuss world issues and other issues of political and social interest. His choice of words and turn of phrase used to fascinate us so much.

When I (Sanjeevi) first joined CLRI, I did not know anyone and within a few days was invited for the farewell party for the Administrative Officer.  After the party, there was quite a bit of discussion among my colleagues and Mr. Venkatesan’s name cropped up frequently. I was intrigued as the farewell was to the A.O. and the person who was talked about so much was Mr. Venkatesan!  The reason was that Mr. Venkatesan was one of the first to speak at the party and he courageously mentioned that the A.O. was being transferred without promotion to the next grade though he was a honest officer as he did not get a favourable CR. This at a time when Mr. Venkatesan was the P.A. to the Director.  This incident made a great impact and I developed great respect for Mr.Venkatesan.  Much later, when I had to face problems regarding a fellowship, he called for the files and after studying it and looking at precedents interceded on my behalf with the  Director and it was decided in my favour. 

I (Amba) first met him on the very day I joined CLRI and was in awe of his personality from that time onwards. As in the above case, when I had problems regarding a fellowship, Mr Venkatesan helped me out and personally spoke to his family in Delhi to guide me in the matter.  We worked together to conduct the annual Oratorical Contest and it was a most interesting and happy time for me.

The picture of Sri Ramar Pattabhishekam which he presented us for our grihapravesam still hangs in our house and we think of him whenever we look at it.

We have said much about his official persona, but we also knew him as a caring and strong family member, a fond grandfather. Though he never expressed openly his pride in his wife and children, it used to come out during his conversations and we were well aware of how much he respected and thought highly of his sons and especially his wife. He had great respect for his wife and admired her for her commitment to his family and staunchly believed in her capacity to run a joint family. We knew that she was the pillar for him to lean on and that she made it possible for him to concentrate his energies on his work and later on on his various interests.  He wanted to be independent and not trouble anyone for anything.

Above all, he had the greatest reverence for Sri Sathya Sai Baba and the timing looked as if he wished to be always with his Guru though it meant leaving his near and dear in tears.

                                               

From Mr. T.N. Manikateswaran (Advocate Friend)

From Mr. Bakthavathsal (Vatsal thatha)

A tribute to my dear friend Chi Kannan

Words fail as I rise to say a few words about my dear friend Sri R.Venkatesan alias Kannan who passed away on 20.04.2011 suddenly after a brief illness.

My memory goes back to the year 1936 when I arrived with my family members to Srirangam as a refugee fleeing from the impending Japanese invasion of Burma. It was a memorable day in that year when I had the good fortune to join the High School, Srirangam in third form. My colleagues in class were all new and Chi Kannan was the first who bonded with me immediately. Our lives got intertwined with each other and we became inseparables till our graduation and his untimely death now.

Chi Kannan got married earlier than me and I was fortunate to attend his marriage. I got married in 1956 and in 1957 due to a misunderstanding, my wife left me for her father’s place in NGPT. For the next 10 years, we were separated and I moved north on various official assignments. Throughout this period my contact with Kannan was kept intact and in 1967, through his untiring efforts, my wife rejoined me. I shall be failing in my duty, if I do not acknowledge his sincere efforts to make me toe the life of a Grihastha from the ascetic life I was leading for 10 years.

Once we completed our official life, our meeting became more frequent and licensing our family affairs became a routine. I was fortunate to witness the marriages in his family and his Sathabhishekam also. He and his family also never failed to attend functions in my family. Our mutual bonds grew stronger day by day.

His sudden demise now has therefore shattered me to the core and I stand alone without my dear friend, philosopher and guide. Though he has been missed physically, I feel he is still guiding me.

May Lord Ranganatha give all his family members the courage and fortitude to follow his footsteps forever.

From Mr & Ms Jagadisan