On Friendship - A Tribute To Gopalan While all of us were eagerly awaiting the second installment of Gopalan’s absorbing article in this magazine, the shocking news came announcing his demise through a heart attack. Cruel death has snatched him away from us so suddenly, leaving all of us remorseful and grief stricken. A gentle soul, an affable person and an endearing friend to one and all, he was always a supremely simple self. Very protective about his family, he had a special feeling for them, especially for his son-in-law Murali and daughter-in-law Geeta, who entered into a relationship with his family much later. The unfailing cheerfulness in his family, was more due to his own nature and that of his compatible wife. I had known him from the days I left the school to join the college. We were of the same age. In fact, he was two months younger to me. We wrote our SSLC and Intermediate examinations in the same year, though from different institutions. We used to compare notes on our performance. We were drawn to each other more due to our common interests than the age factor. We both loved chess immensely. We were evenly matched in our skills of the game and hence loved playing each other. I recall those days when Gopalan visited me when my parents were in Kancheepuram. We were staying in a place two houses away from Ekambareswar temple. We spotted a quiet place on top of a ‘Mottai Gopuram’ in the temple precincts with a gentle breeze wafting along. We used to adjourn there to play chess for hours. He used to play his game by instinct and make many daring and unconventional moves. It was a pleasure meeting his gambits and challenges! Later, after my college education, I joined Vivekananda College as a lecturer. My parents were still in Kancheepuram. I and my sister Rukku took a rented house in Mandaveli Street close to Gopalan’s house. Gopalan used to come to my house almost daily and we enjoyed playing our chess games. My sister was then working in a Government office in Mint area and used to return quite late from the office. My understanding with her was that I prepare the vegetable dishes in the night while she would make sambar or rasam. One day, after I had sliced the potatoes and onions and put them with some oil and masala on the oven, Gopalan came in. He called me for a game of chess to which I readily agreed. We were deeply engrossed in the game, when all the vegetables completely charred and became one huge black mass, totally unusable. Neither Gopalan nor I was aware of the things happening on the burner! Such was our concentration in the game. Gopalan was proficient in bridge as well. He had played in quite a few tournaments and won prizes and cups. The foundation for this was laid at his very house, where his grandfather (father’s father), father, uncle Raghavan (father’s brother), Kannan (C.Srinivasan), Gopalan, Sampath, Raghu, Parthasarathy, Uncle Gopu (Gopalan’s cousin) and I used to play bridge or chess by taking turns during week-ends. Gopalan’s mother who was always slogging in the kitchen, used to prepare tiffin and coffee for all and send them around. We used to wonder as to how she could prepare so much for so many persons and yet manage the household without shortages. Gopalan had inherited this trait of being the perfect host from his mother. Visitors to his house in Adyar would amply vouch for it. He inherited yet another thing from his parents, his faith in God and Vaishnavism. He could recite many stanzas of Thirumalai and Thiruppavai from Prabandam, from memory. He liked to visit Vishnu temples frequently that too in the early mornings. We should consider that this habit of his had ensured the spiritual wellness of his family. When I left the teaching job and joined the Indian Postal Service as a Probationary Officer, I was sent to Coonoor, Nilgiris for two months training during April and May 1965 in mid-summer. As I was also given a guest house with two rooms at my disposal, I had invited Gopalan and Kannan (Srinivasan of Adyar). They stayed with me for a week. We used to get very good south Indian food items such as idly, vada, masala dosa, rava dosa, uthappam, pongal etc. of excellent quality and at a very affordable price in an eatery near my place. Both Gopalan and Kannan were so much carried away by it, that we used to visit it twice a day, skipping regular meals. While ordering they both would place orders for two items of each variety for each of us. We had no TV in those days and hence we used to roam around the gardens of Coonoor, Willington and Ooty come back to our rooms dead tired and sleep like logs. We really enjoyed each other’s company. Gopalan was very proficient in Mathematics and wanted to do a course in Maths only. Circumstances forced him to join for an Engineering Degree Course in Mining. He least liked his subject. He carried on reluctantly and later joined the Department of Mines. He had abiding interest in English classics. Both of us were good fans of P.G.Wodehouse. We used to enjoy discussing about the one and only PGW, his Blandings Castle, Bertic Wooster and Jeeves. Even last year, he told me that he had downloaded a whole novel of PGW from the internet to his computer. While in Nagpur, he had joined the varsity for a Law Course and did admirably well there too. It was a strange combination between mining and law, but in his post retirement life, he practiced law and was known more as an advocate. He practiced only in Consumer Court and had a very high success rate as an advocate. The loss of his brother Sampath and his family in a building collapse in Calcutta, was a big blow to him, his parents and other members of the family. He bore the stings of that tragedy with courage. While he had so many trials and tribulations in his life, his abiding faith in sticking together in the family to help one another in the legal battles that the family faced, was of great help to his mother, sister and brothers. At every stage, he had given them a little push and this was a morale booster not only to them but to his wife and children as well. The secret of his success as the head of the family lay in his commitment to them, in spending time together with them, in appreciating and cheering their good deeds. Both his children are brilliant and highly successful in their lives. He was sent to USA for a training course, saved some money, married off his daughter and was of immense help to the other members of the family. In personal life, he was a restless person, always experimenting with himself, by way of yoga, long walks in the mornings, by adopting different food systems and by reducing his sleeping hours. I met him at a Bangalore hospital in the 80s, where he was admitted after his first heart attack, and was recuperating. His wife was with him. He wanted me to advise her to take more interest in domestic finances as he was not sure of his life span. She least liked it. Instead we advised him to think of a fast recovery and taking hold of the family reins. He lived for more than twenty years after that In his passing away, the Family Newsletter has lost a regular and enthusiastic contributor. His articles have always been incisive, interesting and informative. For persons like me, who had known him closely, he will always live in our hearts. R.Narasimhan (Kannan) (From the family e-Newsletter for October 2004)