Tribute to My Grandfather Shri Srinivasan was born on 14th Nov 1908. He was brought up in a small hamlet called Sulankurichi, a village I have only seen through his eyes. A Teacher he was par excellence for he never taught, he just let the listener learn his or her own lessons from his words. ‘God is a thought’ he told me, the realisatiion of this truth took years. ‘There is nothing as good or bad but thinking makes it so’ he quoted. I took forty five years to understand it. ‘Vanaja, don’t hold a walking stick’ he said. ‘Till his death he didn’t take a walking stick even though he would sway from one side of the verandah to the other as he must have been feeling giddy. Hope I have learnt the lesson. He practiced what he preached. I was in Bhatinda when Sampath Mama and his family died. I was furiously angry as to how god could do this. Father Basil calmed me down and taught me never to be angry this way. I came to find that even at this time of great sorrow thatha had retained his equanimity. For me he became greater than ‘Dasaratha’. Pankajam Chithi once said he was like Bhishma (referring to his age in the family). Thatha told me that he had a duty to do, viz., to see my sister Radha married and see her child. He did exactly that. He died on the day my sister was in Tirupathi after her little daughter’s tonsuring and at the moment when she was in the sanctum sanctorum with the child. He chose his time of death and hence like Bhishma Pithamaha. He said that we should have detached attachment. the Bhagawat Gita in a nutshell. He had love, affection and the heart to give. He lead a life free of expectations as Buddha preached. He never had any property in his name, never tried to acquire wealth and the one gold ring he had on his finger he would remove willingly at the drop of a hat, if he heard any member of the family say that money was needed. He loved to give and hated to take. So when in those days we couldn’t meet monthly expenses it was my mother who borrowed and thatha’s turn used to come when it had to be returned. ( Is it because you were named after the Lord Tirupathi that you always liked to give thatha?) He would withdraw his entire pension on the first day it was credited because he did not want to give trouble to anyone over that 2000 odd rupees to be taken out just in case he died that month. The first item he read in the Hindu was the obituary. His Ramayanam was the most important to him. His eyesight the most precious. He came to a stage when he lost it for reading his Ramayanam. I got him a magnifying class. I had a surgery done in Agarwal institute. I prayed as much as I could but could not get that eyesight. But with amazement, I saw the way he took that too in his stride. I understood ‘Education is that which remains with us when everything is lost’. He was a firm believer of Vishistadvaitam and said that There is paramatma and jeevatma and that on freedom from cycle of birth and death the Jeevatma returns to the feet of the Paramatma but does not become one with it. The time spent in Vedachala Gardens with thatha in his easy chair, Patti in her usual one leg folded and the other stretched and talking about the days spent in Sulankurichi, Coonoor, their parents, siblings, children and so on to Radha and me. I am very thankful to God and Thatha for that quality time we spent together- for the bond that we had together cannot be recalled with mere words. The love showered by them was so pure that it seems sublime to me. I used to adore the very sight of the two of them complementing and supplementing each other. In fact, thatha used to sit by Patti’s side, just holding her hand a silent source of strength and solace when she was unwell. I learnt a lot about the institution of marriage just by being with them. When my marriage was fixed, the topic of who should do panigrahanam came up. I said that I wanted my mother to do it. Thatha explained to me that it had to be done by a male with the wife doing the required things. So I turned to him and asked him why he was not willing to do it with his wife. He couldn’t help but weep and told me that he considered himself unlucky as the only one he had done had ended after 5 years (on my father’s death). I turned back to him and said sincerely that I would consider myself fortunate if he did the panigrahanam and it is enough even if my marriage lasted only 5 days. He got me married to Ravi and explained step by step the Jathakaranam, Namakaranam and the marriage ceremony. Every time I go to Tirupathi I see you there thatha. Urmila Devanathan