We all know and have written about Kannan's achievements in personal life as a father, brother,uncle and brother-in-law. I want to talk a bit about his career as well. He was itinerant (like most Central services officers). He started his career in Dharwar and served in Bangalore, Trichy, Trivandrum, Shillong, Bhuvaneswar, Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi before retiring as Chief PMG in Mumbai. He was as outstanding in work as he was in personal life. I can make this statement with certainty. In Central services, you are not sent abroad unless you have 'outstanding' Confidential Reports. Kannan went multiple times abroad to places as diverse as Paris, Nauru, Malawi, Germany, U.K., Bangkok and Hongkong on training/deputation. This proves, if proof were needed, about his level of achievements in work.

In October 1997, Kausalya had written an article titled, 'As the shadows lengthen' about ageing. My father was one of the persons she had interviewed. He had told her, 'if you live long, you have to witness calamities and death.' I accept that fact, but the aceeptance cannot stop me from grieving. Grief is the price we pay for love.

When Deepu and Sriram died, Prasad had written a moving article. I quote from that,'I have all these glorious memories. Of childhood fun and games. And laughter. But there is only one problem. One significant problem. I will have no more new memories. And that fact burns me up with frustration. Makes me want to clutch with a tighter grip, the memories that I already have. Because after even the photos fade, I will be alone, left with nothing but memories. The lesson is that I must treasure memories. Over everything else, I must collect memories the way a child collects colorful shells in a beach. Collect them and tuck them away someplace safe. To be brought out and enjoyed whenever I wish. This is the final lesson that Deepu and Sriram taught me'

These beautiful words made a deep impression and I started collecting memories. But since I don't trust my own memory, I put them in words in blogs, my webpages and Newsletter articles to be brought out whenever I wished. I spend a lot of time at my laptop going through these treasures every so often and I feel I have relived my past. Kannan was a very important name in that past and I am glad everyone has added his / her treasure to the common kitty. We can all take out these memories whenever we wish which is the purpose of the Newsletter.

Thanks to assistance from Amritha, Hema and Aarthi, I have been able to publish this issue on the target date I set.

Kannan lived a full life. But one regret we the family members have is that we never got a chance to bid him a proper goodbye. Through this special edition of the Newsletter, all the family members join me in bidding goodbye to a great human being.

Goodbye, Adieu , Kannan