It is said songs are bookmarks in our memory. So are names and places. When I think of Kannan, a number of places and names sprang to my mind. Here is a list of names and places associated with Kannan in my memory.

Hotel Shanti Vihar, Luz (1968 and 1972)
I was (and am) a happy-go-lucky person moving with the flow of life, not given to brood over the past nor given to planning for the future. The only time I was made to think about my future and act on it was in my meeting with Kannan in Hotel Shanti Vihar. When he had come from Bangalore and I from Mettur to Chennai, he asked me earnestly about my plans for the future. If it was someone else I would have been flippant and asked for the spelling of plans or future. On seeing my blank face, he asked me ,'Why don't you try UPSC exam?' I had an answer to this as some of my classmates were appearing for the Engineering Services examination and I had had enough of engineering studies. So I replied that I had decided not to appear in UPSC exam. He then told me about UPSC's Civil Services examination and that any graduate can appear for it.
Whenever Kannan came to Chennai, he would go to Alwar's second-hand book shop on the roadside platform in Luz and asked me to accompany him there. Throughout our discussion which continued in Hotel Shanti Vihar, he motivated me to appear for the Civil Services Examination and the rest , as they say, is history (British History and Indian History to be precise.) These and Political science were the subjects chosen by me as advised by Kannan.

We met again in Shanti Vihar Hotel after my wedding with Amritha was fixed. Since I was already an officer in Railways, there was no discussion on plans for the future. He talked earnestly about marriage. The evening ended with his saying,' All my sisters are noble, but Amritha is the noblest of them.' I am sure he would have said the same thing about Chooda, Rukku and Pushpa to their husbands. Now I can say with certainty that all his five sisters are noble persons.
Naturally the first bookmark in my memory about Kannan is Hotel Shanti Vihar.

Vidhan Soudha, Bangalore (1969)
In the one year between my meeting with Kannan in 1968 and the UPSC examination in October, 1969, I worked very hard. I stopped accompanying my friends to Salem every month to see three films (four on a couple of Sundays), stopped my twice-a-week visits to the nearby touring theatre and exchanged most of my dayshift duty to the nightshift (10 PM to 6 AM) with happy friends (I could concentrate better on dynasties of Tudors and Stewarts and other subjects in the night-shift) and even reduced the frequency of my visits to Chennai, I had exchanged about half a dozen letters with Kannan and two each with my two cousins who were in Income Tax Service. Kannan advised me to opt for Bangalore as the centre for my examination, as according to him, the competition was tougher in Chennai. And he graciously offered to host me during the examinations. A matter of minor detail to the reader. When I procured the form from UPSC, i did so from Madras State. But when I filled it, I sent it from Tamil Nadu as the name was changed on Pongal day in 1969.
I was to be in Bangalore in three spells - three days for the three compulsory papers, four days for the three lower papers and 2 days each for the two higher papers. It has always amazed me that Kannan and Rajeevi with a 1-year old baby would agree to host a distant relative for such long spells. As his mother's uncle's son I merited a meal and perhaps another as his friend's brother. But to be a house guest for over ten days is unthinkable nowadays. They were gracious hosts. On the day before the General Knowledge paper, Kannan took me by walk to Vidhan Soudha, the centre for the UPSC examination, It was a pleasant 15 minutes' walk from Kannan's house. I was to repeat that walk eight times with life-changing results. That walk with Kannan to Vidhan Soudha and looking at the imposing Vidhan Soudha is all that I remember of my Bangalore trip in October 1969.

Lingaraj Temple, Bhuvaneswar (1975)
When I was transferred to Chittaranjan from Secunderabad, we landed in Bhuvaneswar with 3-month old Harish and 16 pieces of luggage. Kannan and Rajeevi's hospitality was exemplary. We visited a number of places, but I specifically remember Lingaraj temple. This was since Kannan gave a scholarlty lecture about this temple with little-known details. And Lingaraja temple bookmarked itself in my memories about Kannan.





Entrance Door, P&T Quarters, Ashok Nagar, Chennai (1983)
When I visited U.K from Vadodara in 1983, I bought a dart board with stainless steel darts as gift to Prasad, Mukund and Jagan. When I visited Chennai, I presented it to them and forgot all about it. When I went to Kannan's house on my next visit to Chennai, I asked Kannan whether the boys liked the dart board. Without a word he closed the entrance door. The backside of the door was riddled with thousands of small holes made from the darts. I was quite taken aback to see the solid wooden door disfigured so badly to which I had unwittingly contributed. I did not know what to tell Kannan. Just then he started laughing and said, 'I do not know what the next occupant will think.' I laughed with him and that becomes my next bookmark.

Ballard Estate, Mumbai (1987)
Kannan spent two spells in Mumbai, first as Controller, Foreign mails and the second as Chief PMG. Coincidentally he stayed in an Estate on both the occasions - Ballard Estate and Hyderabad Estate. Since I was in Tinsukia during his second spell, I do not have any bookmarks in my memory on Hyderabad Estate.
From 1987, when I joined BARC to 1992 when Kannan shifted to New Delhi, our two families were meeting almost every month spending a weekend together, mainly watching films on his VCD player. We used to celebrate many festivals together. So there are a lot of bookmarks. I will share two.
There were bandicoots galore in South Mumbai. The ones in Ballard Estate were bigger than others. Rajeevi said,'I am afraid to go to the ground floor alone in the evenings. They are not bandicoots, they are lions.' Kannan replied, 'The rats here have to be fat. After all they grow up eating imported dry fruits (which were stored in the ground floor godown of his home-cum-office).'
Kannan never liked adults teasing children. We were eating after the prayers while celebrating a festival in his house, Kannan said,'In the prayers, all the names - Ram, Mukund, Venkatesh appeared and we also had Aarthi in the end. But the name of Harish was missing. I said, 'But Kannan, Harish was there in the prayer. The line Parabrahmane namaha was there.' Harish who was 12 years old gave me a hit in jest. And Kannan sprang to his defence, He said, 'Don't say that. Harish is one of the most intelligent boys I have met.'Ballard Estate and Parabrahmam got into my bookmarks on Kannan.

Ramakrishnan (1990)
The next bookmark is the name of a person I have never met, but one who, through Kannan, played an important part in Harish's life. In 1990, I had to move out of BARC as I had got a promotion. Harish had just completed his 10th and joined 11th in the same school (Department of Atomic Energy School, Anushakti Nagar). It was difficult for me to move out of Mumbai, but it appeared that there was no alternative. Kannan and Rajeevi had told me and Amritha that they would take care of Harish if I moved out of Mumbai. I hate to approach anyone for obligations. But I decided to set aside my qualms and approached two persons. One was Abhay Bhave, a friend who was with me in UK and who was PA to Vasant Sathe, Minister for Communications at that time. And the second was Mr.Mitra, Financial Commissioner, Railways who was the final authority on all IRAS postings. I do not know whether one or both worked. I was sent on another deputation to KVIC in June 1990 with headquarters in Vile Parle, Mumbai. I occupied a flat (two flats joined together) of KVIC in Andheri. But the problems did not end there. Harish who was just 15 years found the nearly 2-hour commute each way physically and metntally draining. It was then that Kannan came to our rescue. He was a close friend of Mr.Ramakrishnan who was the Managing Trustee of Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan. Bhawans'College, Andheri which was run by Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan was just 3 kms from our flat. Kannan spoke to Ramakrishnan, but on the day he gave the appointment to meet, Kannan had to go out to Goa and I was summoned to New Delhi by the Secretary of my ministry. Amritha and Harish met Mr.Ramakrishnan and he told Amritha , 'How can I not give admission to Narasimhan's nephew?' And Ramakrishnan got into my bookmarks on Kannan.

Athimber's room, New Delhi (1993)
I had written earlier how Rajeevi and Kannan hosted a 11-day stay to someone who merited an invitation for two meals at the most. They gave him greater honours by earmarking a room for him in their house and giving him freedom to visit them at anytime. When Prasad came in 1993 to Delhi for the first time after Kannan had shifted to Delhi, he asked Rajeevi where he should keep his things. Both Kannan and Rajeevi replied to him,'Keep your things in Athimber's room'. To a puzzled Prasad, they explained that since I was a frequent visitor to Delhi, some of my things were kept in the almirah and it became my room. I must narrate an interesting incident about my frequent visits to New Delhi. In the lift in Kannans building, I used to meet Mr. Verghese often. After 3 months or so, he asked,'Where do you stay in Delhi?'. I replied ,'I don't stay in Delhi. I live in Mumbai.' He was shocked because Kannan had introduced me as a railway officer and he knew that no railway officer could visit Delhi so often from Mumbai. Kannan told me later that Mr. Verghese had asked a lot of questions about my job and was satisfied about my bona-fides only when all his doubts were clarified. Athimber's Room sounded nice Even I started calling it Athimber's room and it is my next bookmark.

Newsletter (2003)
I started publishing a Newsletter in 1999. But the first issue is not available. So the second issue which came out in 2000 became the first. From the beginning Prasad was a regular contributor of write-ups on various subjects. Kausalya contributed indirectly as I was reproducing an article of hers in every issue. Unfortunately the Newsletter was not widely read. To my knowledge, Gopalan from my side of the family and Amritha, Raghu, Prasad and Mukund from Amritha's side were the only readers in those days. After 2008, some more went through the Newsletter. I discontinued publishing it after Vanaja's Memorial issue in 2010 as I felt the time spent on it was not worth the while. I realise how wrong I was. All the articles I have written on Jaya akka and Kannan were possible only because of my Newsletter and the blogs. I revived it in 2017 on Shri Ranganathan's (my father-in-law) Centenary. With the advent of WhatsApp and the availability of instant news I felt the Newsletter lost its relevance. The two special issues are being published after three years.
After I came to Chennai in 2002, I persuaded Kannan and Gopalan (my brother) to write for the Newsletter. Both agreed and Gopalan's article in 2003 was on Soolankurichi thatha. (my paternal grandfather and Amritha's mother's maternal grandfather). Kannan started to write on his early days and wrote three interesting articles on his early days covering his life from Cheyyar to Loyola college. These formed the basis for Prasad's gripping article 'The Story of Ranga.' and my own 'Story of Jayam;' He did not continue that topic and wrote two articles about Pollachi after visiting Jagan. He wrote 3 articles on Friendship including one on Gopalan who passed away in 2004. Later Kannan started writing interesting articles on various aspeccts of Tirukkural and Kamba Ramayanam. But he could see the Newsletter only when Prasad or Mukund showed it to him on their laptop when they visited India. I have been able to retrieve the first five articles written by Kannan in 2003/2004. I will post them soon. His first article for the Newsletter in 2003 opened with these lines . 'Among the eight Ranganathan siblings that we are in the family today it is of interest to note that four of us were born in the pre-independence days and the other four after our country gained independence. This factor had its impact on the way the elder four of us were brought up, compared to my other brothers and sisters.' His contribution to my Newsletters is the next bookmark.

Sundaram Foundation Hospital, Anna Nagar (2009)
When Kannan's gait was affected in 2009 and he was walking with a drag, we all thought it was an ortho issue. In late 2009, when Prasad was in Chennai, he decided to consult Dr. Jaishankar, a well-known ortho-specialist who was a good friend of my cousin Raman (Adyar Kannan's brother). With Raman's help, the appointment was fixed in Sundaram Foundation Hospital. Kannan, Rajeevi and Prasad came to our flat in Arumbakkam and I accompanied them to Sundaram Foundation Hospital. After examining Kannan, Dr. Jaishankar uttered the dreaded words 'Parkinson's'. His life changed after that diagnosis. And Sundaram Foundation Hospital bookmarked itself into my memory on Kannan.

Signature (13th February 2020)
The founding of Jayalakshmi Ranganathan Trust in 2009, at Kannan's initiative and Santhanam's efforts was the high point in Kannan's retired life. Since Amritha was 'appointed' the Treasurer, I became an active participant in the activities of the Trust. As we opened the bank account of the Trust in Karur Vysya Bank, Arumbakkam where we have our account, there are quite a few activities of the Trust which keep Amritha and me engaged.
Kannan would look forward like a child to the mandatory Trust meetings four times an year. His warm smile and hospitality would always be on display. After the end of every meeting, Santhanam would write the Minutes in the ledger and present the ledger to the Chairman for his signature. When we met on 13th Februsry 2020 in Kannan's flat, we did not realise it was the last meeting Kannan would preside over the Trust Managing Committee.
His signature is the next bookmark in my memory on Kannan.





Platform (1992 and 10th March 2021)
While in Mumbai, Kannan was authoring a column in Kalki titled .'Bombay pakkam' using the pen-name Rajeevi Narasimhan. He would also take part in contests and was winning prizes in Tamil magazines. I had started participating in the Caption contests and Jumbo crossword contests in Midday and Afternoon Despatch Courier and won prizes on a few occasions. On one of his visits to our flat In Juhu, he showed me the latest issue of Ananda Vikatan in which a contest had been announced inviting readers to write a 2-line verse on Platform. He said he would be sending an entry and urged me to try my hand as it was similar to a Caption contest. Kannan had sent 4 entries while I had made just one. Here is mine and one of Kannan that I remember.

Click here to listen to the audio of the following lines

ரயில்வே ஸ்டேஷனில் உள்ளது
ரங்கநாதன் தெருவில் இல்லாதது
பிளாட்பார்ம்
பார்த்தசாரதி

மனைவி மகனை எடுத்துச் செல்லும் ரயிலுக்கு
கனத்த இதயத்துடன் கை காட்டும் நான் நிற்பது
பிளாட்பார்ம்
நரசிம்மன்

Neither of us won a prize though we were happy to read and appreciate what the other had written. Nearly thirty years later, as Kannan's body was about to go into the furnace, my mind recalled Kannan's lines with a slight change.





மனைவி மக்களையும் எங்களையும் விட்டுச் செல்லும் உன்னைப் பிரிந்து
கனத்த இதயத்துடனும் கண்ணீரோடும் நாங்கள் நிற்பது
தகன பிளாட்பார்ம்

Goodbye, dear Kannan, my cousin, brother-in-law and above all my mentor.

S.Parthasarathy
20th May 2021