I’m starting this piece on 13th April. Anna would have been 82 today if he had not left us a few weeks ago. We used to wish him every year and take his blessings. I close my eyes and see his smiling, benign face conveying his greetings and blessings happily. This is how it’s going to be in the years to come. Though he’s not with us physically, he’ll continue to live with us, lead us and guide us in all our thoughts and deeds, I console myself.

My earliest memory of Anna is from our Thanjavur days when I was 8 years old. Anna used to go to St Joseph’s College Tiruchi for his intermediate course. I used to feel fascinated that he was travelling by train every day. I also remember him checking my sisters’ answers when they returned home after writing any examination. He was very particular that they should not lose any mark and the fact that all my elder sisters got first rank in the school final examination was partly due to his coaching and insistence on perfection. I was only in my 4thstandard when we left Thanjavur for Pollachi and too young for Anna to worry about. When we were in Pollachi from 1957 to 1960, Anna was mostly in Madras doing B.Sc(Hons) course in Loyola College. He came home only during vacations and therefore my interaction with him was very limited. For all of us, he was an elder brother who was loved, admired and respected. My awe of him only increased as I grew older.

One image that has stuck in my memory is Anna preparing for his IAS examination. I’ve seen him sitting for hours poring over fat books on organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry and British History. I remember his organic chemistry notebook had hundreds of hexagons and that fascinated me. He would write down the various steps in the synthesis of penicillin which was an important and popular question in organic chemistry. I also remember him having the book “Has Man a Future?” by Bertrand Russell, one of his favourite authors. He told me later that Russell’s book helped him answer the Essay paper in the IAS examination. He was also very fond of reading P. G. Wodehouse. If he was laughing aloud while reading, we knew it was Wodehouse. He had a good sense of humour and enjoyed reading jokes in Tamil magazines also.

Anna wanted me to visit Dharwar, a beautiful town in the north western part of Karnataka, where he had his first posting as Senior Superintendent of Post Offices. It was in the year 1966 shortly after Rukku akka’s wedding. I went happily and spent nearly a month with him. That was the first time I could spend at least a couple of hours with him every day. It was like being a trainee with the Collector. He was sharing a house with one Mr V V Bhaskar who was posted as Asst Superintendent of Police, also his first posting in a sub division. Mr.Bhaskar was from Tamil Nadu. He was a friendly , nice person, who made me feel very comfortable. He had taken me along in his jeep a couple of times on his tours. In the evenings Anna used to take me for a walk and then we’d go to the Dharwar Officers’ Club where he used to play billiards, badminton and table tennis. I met a number of Anna’s friends there: Mr. Bhattacharya and Mrs. Teresa Bhattacharya, both IAS officers, who later became Chief Secretaries, Mr Madan, who was the Regional Manager of the Food Corporation of India and a few others. Madan was a very good billiards player and a warm, friendly person. He was the one who taught me the nuances of the game. Anna acquired some proficiency in all these games although sport was not in our genes. The one exception was chess at which Anna was very good. I should say that my exposure to the higher levels of bureaucracy began in Dharwar. Anna took me to a number of places around Dharwar like Hubli and Gadag. I loved Dharwar, which was situated more than 2000 ft. above sea level, had undulating roads made of reddish brown sandy soil and a salubrious climate that was in sharp contrast to the flat terrain and humidity of Chennai. It was in Dharwar that the seeds of desire that I should become an IAS officer were sown in me, knowingly or unknowingly, by Anna.

When I completed my M Sc course Anna advised me to take the Civil Services Exam since it offered a bright future. I was not very sure whether I’d make it. My Professor in Presidency College asked me to do research under his guidance. He got me the UGC fellowship, a sizable Rs 250/ pm in the first year. In the second year he got me the CSIR fellowship of Rs 300/pm. Anna kept on encouraging me that I should take the IAS examination. I noticed that my seniors who were doing research took 5-6 years to complete it and were feeling quite frustrated there. Meanwhile Parthasarathy wrote the exam in 1969 and made it to the Railway Accounts Service. Anna’s persistent advice and Partha’s success motivated me to take the plunge. Anna invited me to Bangalore where he had a beautiful office with attached quarters on the Museum Road. I stayed there for more than a month and appeared for the exam from Bangalore centre. I can never forget how Anna and Manni looked after me those days. While Anna was guiding me and encouraging me all the time, Manni used to give me delicious food , snacks, tea and coffee at regular intervals. I could set my watch when tea and snacks arrived in the evening. Anna was very happy when the results came. I had cleared the main exam. After the interview, I was selected for the Indian Revenue Service ( Income Tax). I owe my success in the very first attempt to Anna’s help and guidance.

I was wondering whether I should write the exam again to get into the IAS. Appa felt that selection to the Central Services was good enough while Amma was concerned that my health would be affected if I go through it all again. It was Anna who motivated me saying that it would be easier the second time since I had already put in a lot of hard work. Anna’s joy knew no bounds when I succeeded as he had anticipated. He had more faith in my abilities than I had!

Anna evinced great interest in my career development and I could always count on his guidance and good wishes. When he was Chief PMG, Mumbai he made a courtesy call on Dr P C Alexander who was Governor of Maharashtra then. When Anna mentioned to him that he is my brother, Alexander was very happy and spoke highly of me. (Editor's Note- Santhanam, the author was Sectretary to Governor, Tamil Nadu when Mr. Alexander was the Governor.)I can never forget how proud Anna was when he narrated this to me over phone, his voice choking with emotion.

Anna had this great quality of being warmly appreciative whenever any member of the family did something noteworthy. He would always call after reading Kausalya’s articles, discuss the subject and commend her style of writing. He expressed his joy over the awards she received. He appreciated Radhika’s articles also whenever I told him her article had appeared . He was proud of Rahul’s academic achievements as much as he was about his sons’ achievements.

Anna was a voracious reader. Even when he was incapacitated by Parkinson’s disease, he used to read a lot- newspapers, magazines and books. Whenever we visited his house for the meeting of our family Trust, of which he was the President, Chooda akka used to carry a heavy bag, full of magazines for him to read. He was quite passionate about Tamil language and literature. His Tamil teacher in school, Shri Deivasigamani, was very fond of him and instilled in him the love for the language. While still at school, he wrote a verse (vennba) praising his teacher . Shri Deivasigamani was immensely pleased and was so proud of his student that he kept in touch with Anna and visited him regularly till he was probably 80 years old. The love for Tamil made him attend the Kamban festival every year as long as he could. Kambar and Subramania Bharathi were his favourite poets in Tamil. I’ve imbibed this trait from him since I love these poets too and enjoy listening to debates in pattimandrams.

When I think of the sufferings he had undergone and the sacrifices he had made for the family, as the eldest of the siblings, tears well up in my eyes. I remember Chooda akka telling me that till he completed his SSLC, he studied with the aid of a kerosene lamp. Still he was the topper in the district. He had to travel from Thanjavur to Trichy everyday during his intermediate course. When he started earning, the bulk of the salary went for family expenses. If the earlier years were marked by suffering due to economic reasons, the last ten years of his life were marked by suffering of the physical kind. Yet he bore it all, stoically, with utmost dignity, without complaining and without any self-pity. Whenever I returned from the Perungudi facility after meeting him I used to feel very depressed. All his family members, especially Jagan, looked after him very well. He had the best treatment possible but that could not help him. Nor our prayers. I was hoping against hope that Anna would live to bless Radhika at her wedding. By the time I could convey the happy news of her engagement to him, he had lost his cognitive ability. But I’m sure he will be around somewhere to bless her wholeheartedly. For those who love us with heart and soul, there is no such thing as separation. They are always in our thoughts, come in our dreams and interact with us. Anna belongs to this category. He will always be with us. The highest tribute that we can pay him is not to grieve over his passing but to feel grateful for his life.

R.Santhanam
20th May 2021