click here to listen to the first part of the conversation

When did your friendship begin?
My association with Kannan is nearly seventy years old. It began in 1955 when he had accompanied his father to Madras to join B.Sc (Honours) in Loyola college. They had landed in 25, Vedachala Gardens, my uncle's (C.Srinivasan, Editor Parthasarathy's father who was also Kannan's mother's uncle) house. I met him there. He, Gopalan (my cousin who later became brother-in-law) and I became very thick friends. We were known in the family circle as 'Three Musketeers.' I was studying in Vivekananda college. Kannan was staying in Loyola College hostel and would invite us to join him for special meals on Sundays in the college hostel. I'd borrow Gopalan's bicycle and pedal all the way to Loyola college. Many of my college-mates in Bangalore were also in Loyola college. So we were a big group. In the special meals they would serve fried அப்பளம் appalam. Even at that young age, he was health-conscious and would avoid the oily appalam and pass it to me. I have spent several Sundays with him in the hostel.

Where did he join after completing his degree?
He applied for the post of Assistant Professor in Vivekananda College, Chennai. On the day he had his interview for the post, he, Chooda and I had planned to go to a movie in Midland theatre. Chooda and I were waiting in an auto outside Vivekananda college gate. He came running and we saw the movie. Later he got the happy news of his appointment to the post. He and his friend Balasubramaniyam had rented a small flat in Abhiramapuram. They used to have their meals outside, but would prepare coffee. Once Kannan offered me the coffee prepared by him. After tasting it I started disliking coffee of any type. Immediately I asked my mother about the secret of making good coffee. She gave me a filter with instructions about coffee-making. I passed the recipe and the filter on to Kannan. He and his friend appreciated my mother's tips and said, Only now we taste reasonably good coffee.'

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When did Kannan decide to appear for the UPSC examination?
In 1962, he decided to appear for the IAS examination. Somehow the period between 1961 and 1963 was one of continuous challenges for him. He had to face shocks at every step. The first was when he did not clear the UPSC examination in the first attempt. For one who was a brilliant scholar, the first failure in an examination was a great shock. Somehow he consoled himself and got ready to write the examination again in 1962. He was slightly disheartened when his mother dissuaded him from trying a second time. Anyway he went ahead and you may not believe it, we had difficulty in raising the Rs. 80/- needed to be sent to UPSC as Postal Order. We managed the money from different sources including the Hundi where money received as gift for baby Chitra (my daughter) was kept. We got the Postal Order from Mandaiveli Post office and sent the application just in time. But more was to follow. On the day of an important paper, the bus (21N) by which he was travelling to the examination hall broke down near All India Radio. He had to run to the hall and reached twenty minutes late. Ten more minutes, he wouldn't have been allowed. You can imagine the mindset of anyone in that position. But it is to Kannan's credit that he cleared the written examination in 1962. But his mark in that paper was low depriving of a chance to join IAS, which he richly deserved.

Everyone in the family knows about the tragedy that befell us in 1963. Can you describe how it affected Kannan?
Fate continued to play with him. He was planning to stay in our cousin Vanaja's (My uncle Srinivasan's daughter - Editor Parthasarathy's sister) flat and attend the interview. When he landed in Vanaja's house he was stunned to see that Vanaja's husband had died that morning and his body was being readied for cremation. He did not know what to do - whether to attend the interview at all. Fortunately another cousin, Srinivasan who was an Income Tax officer and who was making the cremation arrangements intervened and sent Kannan to a friend's house. In spite of all these obstacles Kannan qualified and joined the Indian Postal Service. Kannan is an example for everyone that you can overcome the challenges that life throws at you. Once he joined the Postal Service, his life changed for the better.

Where did Kannan start his career?
His first place of training was Coonoor. The day before he was to leave for Coonoor, we (the three musketerrs) were sitting in San Thome beach and chatting. He told us that he had been allotted a house for his stay and invited both of us to visit him. As we were free at that time, it was decided that Gopalan and I would visit Coonoor after Kannan joined. He had told us that he would not be able to receive us at the station as he would be attending training. And he told us to go to the Coonoor post office and whoever was in charge would guide us. Accordingly we went from the railway station to the post office. We were surprised by the welcome we got. Our luggages were carried by a peon and we were escorted to Kannan's place. It was a nice bungalow with an attendant on duty. There was a hotel opposite the house where we had all our meals. Only in the mornings, there was some problem. We had decided that all three of us would go to the hotel together. But Kannan was a late riser. So our morning coffeee would be delayed. But we had a great time visiting all the sights in Coonoor and Ooty. An interesting tidbit is how Gopalan would order his food. Kannan and I would always order one thing at a time. But Gopalan's order was always for two dosas. He would prefer to wait initially rather than waiting while eating. We spent an unforgettable three days.

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When did Kannan get married?
Kannan got married in 1967. He was a principled person and had always said he would marry the first girl his parents chose. He would not embarrass girls by going through the process of selecting from a number of girls. So Rajeevi was the only girl's house he and his parents visited in search of a bride. Rajeevi's parents belonged to Cuddalore and knew one of our family friends in Chennai very well. It brought happiness all around that the bridegroom's family was spoken well of by people Rajeevi's parents knew.
Let me narrate an interesting incident that happened on the evening of the wedding. Rajeevi was keen to go to a temple before the Reception began. So Kannan, Rajeevi and I went by car to Srinivasa Temple. On reaching there, we found that none of us had any money on us. As we left in a hurry, it didn't strike us to bring our wallets. It was the Wedding Day and archana was a must. Finally we took some loan from the driver, bought the items required for puja and performed archana. As soon as we returned to the wedding hall, we returned the loan amount.But it was an event which would always bring a smile on our faces.
In 1971, Kannan was in Bangalore and Rajeevi had gone to her parent's house in Cuddalore for her second delivery. He invited me to visit Bangalore. I spent four days. Kannan had a 'cook'. I am writing the word in quotes because he was a cook only in name. I found whatever he cooked was unedible. Kannan and I were poles apart as far as eating was concerned. I am very choosy, while he would uncomplaingly eat whatever was given to him.After a day of suffering, I started looking around the house and found that Rajeevi had packed and labelled all the condiments nicely. So I prepared sambar. Kannan said it was nice. I had already said about his uncomplaining nature. Maybe after eating the cook's food, sambar prepared by a novice like me tasted good.
I visited Bangalore again with my wife and daughter and had a great time.

Where was Kannan posted next?
Kannan's next place of posting was Trivandrum. I was headmaster in Rajah Muthiah High school, R.A.Puram, Chennai. we were a group of eighteen teachers and would go on sight-seeing tours. When some of the teachers suggested visiting Kerala, I asked Kannan whether he could arrange some accommodation for 18 of us.He readily agreed. At that time, there was a severe rice shortage in Kerala. Throughout Kerala, only locally-produced thick boiled rice was available. As we were all used to white raw rice, we wanted to carry 18 kg of rice with us. But import of any type of rice into Kerala was banned and random checks of luggage would be there. I got over the problem by handing over 1 kg to each teacher and collecting the 18 packets after reaching our place of stay. An inspector deputed by Kannan made sure that all the teachers were settled comfortably. I went to Kannan's house. It was a very nice house and I still remember it vividly.
I went to Trivandrum a second time with family and had a wonderful time

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Where did you visit Kannan next?
It was in Bhuvanewswar that I visited him next. I visited Bhuvaneswar twice. The first time when the group of teachers planned a visit to Calcutta. We wanted to break journey in Bhuvaneswar and visit Konarak and other places. It was Kannan who got a dormitory arranged for us with the help of a MLA. I spent a couple of days with Kannan and Rajeevi on that trip. On our return, we had reserved to go to Chennai from Calcutta. Our train would stop just a few minutes in Bhuvaneswar. Kannan asked me not to order lunch and that he would bring it to me in the train. I demurred but he overruled my objections. When the train reached Bhuvaneswar, there was no sign of Kannan. The other teachers had eaten their lunch when I saw Kannan coming running. As soon as he gave the food packet to me the train started. There was no need at all for him to bring lunch to a relative passing through his town. It showed Kannan's affectionate nature.
My second trip to Bhuvaneswar was very memorable. Jagan was just a 6-month old child and was so cute that he was always in somebody's hands. My in-laws (Kannan's parents) were also there and we had a gala time.

Where did you visit Kannan next?
We visited him in Bombay. Since my wife was in Central Government, we could avail LTC (Leave Travel Concession) every four years. And conveniently there were close relatives all over the country. This helped us visit many places in India including Tinsukhia in Assam when Parthasarathy was posted there. that is how we visited Bombay and thoroughly enjoyed our stay.

Where did you visit Kannan next?
We had a long-pending desire to visit Badrinath. This materialised when Kannan was in Delhi. We were a fairly big group of close relatives. But Rajeevi took great care of us. We visited Haridwar, Rishikesh and Badrinath and stayed with Kannan and Rajeevi on our return also.

Any other aspects of Kannan that you want to share?
Yes. First is that he was instrumental in ensuring that his one sister Chooda got married to me and another sister Amritha is married to you. After retirement, he joined Stic travels and did a very commendable job for them. And he was also entrusted with the task of revision of rules. He did a thorough job which was appreciated by the P & T authorities. And another little-known fact is that he used to play shuttle in the 60s and came up to the final in a tournament conducted in his office in Bangalore.

Your concluding words?
I could never understand why a noble person like Kannan should suffer so much in his last ten years. As a friend for over sixty years, I was deeply saddened by his suffering. But God's ways are inscrutable. We all know that he suffered a lot in his last years. But I wanted to talk about his healthy younger days through this audio-recording. May his soul rest in peace. He was a great soul, a noble soul. My condolences to Rajeevi and blessings to all of you.

Editor's note: The author is 85-year old Srinivasan who is also known in the family as Kannan. He has married Narasimhan's (Kannan) immediate younger sister, Choodamani while I am married to the fourth younger sister Amritha. This is a transcription of my interview with Srinivasan. The photo on the right shows the person about whom the interview takes place (Narasimhan), interviewee (Srinivasan) and the interviwer (Parthasarathy).
மே 17, 2021