Ganesha chithappa
My dear Sankar and the Srinivas family,
I am somewhat distressed to hear about the demise of Sri. Ganesa Iyer. He lived to a ripe old age of 95 years, a period given to very few lucky people. Therefore it must have come to him as a relief, but for those who are left behind, he has left a huge mine of pleasant memories.
Lalita and I owe our marriage to him and to my late brother Anantaraman, equally. It is amazing how they were together at Narbheram or Nagin's auto business, my brother doing part-time and Ganesh being the Manager, and the only worthwhile thing they seem to have done together was to get us married, and that was almost HALF A CENTURY AGO! Soon after our marriage, one or both of them left that outfit, so it seems tome,at any rate, that they were together for the divine purpose of getting us together. But for them, my father would never have considered a pure tamilian alliance for me, in preference fpr pure Palghat brahmins. Therefore we remember these two good persons with a lot of respect and gratitude.
Another thing that has struck me about Ganesh is that he was al all-rounded personality. He was super-intelligent, had an elephantine memory about persons and events, and was a very keen observer of everything happening around him. I moved closely with him in Calcutta for almost a year, when I was posted there by L&T against my interests, but due to political compulsions, and I had no work to do and a good office and plenty of time to spend. Ganesh would spend the whole day with me. It was then I got a deeper peep into Astrology, and what a good and great teacher he was! He knew not the frills of Sanskrit slokass and was practical in his approach. He would illustrate every proposition with somebody's horoscope or the other, that he had had occasion to examine and predict upon. He also had modern perceptions on Astrology and its use and was a devoted follower of the great Bangalore H.R.Seshadri Iyer. He was not so fascinated by B.V.Raman, whom he thought to be a money-mad journalist!
I remember one incident in my office when my good friend Yegneswaran was also with us. I had resigned my job in L&T in sheer disgust and only Y and myself knew about this, not enen Lalita, who I thought was too young to be told about it until I had fixed another job. Y asked G about my prospects with L&T and whether I would turn around and stick there. And Ganesh said that his son-in-law would throw away his job, but that the employer would not agree to it and that his status would only go up. And this is what happened. I was persuaded by the great Holcke Larsen himself and other directors not to press my resignation. Since I had already signed up with GEC for the Kerala assignment - and this seemed to be just what I wanted - I backed out. So much about his prowess in astrology and his pride in having me as a son-in-law!
Ganesgh's love of and admiration for his brother, your late father, was astonishing. He would quote innumerable small incidents from Srinivas's life to show his integrity, loyalty, resourcefulness, friendliness, helpfulness, and total attachment to the family. He would recount the innumerable occasions when he was helped by his brother, monetarily and otherwise, and how he loved him in turn. Very rarely have I seen so much love and affection between two brothers, and at that age!
Ganesh was a very good man and we shall all miss him. I pray for his soul to rest in the Almighty. Lalita and I share your grief on this occasion. Lots of love to all of you and our pranams to Amma'
