Father

30/09/1939 to 17/01/2022

January 2022 Mon 17th by 7 pm, my good great father Dr PD Venkatakrishnan, MBBS., DPH., MF Hom (Lond)., expired. He was 82 years of age. He was born in Cuddalore (Thirupadiripuliyur) to Pudukottai Venkataswamy Devaraja Mudaliar and Nagaratinam Ammal. His paternal grandmother was Papathi Ammal and maternal grandmother Dhanabagyam Ammal. He was named Venkatakrishnan after combining his paternal grandfather Venkataswamy Mudaliar and maternal grandfather Krishnaswamy Mudaliar names.

His father practiced Siddha Medicine, at Cuddalore, Thirupadiripuliyur, a scholar of Tamil Literature who spent his time with friends discussing Indian religio-philosophy and Shaiva Siddhanta. He was fondly called 'Thirumandira mani,' by his elite scholar friends. He had a reputation for unworldliness and he was a seeker who had been wandering the banks of the Godavari in search of divine  truth for 14 years, after his early marriage, as was customary in those days of the early 20th century. He learned the art of Siddha Medicine from a mystic there. After the family came to know his whereabouts, they begged him back home and my father was born when he was 47 only preceded by his now late elder sister at his 45th year. He died at the age of 64 years when father was a second year student at the Stanley Medical College in 1962. 

My father got married to Ms Meera the first daughter of Sri Sivarama Mudaliar and Rajalakshmi Ammal of Sowcarpet, Chennai. She was a devoted and simple woman who took great care of him. Unfortunately, she died of a chronic illness at the age of fifty three on April 3rd, 2000.

Dr Venkatakrishnan, who was fondly called 'PDV' by his close friends, (particularly, Professor Dr Thiruvengadam Kannan, MD., DM (Medical Oncology), had been his close associate, friend and well wisher for nearly four decades) was from Stanley Medical College. He started his career as a lecturer in general surgery, at the Homeopathic Medical College at Kilpauk in the 70s. He worked as Municipal Health Officer in Vaniyambadi for four years and then in Gudiyattam for almost an equal period of time. Later, he also worked as District Health Officer of Tanjore District, in the 80s. 

From Tanjore, he moved to Stanley Medical College and later to Madras Medical College as Assistant Professor of Community Medicine (then SPM). He finally became the Controller of Examinations at the TN Dr MGR Medical University, the post of which he held for 5 years before his voluntary retirement from government service. 

He practiced homoeopathic medicine as a duly qualified consultant homeopathic physician for half a dozen years in Anna Nagar, Chennai. His clinic name was "Sai Holistic Clinic." He had obtained his MF Hom, at the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital, London, where he stayed and studied homeopathy, in the early 90s. A serious homeopath, he practiced with compassion and care and with scientific honesty. He helped his patients who came to him for nearly three decades and maintained their case sheets in his handwritten diaries. A soft spoken person, but, I found his voice loud and clear particularly when he dealt with his patients. 

He also held various teaching and  administrative positions at some of the private medical institutions like Vinayaka Missions Medical College & Hospital, Salem, Meenakshi Medical College Hospital & Research Institute, Kanchipuram, SRM Medical College & Hospital, Kattankulathur, Adhi Parasakthi Medical College and Hospital, Melmaruvathur and finally Chettinad Medical College & Hospital, Kelambakkam.

He was a passionate and great teacher who loved teaching, all that he had learned. He studied continually all his life and often talked at great length explaining even small things, to who ever listened. 

At the MMC Chennai, he was dealing with History of Medicine. He was guided in this direction by Prof B Ramamurthy (eminent neurosurgeon). He use to discuss these matters everyday at home, and made quite a number of projection 'slides' scanned from text books and other rare sources, spending a lot of his personal money from his salary. In those days, there were no computers. It was only then coming into use in India. They came up first at the banks, railway station ticket counters, etc., and invaded slowly to all other areas. Nowadays, its easy to make PowerPoint presentations and preserve it for eternity in our hard disks and Google cloud memory. And it was three decades ago. Unfortunately, father had to discard all those slides later as they got badly damaged due to time. He did indeed have a lot of literature concerning medical history which has long been missing.

As much as he had admirable students, he also was so reverential to his superiors and teachers. He interacted and infact inherited a lot of books from his seniors which he donated at a later date, due to want of space, to ardent adherents of the homoeopathic tradition.

Long after his retirement from government service, he developed a decade long association with his then Professor (in his student days) at Stanley Medical College and Hospital, who had long since retired, the late Dr Ramanathan, MS., General Surgeon, Biochemist, Homeopath and Ayurvedic expert. He was an octogenarian at that time, passionate with homeopathy and ayurveda which he discussed with my father almost every week ends. He taught me too, once on the subject of nosodes (I am no expert)  and on the late discovery of H pylori, asking me to spare the evening for him. Father called him a genius.

Father was a scholar of tamil language, and was equally good in English literature. He understood tamil poetry as well as Shakespeare with ease. He always edited and looked for grammatical and spelling mistakes, which we imbibed from him and still developing. 

Ofcourse, he pricked and scolded people for their insincerity, ignorance and lack of insights, into the nature of things. He was a scientific minded rational thinker who showed interest in science, philosophy and dry humour. 

He was a city bird who liked roaming around the busy streets of Sowcarpet and Mylapore areas. He liked tasting Basandhi, Poori, and Coffee at the busy hotels of Sowcarpet, where he had the blessing of being in the early and middle stages of his life. 

He was a free thinker and did a great deal of talking on all manner of things. He walked a great deal - window shopping, and every year, we visited the exhibition with family, at the island grounds, and never missed that train round-up. He took me to the 'circus' which use to be held those days near the old zoo and my lady's garden, behind the moore market, at choolai. 

He was a tolerant individual who never distinguished people based on religion, caste, creed or nationality. He was fond of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda, his only great modern Gnani. He loved visiting the mylapore Sri Ramakrishna Mutt, and prayed to Shirdi Sai Baba and visited many of his temples. He also paid his respects to thirukovilur Gnanananda Swami and his Mutt and his being and philosophy. 

He liked the Ramayana written by C Rajagopalachari and Shiridi Sai Satcharitam. He quoted the Thirukural often. He enjoyed Adi Shankarachariyar's Bajagovindam, and Rajaji's Kurai Ondrum Illai song. 

His favourite deity was Lord Muruga, Lord Rama and Lord Sri Krishna. In his city days in Sowcarpet in the 80s, he visited in turns the Kandswamy temple, Ekambaranathar temple and Kaligambal temple to which my mother accompanied him, often staying for late night Kutcheries. But, he never was dualistic than advaitic in his spirit. He never worshiped much but never intervened with others too. And he greatly admired the Buddha. He knew all too well that, 'desire is the root cause of human sufferring' but never much understood fear, let alone love. 

He was fond of Ramana Maharishi of Thiruvanamalai, and has many books which are a collection of his teachings. He also studied the book Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahamsa Yogananda, and often wondered in private with me, what it all means ! Why people choose different paths ? Is there anything at all ? He wondered if there is any meaning for life ? Why this creation ? Why Carnivores exist in nature ? Why manifestation is puzzling and enigmatic ? What is it that is living in us ? And what is it that is dying ? Is this a test for us...like questions ? 

He studied Jiddu Krishnamurti whom he admired and was equally amazed with his teachings. He presented me, his "commentaries on living," telling me, 'this will clear all your doubts, fears and confusions.' But he called him the elite-polite  philosopher. And he quoted him too, within certain limits, never allowing  me to jolt him out of his orbit. 

He loved the belly laughter talks of the spiritual master Dada JP Vaswani, of Meera Movement, Pune. Whenever, dadaji visited chennai he took us to his hilarious spiritual discourses. We sought his blessings too. 

I found him to be neither a theist nor an atheist but simply a scientist, sometimes clear, sometimes unclear. And we did have a lot of dialogue, in which he always had a say, fearing my jolting him out of orbit, and regular routine of his life. Practical man of experience and knowledge and insight to allow too much doubt and questioning. I should have learnt my lessons !!

He admired hindustani and carnatic music and was fond of the bhajans sung by Sri Sathya Sai Baba himself. He once maintained a collection of cassettes of KJ Yesudas, MS Subbulakshmi, Lalgudi Jayaraman, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, Veenai Chittibabu, Purasai Arunagiri, Sirgazhi Govindarajan, Sai Bhajans, and others. He got me a violin and encouraged me to learn music, and study astronomy, medicine and philosophy. 

He has a daughter by name Aruna who is married to KS Sasikumar, an Engineer working in the USA. Mr Sasikumar, ME., (S/o late Thiru Konavattam Shanmugam, Retd from TN Secretariat), works in the software, a rational thinker and self-made person. Aruna was encouraged by my mother to learn Bharathanatyam, which she continued for many years. Father never objected to it but he insisted on her basic education. They have two girl children who are studious and also have been learning music.

I fondly remember with nostalgia his great admiration and enjoyment of the Jugslbandi by the maestro Zakir Hussain, at the Madras Music Academy. He loved it all. Unfortunately in his later years, he developed hearing loss and as a result was so frustrated to talk with people. He didn't much like the dependence of hearing aid gadgets eventhough he used them.

In the 1980, there was the Total Solar Eclipse. We were in Vaniyambadi, at that time, and I was ten years old, and in the 5th standard. We used mirrors to project the indirect image of the sun into our room to observe the eclipse. There were lots of unscientific  information and superstitions which frightened us. But the scientific curiosity to know, culminated in 1986-87, by ordering a newtonian reflector telescope from Devadas Telescoptics, Guindy, Chennai. 

After a period of six months at MMC, Chennai, where he did his Diploma in Public Health, and again four years as Municipal Health Officer at Gudiyattam, father got transferred as District Health Officer, of Thanjavur district. Since all the members of our family, having read before, the  romantic and thrilling, mostly fictious, but historical novel "Ponniyin Selvan" by Kalki Krishnamurthy, we all greatly enjoyed the time period of two years at the ancient capital of the Cholas. It was the time of the apparition of comet Halley in 1986. I was in the 10th standard. We couldn't succeed much with Comet Halley, but the ordered telescope was ready at Chennai. In the mean time,  we moved to Chennai and father joined as an Assistant Professor at Stanley Medical College. 

Here began my journey of an intellectually stimulating and spiritual, decade long relationship and a journeying together, with the famous writer-editor of the Indian Express and Hindu paper fame, Mr Harry Miller, MBE, AIBPP, ARPS, FZS (Lond).  It was my father who taught me how to write by dictating and editing my letters to him, in the initial days. Subsequently, as it happened latter, Harry Miller himself wrote me 35 long letters, editing my English language and enormously encouraging me in my astrononical pursuits, in the understanding of the nature of this cosmos. He was a force indeed ! A simple unassuming personality, who lived in the Boat Club Road, Adyar, in the later days of his life, before he breathed his last breath in 1998. 

He greatly admired the late amateur astronomer, Prof P Devadas, FRAS., telescope maker, observational astronomer and selenologist. He was so amazed when we first observed planet saturn for the first time, distinctly showing its ring. He directed me to learn from Devadas, the nuances of the science of observational astronomy and telescope making. And for his part, Professor P Devadas, took great care in explaining my doubts in astronomy and even paid his last respects to my departed mother enquiring dearly to my father, whose interest in astronomy, scientific outlook and encouragement, he valued and appreciated much.

Father got me the Cambridge Atlas of Astronomy, an authoritative source book, when we visited the book exhibition held in those times, at Arts College grounds, Mount Road, Chennai. Much before that, and in the days before, he regularly visited the British and American libraries, indeed dozens of times, as he was a voracious reader of all manner of things. It was in those periods, that he got me the books of the celebrated British Amateur Astronomer, Sir Patrick Moore, CBE, FRAS. That was how, I got introduced to amateur astronomy and I became an amateur astronomer. 

Thanks to father and his scientific upbringing, I somehow learnt to manage medical science, astronomy, philosophy, religion, music, art & culture, in a balanced way in my life.  And I am still learning. 

He loved cowboy movies of John Wayne and James Bond movies. He was too fond of Laural and Hardy movies and Tom & Jerry shows. He was fond of Gregory Peck and Guns of Navarone and the movies like Mackenna's gold, and Magnificent Seven, etc., 

He equally enjoyed old tamil movies like Thayagaraja Bhagavathar's Haridas, NS Krishnan's  meaningful comedies, and Sivaji Ganesan and Padmini movie  Thilana Mohanambal with Balaiyah and Nagesh comedy. He liked the movie Malaikallan particularly the character Abdul Rahim Sahib played by MGR and Enga Veetu Pillai.  Sivaji and MR Radha in Balapandiya, the movie Kathalika Neeramillai, and a few later period movies like Kamalhasans Michael Madana Kama Rajan etc., These  were my observations, spanning decades  long period. Generally, for most part, he was a silent man, studious and reserved and composed, rarely loosing his temper. 

He was a great admirer of Sir Arthur Conon Doyle and his great character the detective Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. He quoted passages from the novel. He loved watching the serial by Jeremy Bret playing Sherlock Holmes. He was greatly fond of the Scandal in Bohemia adventure and the novel Hound of the Baskervilles. He talked in length about the rival of Holmes, Professor Moriarty and the death of Moriarty and Return of Sherlock Holmes.

Eventhough he was not a sportsman he liked sports particularly Tennis. He encouraged body building and muscular exercises. He liked the all time great, the legendary Bruce Lee. He use to like and mention often the names of  Sir Garfield Sobers, Colin Croft and Wesley Hall. He was fond of Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards, Joel Garner and the other west Indian pace bowlers like Patrick Patterson and Curtly Ambrose bowling. He often talked about Tony Greig lifting Gundappa Viswanath after viswanath hit him for a boundary. He liked Graham Gooch, Ian Botham, David Boon,  Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan. More than cricket he liked tennis, and encouraged me and my son to play that game, and be sportsmen. He encouraged us to exercise and be muscular and stay strong and fit. He was good at playing carrom himself and had won a few games too. He walked a great deal. 

He told us world war stories. He admired General Sam Maneckshaw. He watched the Republic Day Military Parade and never missed "Beating the Retreat" parade held three days after the Republic Day. He greatly enjoyed the lighting up of the Rashtrapati Bhavan and Parliament Buildings at the end of the parade and the return of the band singing Sare Jahan Se Acha...Hindustan Hamaraa.

He always studied books, taking meticulous notes with carefully drawn lines and markings. Of late,  and with much difficulty, he managed to learn to use the smart phone, internet and social media. 

He loved talking about Robert Hutchison, Samuel Hahnemann the founder of homeopathy, Albert Einstein, Thomas Alva Edison, MK Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr S Radhakrishnan, Swami Vivekananda, Bharathiyar, Mark Twain, Adolf Hitler, Gengiz Khan, John F Kennedy, C Rajagopalachari, Kalki Krishnamurthy, CN Annadurai and other intellectual philosopher-scientists and educationists.

He told me stories of how he escaped from the tear gas and huge crowds that gathered to the funeral procession of the first CM of TN state  CN Annadurai. He maintained objectivity and never took sides. He viewed people with equanimity and was non-judgemental. His disagreements and misunderstandings were short-lived and he always reflected with empathy unshown. 

He admired my capacities but always pointed to my not taking it to its fullest potential. He was fond of his grandson Aravind whom he loved dearly and greatly admires his physical and intellectual capacities. He dearly protected his daughter-in-law Mrs Meena whom he understood with empathy. He always instructively educated people strictly adhering to rationality and science, and encouraged them to prempt and prevent sufferring and diseases. 

His passing away has created a void in our minds which can never be filled. Only memories remain. 

May there be love and peace.