Pranams my friend. Pranams brother.

The whole day I have been trying to type.  But couldn’t.  Mind is fogged. I feel bereaved. As if I lost an elder brother.

KCS sir as most of us called him, is no more.

Not that his leaving is a shock.  From that dark night, in Januarly 1994 when we ran on the Coimbatore Railway Station platform to get into our coach in the Gandhidham Express, when he gasped for breath and almost fainted by the strain, I had known about his poor health condition.  He had high diabetes and a bad heart condition.  He later underwent a heart surgery too.  Yet, he never let it bother him and lived his full life – on his own terms.

His interests were varied.  From getting into hair splitting arguments on Constitutional law, on Excise law and procedure, on Association matters, Music, Literature, Art  and love for life in all its varied forms.

He was also a good player of harmonium, occasionally sang and was greatly interested in drama.

Ever since I knew about his diabetic problem, whenever we used to travel, I used to be a bit apprehensive about feasting on snacks.  He found fault with me for that indirectly by telling me that CSN was liberal.

Our trips to Baroda and Delhi for Federation meetings and also to places like Hosur, Erode, Salem, etc within the then Coimbatore Commissionerate were always enjoyable.  He would be going on narrating incidents from his own life of from the literature he had read.  He was an avid reader of English and Tamil literature. 

He was an ardent devotee of Lord Ayappa and named his house as Sabari Niwas.

Later, after his retirement, he took to learning Sanksrit and wrote and spoke a lot on Sidhantha and Vedanta 

Though he maintained his base at Pollachi, his heart beat for all.  He was a very loving person - liked to be in interaction with everyone.

Having been recruited at Mumbai, then shifted to Madurai and then settled down at Pollachi, he had friends in all places.  Not due to his working in these places alone, but due to his friendliness towards all.

He loved his family and dotted his children so much that it would move any one.

The Pollachi Divisional Office was his second home.  When we go there, it is as if we have gone to his own house. That is how he used to take care of any one visiting there.

Though we had contested against each other for the post of General Secretary of the Coimbatore Inspectors’ Association in April 1993, I was accommodated as the Joint Secretary and later when I came to Coimbatore on transfer, gradually KCS left the entire work of the GS to me.  Eventually, in April or May 1994 he made me the GS in the General Body and he continued as the President.  We both continued together till 1997. Then when I moved on as President, he was in the Advisory Committee.

Those years from 1994 to 1997 were the period of consolidation of the Association.  It was during that time that it became vibrant. He represented the traditional side of the cadre.  There was in the committee a more radical group of ‘young turks’ who felt that the proceedings were rather at a slow pace. I had to balance between the two.  And he understood my predicament too well.

It was during this period that in January 1995 we sat on a two day continuous fast for CR and it was this movement which enabled the Upgradation of 1996-97.  It was a turning point in the history of our Association at Coimbatore and propelled the unit as a formidable force at the All India Level.

It was during this period that we could get the historic ‘Transfer Norms’ issued in writing by the administration.

During discussions with the authorities, I would be on the front foot and he would silently hold the fort.  He once said, my drafts did not require any sharpening – something he would have loved to do, with his penchant for the language.  When he started typing, chewing the betel leaves and nuts, those who have seen him type, would be amazed.  It was non-stop.

His wit was brilliant. Once when we were meeting with the Chairman, CBEC in Coimbatore, among various things, the topic of Bonus came up. The Chairman said we were not entitled for Productivity Linked Bonus.  KCS nonchalantly asked, ‘does Chairman feel that we are an unproductive department?’.   

In 1998 when I was the President and when I was about to embark upon an indefinite fast, he was near me.  We had been asked to vacate the premises, but we held on to the ground stating that we could clear out only if our leaves have been granted or if our demands had been met.  There was a stale mate as the emissaries of the Commissioner standing before us and trying to persuade us did not know what else to say.  At that moment, AKK and PAP brought a photo wrapped in a newspaper.  It was the portrait of Gandhiji, which still adores our Association room.  It was kept on a chair and garlanded. Immediately KCS raised a slogan of ‘Mahatma Gandhi Ki Jai’, twice and in the same tone he continued with ‘Inquilab Zindabad’.  The blending was just amazing.  Then he began singing the bhajan ‘Raghupathi Raghava Raja Ram’.  The Officials had to just leave.  All this was so extempore that anyone else would have thought that all this was rehearsed earlier.  Actually he had not even known that I had asked PAP to get the photo of Gandhiji (as suggested by Dinesh).

He always saw the humorous side of events and people.  His oft repeated remark about the attitude of people in Association work was that once a persons used to pester on the corridors asking what happened to 2000 (pay scale), thereafter he used to ask from a distance what happened to 2 (showing two with fingers alone) then he used to just ask what has happened alone.  He enjoyed narrating the gradual change, every time he narrated it.

The last time we met was when he had come to Souri’s house to bid him the last farewell.  He appeared weak.  But had himself driven all the way from Pollachi, all alone.  That was his commitment to those with whom he had been associated with. 

But today, when I heard the news, it was more awful that we could not even have a last glimpse.  He had passed away in Bangalore after an illness. 

I feel bereaved myself. What else to say.

Pranams, my friend, my brother.  Pranams.

You live in our memories.

 -Manimohan