Tirunelveli Sellamier Sankara Aiyar C.I.E.

My maternal g.father, Sri. T.S.Sankara Aiyar, passed his F.C.S. exam and entered Govt. services and was posted first at Burma.From there he was shifted to Calcutta, Allahabad, Madras, Lahore and N.Delhi. Most of his postings were in the north. He was very fond of music and he could sing well too. He loved the company of musicians and whenever they came to give performances in Delhi they used to stay in his house.He was very fond of good food too . My g.ma was a very good cook. Probably it was because of that he developed a taste for good food!He started a Tamil medium school and a music school in Delhi. He was a good tennis and bridge player.If he found someone who was worthy of a good job he always helped him to get it. In fact people jokingly used to say that if the person was intelligent, deserving and was from Tamil Nadu, especially from Thirunelveli, he was sure to get a job if he approached Sankara Aiyar! He has helped many boys from poor families by getting them jobs.He was very broad-minded. He got his second daughter educated till B.A. and got her married to an Aiyangar. This was an unheard of thing 75 yrs back.He retired as Financial Commissioner of Rlys. and settled down in Trichy hoping that my parents would take care of them in their old age. But it so happened that my father passed away and he had to take care of my mother and her children. Another tragedy had struck my g-parents before that. They lost their 28 yr. old son. So he had to bear the responsibility of his d-in-law and her son. She was only 20 yrs. old when her husband passed away and my g.father offered to get her remarried but she refused to do so.Sir S.Radhakrishnan was thatha's close friend.and when thatha died he came all the way from Delhi to see my g.mother We were really touched. Both my g.parents have done a lot of social work and helped the needy.He was a very affectionate person and I being the first g.child was pampered quite a bit by them. I can hever forget them.

Saoja Krishnamurthy.