On Ramanan by Ramanan
“The best way to treat the gift of God is to return it to Him”
Born in Tirunelveli in 1954 to Savithri and T V Anantaramaseshan. Three elder sisters and one younger. Thanks to Appa’s penchant for shifting residences frequently, lived in Mylapore, Chrompet, Choolaimedu, T’Nagar, Nanganallur and Besant Nagar in Chennai. Completed schooling in Ramakrishna Mission Boys High School, North Branch, in 1969-70. Inspired by great teachers like Sri T S Ranganathan, Sri M V Raghavan, Sri Thathachariar and Sri R R Krishnan. Had a terrible time with even basic arithmetic which saw me either standing on the bench in the class most of the time or being the butt of several jokes in view of my ‘unmatched brilliance’ in math! And, my special subjects were Algebra, Geometry and Trignometry!! Struck by the beauty of Tamil poetry, thans to that unforgettable teacher Sri M V Raghavan. Appa did not want me to follow his footsteps (lecturer, journalist) B Com from A M Jain College, Meenambakkam, Chennai. God only knows how I scraped through. (Even now, my wife doesn’t believe that I am a graduate) Started budding as a Tamil poet.
“‘In a job, be a trustee; in personal conduct, be the sole proprietor!’”
Went through a terrible period of unemployment and odd tough jobs before joining The Hindu in Chennai as a Sales Representative. Life only got tougher, in Chennai and Bangalore before being posted in Madurai. Remaining fascinated by Goddess Meenakshi till this moment. Married Anuradha, a no nonsense bottle of cheer. Blessed with twin boys Anand and Vikram, both journalists working for the CNN-IBN in Noida. Anand is married to Priya and Vikram to Deepthi, both loving daughters Went back to Bangalore, came to Chennai before being posted to Visakhapatnam as Regional Manager of The Hindu.
Spiritual aspiration took me through an arduous and painful journey, making me knock at several wrong doors repeatedly and getting knocked down with an alarming regularity. At last, met Satguru Sivananda Murty (80 now) at Bheemunipatnam, near Vizag and the search was abandoned at his feet.
“The success of a poem lies in its failure to exactly convey what it has perceived and making the listener see more than that”
After almost 28 years with The Hindu, chose to quit employment forever, after a few visits to different parts of the Himalayas, including Mount Kailash and Manasarovar. Did so in March 2005 on my birthday, with 10 years of service and nothing else to spare! Went on a lecture tour to Canada, parts of the USA, Singapore and Glasgow. Friends published about a dozen of my compilations of poetry and prose in Tamil, besides two CDs containing my songs. Touring several parts of India with wife, interviewing men and women of eminence to record their views on the post independent India. This project is funded by Guruji.
“Be an active, fully-functional citizen so long as you live in society”
When the material front became a huge challenge, joined Vijay Nirman Co Pvt Ltd, a very reputed Construction firm, as its Head of Corporate Social Responsibilities, at the behest of my dear friend Sri S. Vijaykumar, its MD.
Visited Jageshwar, my favourite place in the Himalayas 15 times till now (growing!) spent some time in solitude and my 15 year association with the Master has somewhat settled me.
Life is over. Living continues.
Published works of Ramanan
- Kodugal Illa Ulagam or World devoid of demarcations (compilation of poems)
- Aadhavan Potri or Salutations to the Sun (in a cassette sung by Vani Jairam and Rajkumar Bharathi) released by Kanchi Sankaracharya and accepted by Smt M.S.Subbulakshmi and Sri M.S.Viswanathan
- Saradambikai Pathigam, a hymn on Goddess Sarada of Sringeri released by Sringeri Sankaracharya
- Mariannai Pathigam, a hymn on Mother Mary
- Aralakesi Arutpa Malai, a hymn on Mother Goddess, released by Sri Suki Sivam
- Won the first prize for my poem, “Meenavachi Vaadhai” (The plight of a fisherwoman) from Sri Chandilyan
