Sri V.N,Venkatavaradachariar

…….Sri V.N.Venkata Varadachariar.. ..A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY……

Sri V.N. VENKATA VARADACHARIAR, Advocate Madras (in whose memory his family members have instituted an endowment in the department of Vaishavism, in the University f of Madras) was born on 14 October, 1888 in the Vengrai village of Salem district to Sri V. Narasimhachariar and Smt. Janaki Ammal

He belonged to the Tirumalai Nallan Chakravarthy family who devoted themselves to a highly religious life, He traced his ancestry to Sri Anna raya Chakravarthy, a great and learned religious teacher who was attached to the venerable saint-preacher Sri Manavala Ma Muni. And, was himself a descendant of Uruppattur Achan, an illustrious disciple of Sri NAtha Munigal.

Sri V.N.Venkatavaradachariar had his college education in St.Joseph’s College, Tiruchirapalli, and at the Madras Law College where he had a brilliant academic career. He had his initiation into the legal career which spanned 75 years, under Dewan bahadur T. Rangachariar CIE,, a front line lawyer, Parliamentarian and Deputy President of the Indian Legislative Assembly He married Smt. Vedammal, daughter of Sri Rangachariar.

Initiated by his father Mr. Narasimahachariar, Mr. VNV (as he was familiarly known in legal circles) was well-versed not only in religious literature but also in temple traditions and rituals,particularly in ThennAchArya sampradAya. He was well read in the Tamil the Divya Prabandham, which is an anthology of verses and hymns of the Azhwars, also known as Tamil vedam.

In recognition of his services to Vaishnavism and temple practices, he was felicitated by Sri PrathivAdi Bhayankaram Annangarachariar Swamy, savant of Kacheepuram who also conferred on him the title of VAVADHOOKA SAARVABHOUMA
The felicitation function was held on 26^th September 1979 in the presence of a large assemblage of religious personages and Judges of the Madras High court.

Sri V.N.Venkata Varadachariar died with full temple honours on 22^nd April 1983 at the ripe old age of 95 years

MY FATHER..A PROFILE

WHAT IS MY EARLIEST REMEMBRANCE OF MY FATHER WHO PASSED AWAY IN 1983 AT THE RIPE AGE OF NINETY-FOUR? Well, I don't know. He was a handsome man of the orthodox type..A bright namam on his forehead and a tuft which was lush in his younger days became wisps of hair as he neared eighty or so. We ,papa, my younger brother and myself used to play with his tuft , twisting and knotting as we pleased. And he would enjoy it.I remember two things : going with him to the Congress Exhibition and Park fair, which were annual affairs where he would buy some toys. Once he took me to a Cricket match when I was about ten years; may be less. There are two things I remember about that visit. To quote my dad: "A tall handsome man in blue turban: ( Maharaja of Patiala)
"bald man" --Wazir Ali and hefty Mohd.Nissar.
Ours was a big family and at dinner we always sat together, on the floor while the cook on Raghavan would serve us..Father liked good food but was careful about the quanity he ate which was one of the reasons for his longevity.We were a happy family.
Life is not always a bowl of cherries as I had imagined. My sister of 18 years
fell ill due to weak heart condition and passed away --in 1941. This left my parents totally wrecked and this tragedy was followed in 1946 by my elder brother Sundar who was brought to Madras from Poona where he was an Ordinance Officer. He died due to pneumonia complications. Both my father and mother were heart broken. Father almost stopped doing court work and our house which was filled with laughter suddenly was immersed in gloom from which it took all of us much time to recover..
(shall continue)

On Smoking

Smoking has been with me for over many years.. not that I smoke now. It appeared to be the mod and manly thing to do. I had an uncle, a maverick type who smoked Gold Flake which after State Express was said to be a high class smoke. I got a smack from my mother for trying to imitate him with a sweet shaped like a cigarette.. that was when I was about seven years old.After joining college I had many opportunties to smoke which I did not let go. Pocket money was not enough for me to make a regular habit of it but I got to do 'it' now and then...Later,while working for Indian Airlines which involved erratic working hours and with enough money on hand, I began smoking on a regular basis. It was not the done thing to smoke in the presence of elders and relatives...but my mother knew that I was indulging in this habit..even after marriage. I told my wife that if she tried to tell me not to smoke I will smoke more..she kept off after I told her 'when even my mother could not stop me she should not even try'.
My smoking habit somehow has became a subject of discountenance among all acquaintances ..anathema to smoke expressed by some.. all this made my son to look disapprovingly of my habit..and when he tried to smoke his first cigarette he felt choked and had decided not go near a cigarette, come what may. That was how I unconsciously dissuaded my son from taking up this deadly habit. I call it deadly because when I saw an Xray of my lung and the doctor drew my attention to the dark patches I got chastened. Now, I had a GM who was a smoker himself and offered me cigarettes when ever I had gone to him. One day he announced that he had stopped smoking and I took it up as a challenge and told him that I too would do the same. I did. The craving was there for three days and then I GOT OVER THIS HABIT..Well, the GM in question went back to smoking while I got out of it.

Relationsips

Life may be viewed as a gift or a struggle. Truly speaking it has to be viewed only in terms of a series of relationships..We start with our relationship with our mother who had borne us for nine months and pampered us and looked after every need of ours. Fed, bathed,clothed and cared for in a manner only a mother can.
I remember seeing a picture of a very very old woman, shrunken, toothless and doddering. The caption it was that set me thinking. It said "Somebody's Darling Mother'. The negative reaction which the picture evoked initially, vanished and I saw in my mind's eye an adoring son who was borne, bathed. clothed and cared for by this mother of his. Every mother is a darling mother to her off-spring. There is a Tamil proverb which says that for the crow (said to be an ugly specimen among birds) her off-spring is a golden child.A poet had said God cannot be everywhere; so he created Mother-- what a fine expression. Next comes the father who moulds and shapes your mind with his own example and through precepts introduces one to GOD by telling stories and parables from Hindu mythology .. The benchmarks indicated by him gives a meaning and motive to our lives.
As we move along and grow, our ties with not only mother and father but with brothers, sisters, cousins, get stronger.We live, eat, laugh, struggle, and cry with them and the ties get greater permanence in our minds and hearts.. We then move on into the wide world and who stands foremost in our minds? Friends. Yes, friends, be it in schools or colleges or neighbourhoods or offices. Some of either sex are of course special and last a lifetime.
Then life throws you in the company of a woman whom you marry ..Love , whether before or after marriage, blossoms and takes concrete or rather 'flesh and blood' shape in the form of children..Then, grandchildren and so on. Relationships grow, ever-widening circle like the water in a pond into which a pebble is thrown.
And then the final journey from which no traveller returns.. Communion with one's God..Peace. Tranquility.That is life. Without all those relationships, what are we?

My Homestead

Veda Vilas!..The very name brings back memories...A land mark in Egmore, Madras
this house, where I spent the early part of my life, is no more. As the poet said
"Old order changeth, yielding place to new'". the house, rather my home, was reduced to a rubble and is expected to yield its place to a new four-storeyed building.

My house was laid out on a plot of over five grounds; the main building consisted of a lounge (Hall). of fifty by thirty feet dimension, behind which was another hall of more or less same dimensions. And, behind it was a verandah of about ten feet width.On one side of this main bulding was a suite of four inter connecting rooms where my father was having his law library , reference books etc., and a large desk with chairs forclients/visitors.
On the southern side were the living, washing, bathing and working areas. extending upto Samy Reddy St. On the first floor the lay out was similar but the front hall was only half the size , the rest being open to the sky. Again behind this was the tiled roof of the second hall.
What was it like to live in this ancient building?It is a chock-ful of memories.
I have , as a young boy sen my mother busy as a bustling mother-hen caring for a big family. It is now that I realise what a stupendous job she had done caring for a family of boys and girls, feeding and caring for them..bundling them off to school,,nursing their bruises.. aches and fevers..How much I had taken all this for granted! ifeel ashamed . Regrets ? I have many, the things I could havse and should have but never did for the parents .. How many times have I hugged her as a symbol of thanks ? None. How many times I have behaved caddishly without considering the mental agony I had caused. Too many , too many.