Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under R.N.I 53640/91
Vol XXXI No. 21, February 16-28, 2022
Remembering Lakshmi Venkataraman
by Ramnarayan V
Lakshmi Venkataraman (76), who passed away after a brief illness on 24 January at Chennai, was a daughter of P.S. Venkataraman, one of the sons of late Justice P.R. Sundara Iyer, a celebrated twentieth century legal luminary of Mylapore. After the demise of her parents – her father was a towering giant of a man who played competitive tennis, and her mother Rajam a tiny wisp of a woman – Lakshmi lived in the family’s Eldams Road bungalow, sharing it with her scientist elder brother Dr. P.V. Sundaram and his wife Prof. Ratna Sundaram until both of them passed away in their seventies. Each of them was an achiever in his or her chosen field, with Dr. Sundaram a world renowned microbiologist, but they led quiet unostentatious lives as did Lakshmi’s cousins – Sundaram, Venkatachalam and Viswanathan and their families – her next door neighbours.
Lakshmi was well-known in Mylapore’s artistic circles as a music and art critic writing for The Hindu and Sruti magazine often under the nom-de-plume V. Karpagalakshmi. She also ran an art gallery Sri Parvati at her residence for a number of years earning the appreciation of Chennai-based artists.
A little known facet of Lakshmi’s work was that she was a talented painter herself qualifying in Fine Arts from Stella Maris College. It is a mystery why she did not attempt to make a career of it. She also learnt the German language and served for a while as translator of technical literature for IIT Madras. Dabbling in translating Tamil literature into English, she worked in collaboration with veteran journalist Charukesi, especially for the Devan Memorial Trust he founded.
Known for her frugal ways, Lakshmi turned out to be an undemonstrative philanthropist, especially after she sold her ancestral home a few years ago. One of the beneficiaries of her charity has been the NGO Sevalaya, to which – among other things – she donated an apartment she owned. Another has been the Mylapore Academy, now known to host an annual concert in her brother’s memory as well as another in honour of her late vocal music guru B. Krishnamurthy. All her charitable initiatives were extended under the auspices of the Kalpakalakshmi Charitable Trust.
Lakshmi is someone I grew up with as part of a happy clan of several cousins who played freely in the space between the two houses Sri Sundar and Sri Parvati on Eldams Road. Boys and girls took part together in every form of recreation outdoors and indoors, with cricket perhaps the only boys-only pursuit. Lakshmi’s father Venkata Mama, the gentle giant, was the invariable arbitrator of all disputes.
It is a pity that Lakshmi leaves behind no survivors. It is literally the end of the road for her family.
Lakshmi was a good friend. She was very humble and never advertised her many talents.