End of an era! - A Tribute

Prof. B. M. Hegde,
Vice Chancellor,
MAHE Deemed University,
Manipal-576 119.
India.

This is not a political cliche - it's neither for garnering votes nor for procuring any favours thereof. To the best my knowledge and understanding, the title statement is the closest possible to the real truth. Absolute truth, however, is beyond man's reach.

“Truth is not introduced into this individual from without, but was within him all the time.”
Soren Kierkegaard.

In the death of Ramakrishnan, Bhavan, nay, the country has lost a great son. Right from the inception of the Bhavan, enthused by our great founder, late Munshiji, a great visionary, Ramakrishnan took up the challenge of building this great institution, brick by brick, to his last breath. Whereas Munshiji was the force behind the Bhavan, Ramakrishnan was the indefatigable workhorse that transformed Munshiji's dreams into reality. It will be uncharitable not to mention that many others also worked shoulder to shoulder with Ramakrishnan in this great venture.

Born in a middle class family in Kerala, Ramakrishnan was motivated by Gandhiji's clarion call to the nation to unite to throw away the British yoke. He was still a young boy when he jumped into Gandhiji's bandwagon. I am very happy to state that he remained a true Gandhian in word, deed and even, in thoughts. Curiously, a devout Gandhite, he made Gandhian principles a way of life. After several stints in the British jails, Ramakrishnan joined Mahatma Gandhi as his personal assistant. As good luck would have at it, he had the good fortune of becoming the personal assistant also to the Iron man of India, Sardar Vallabhai Patel. Knowing these two great men intimately and working with them at very close quarters, molded Ramakrishnan's life and work till his death. He had the advantage of having imbibed the qualities of a strong head from the Sardar, while clubbing it with a large heart of Mahatma Gandhi.

This combination of the qualities of head and heart, acquired from these two great men, must have made Ramakrishnan to be happy under all circumstances in life, whether in the cold of winter, the warmth of spring or the heat of the summer. I respect very few people in this world, although I like everyone, and I do it only on one qualification of the person, that is authenticity. Wherever he was, in a Castle or cottage; palace or pad, Ramakrishnan was one of those rare human beings who could make himself at home.

Bhavan grew from strength to strength under his tutelage, aided and the abetted by many other great leaders, who contributed in no small measure to the growth of the Bhavan. Ramakrishnan's infectious enthusiasm, his simplicity, his unbelievable humility and his penchant for hard work for made the Bhavan what it is today. These qualities of head and heart had endeared Ramakrishnan to all sections of society, from the highest of the high, to the lowest of the low - he had his time and love for each and everyone. Consequently, he was respected by Prime Ministers, Presidents, Governors, bureaucrats, intellectuals, rich business tycoons, and, even the poor Chaprasi at the Bhavan's office. He used to attract good people to his fold like a powerful magnet, not because of his personal needs but for the good of Bhavan at large. All over the world Bhavanites did look up to him at times of happiness or crisis.

He had a remarkable, almost photographic, memory and knew everyone in the Bhavan,s family personally, a great quality I admired most in him. His disarming smile, his good words for everyone, his compassion for the less fortunate and his desire to be of some use to others are qualities that made him very powerful for good reasons. I have always found it very comforting to talk to him. This has a scientific explanation. I think every single lepto-quark in Ramakrishnan's body had the stamp of the Bhavan with altruism etched on it.

In addition to all my experiences in the Bhavan for the last four decades, I had the special privilege of having been his medical consultant. When there was a time of crisis and people in Mumbai wanted to get him on their operating table, the last thing late Ramakrishnan would have liked to have, our then President, Late C Subramaniamji, asked me to examine him and take charge. Although rest is history, Ramakrishnan had immense faith in my clinical judgement. Before taking any treatment from his local doctors he used to counter check with me. I consider this as one of the greatest blessings. I had even to take him to London with me to get my opinion ratified by some of the best cardiologists and cardiac surgeons in London. Curiously, none of them had ever charged him any fees and all of them remember him fondly to this day. Dr Walter Somerville, Queen’s cardiologist and a former editor of the British Heart Journal, always remembers Ramakrishnan as that "humble godly person". None of them ever thought that he needed coronary surgery. That was an old story.

Man needs an excuse to die. Lately Ramakrishnan had a minor stroke and his brain scan showed diffuse blood vessel disease. Death being the only certainty in life, Ramakrishnan met his maker in peace. Our only satisfaction is that Ramakrishnan had the type of death that he had always wished for - "Anaayaasena maranam". Death is not the end. The soul has no death. God, in his wisdom, has plans not known to man. Ramakrishnan now lives in the world of dead. That world is said to be connected to the world of the living by a very strong bridge-the bridge of human love. We would have loved Ramakrishnan if he did not die. We could still love him as long as we live.

Man, said Bernard Shaw, becomes immortal either by doing something worth writing about or writing something worth reading. Ramakrishnan immortalized himself by both these means. He was a great writer. He will live as long as Bhavan lives, and, hopefully, as long as the sun and moon shine on this planet earth.

Brick and mortar do not build institutions. Institutions are not known because of their infrastructure. Institutions are built by great human beings who toiled upwards through the night while their companions slept, struggling to build an institution. History of any institution is but the biography of men and women who have toiled to build the same. Even the great monuments of the world are only man made. Blessed, as he was, by the grace of God Almighty, Ramakrishnan was one such institution builder, nay he was an institution himself.

One could write volumes about the qualities of his head and heart. However, the essence of whole issue is that Late Ramakrishnan was an exceptional human being, like of whom there are very few on this planet. Even those few are threatening to be on the verge of extinction like the dinosaurs. Ramakrishnan strongly believed in the following proverb of the Jews.

“What you don’t see with your eyes, don’t invent with your tongue.”

As I was completing this write up, I received the following letter signed by him, may be hours before he died. I thought it fit to include the contents here.
February 3, 2003.

"My dear Dr Hegdeji,

Thank you for your letter dated 24th January 2003 forwarding therewith an article titled "Higher Education Vs Business".

We shall publish the same in one of the early issues of our Journal.

With kind regards,

Yours sincerely,
Sd/-
(S. Ramakrishnan)"

While Ramakrishnan leaves behind his grieving wife, son, Sunder Raman, and his wife, Laxmi, and the children, he also leaves behind the large Bhavan's family completely orphaned. It may not be an exaggeration to borrow a phrase from Albert Einstein: it really makes me wonder that a man like Ramakrishnan did ever walk on this planet in flesh and blood, and that too, at a time when man eating (hating) man is the order of the day.

May God rest his soul in peace!