About P.R.Ramachander
By his daughter
Smt Meera Venkatesan
There is a lot of buzz in today’s world about the importance of finding your space, your Ikigai. I learnt from my father, P.R. Ramachander, that this space is big enough for many pursuits. If there have been two distinguishing features of every of his professional achievements, they are- his desire to give back to the world and his efforts to simplify complex problems.
A mathematics whiz kid who had routinely score 160 out of 100 in his post graduate studies (by answering all the questions in the paper instead of 6 out 10 as required), he had a knack of making the complicated derivations and theorems look like a walk in the park. He would put the jelly in our hearts at ease with a simple smile and clear steps, that would stick to our minds. He would make us wiser, without making us feel foolish.
A distinguished scientist and statistician at IIHR for over 30 years, he contributed immensely to the institute and the scientists with whom he worked. He has published several papers on statistical methodology for horticultural research. During his work at the institute, he was constantly looking for ways to use technology to bring knowledge to the people, to whom it mattered- in this case the farmers. His work reflects his thinking.
As a parent, he made the process of growing up easy for us. I learnt from him that all we had to do in life was think, wait and trust our instincts. He empowered us with information( which was not available on the internet in those days), but always left the thinking to us. So simple!
When he retired at 60, he choose to reinvent himself completely instead of resting on his laurels. He wanted the make the great works of devotion in the Indian languages understandable to all, who wanted to tell them. He felt that English was the main lingua franca of many youngsters, and the way to reach them was by translating the stothras and songs into English. He decided to host these online so that they reached the maximum number of people. So far, he has translated and published 6 versions of Ramayana , 21 minor Upanishads , 22 Vedic Sukthas , 2700 stotras , 2200 Carnatic music Krithis (which include all krithis of Thyagaraja) , Bhagawad Gita in verse , Yaksha prasna , vemana sataka from Telugu , Thirukkural from tamil Write up about 140 kerala temples , write up on 142 Village Gods of Tamil Nadu , entire Vikramadhithya stories, numerous folk tales and over 1600 general articles etc running to about 40000 typed pages
The lifetime achievement award that is given to him is- I believe- for bringing the complex wisdom of the text in known and unknown languages, right up to the screens and minds of everyone, wisdom that they would understand, appreciate and apply.
