Padmanabhan Venkataraman- From my perspective

A friend, philosopher and a guide.

Paddy as he is affectionately called by others and Padhu to those who know him for a long time, is a friend of my older brother. I have come to know of him since some 40 years back. He had a similar background like us.He lost his father at a young age, with the burden falling on his mother's shoulders. Shared a room in his uncle's place where it served all purpose - be it kitchen, living room or a bedroom. Graduating from Guindy Engineering College, his meteoric rise speaks volume of his achievements. He left Infosys as Sr. VP and has started his own firm. He is married to a wonderful woman who keeps reminding him to be grounded and is a proud father to a beautiful daughter and a handsome son who are well educated and have the strength to face this world, the courage and wisdom inculcated in them by their father.

He never left in my thoughts, and my memory is evergreen. Age has advanced and the time that elapsed has brought wisdom, knowledge, status, and the spiritual quest he had in him, took him in directions that is difficult to comprehend for me. Born a Brahmin and a Madhava, he has come to an understanding of selfless love, detached attachment and to go further, he has found God to be in oneself instead of seeking help from the idol worship we are so used to. He understands that fate and destiny are factors within one's control and has quelled the misconstrued belief that maya and sufferings to be not of a curse or the Karma, but of one's own making.

Since I joined FB, I have had many arguments. He is a Republican or a right leaning independent. I am a Democrat and am a strong believer in its principles. He believes in personal responsibility but I question its implementation when people are handicapped at birth by their socio economic status, single parent home, drugs and alcohol use by parents, gang culture in the hood, lack of parental guidance due to single parent who works three jobs or being raised by grandparents when both parents are not available, lack of basic amenities as food, shelter and clothing and teenage pregnancy as a consequence of lack there of.. He could make a joke and at times, to me it appears to be condescending. I believe he needs a PR machine, as I understand his thought process but I feel and have felt that he doesn’t care of what you think or about your feelings. Truth hurts will be his defense and though true, he needs to wait for others to understand and accept over time to realize of what he intended but it doesn’t bother him. He would like to drag us along to see the light but what if the light is shining too brightly and blinding us. He is a master of his destiny but to many of us it is the dictum of fate.

I have argued, compromised, accepted and at some stage walked over my ego to say that his hard truth though difficult to swallow and not at times fully convincing made a blind faith decision to go along as I respect him, more than a friend, a brother and because of my belief that he is someone who cares about me. He is someone I love and respect and at times find him to be an unavoidable evil. But in my wildest imagination and senseless admiration, I couldn’t get rid of him. So I have come to accept him as my friend, philosopher and guide.