PADMANABHAN-COURAGEOUS FATHER

PADMANABHAN- THE COURAGEOUS FATHER OF 6 GIRL CHILDREN


Padmanabhan was Typist in revenue dept of TN-GOV- with a meager salary. God gave
him a gift of 6- children- all girls. Born in strict orthodox family- a man with 6-girl children would be doomed to suffer. Marrying them would be a Hercules task. Even a king under such situation will be poor man. Padmanabhan determined that he would work hard- 20-hrs in a day to give a decent life to her daughters. )

Padmanabha Iyengar was born in a poor middle class family and is the second son to his parents. His father could not educate him much. He stopped with SSLC and learned
shorthand and Typing. People with Typing and Shorthand qualification will easily get
Government Jobs in 50s and 60s. As per customs he got married to Janaki- who also come from poor middle class family.

In those days salary for typists will be poor. Unable to cope up with the poor salary
Padmanabhan worked part time with Advocates. His day starts with getting up early morning. He will work with Advocate-1 from morning 7.0 AM to 9 AM, then go to ffice. In the evening he will work with Advocate. 2 from 6.0 PM to 9PM.God always tests only people like Padmanabhan. One by one he got 6-children- all girls. The 7th child is only boy.

Society always looks upon people like Padmanabhan in a lower order. It will not keep
quite with that- it will also give its own share of troubles and watch his progress.
Padmanabhan determined that he should give the best education to his daughters. Wealth may not be in his hand but he can educate them by working hard and earn. He also asked his wife to study HINDI and she passed Visharat and got a job in a school as Hindi Teacher.

Fortunately Padmanabhan’s daughters were fair. They were very intelligent and studied
well and got scholarships. This to a great extent eased Padmanabhan worries.
Post-graduate with good personality of the daughters attracted the attention of some good and rich families and there was no difficulty in getting his first two daughters married.

His Sons-in-laws came from good families and they helped other daughters to get good
jobs. Padmanabhan, on the advice of his friend invested some savings shares long time before. He got them at par. During the boom period, these shares swelled to Rs.12, 000 per share. He never dreamt that his investments of Rs.10, 000 will soar to Rs.12 – lakhs now. It is a God sent help for him. When his 5th daughter got medical seat, he decided to sell a few shares. Thus he was able to fulfill the ambition of his daughter.

His son like his daughters is also very intelligent. He decided that he should get a seat in IIT by merit. Towards that goal he prepared himself from SSLC on wards. The boy did get a seat in mechanical engineering and came-out with distinction. American University offered him M.S seat with Scholarship. The boy studied and took Ph.D. and is employed in States. He got married-of course (arranged marriage) and both are earning.

Padmanabhan and his wife used to visit States once in 3-years to be with their
grandchildren. In spite of his son calling them to come to States and settle with them, Padmanabhan preferred to stay at Srirangam alone with his wife. He feels that what he got today were all Lord Renganatha’s blessings. To day Padmanabhan – aged 80 lives along with his wife peacefully. His daughters’ wellsettled in life will visit them in rotation and give company.

Analysis:

From humble beginning Padmanabhan was able to manage during the formative period
because of his hard work. He understood that it is the only the asset he had and utilized every minute to earn. His parents did a good thing to educate him in Short hand and Typing. It is a saying- God will test a man to maximum but at the same time indirectly help him- in Padmanabhan’ case – fair and intelligent daughters and son- who understood their father’s hard struggle to educate them.

· Hard Work.
· Intelligent and fair daughters.
· Helping Son-in-laws.
· Devotion to God.

R.Jagannathan.