An Epitaph

 

A TRIBUTE TO MY LOVELY BROTHER VIJAYA VENKATA RAMA SUBBA RAO ALIAS TAMBU

 

Tambu breathed last on the 21^st April 2024 morning hours. The second sibling in the large twelve members’ family, was named by my parents after my Mother’s father. He is an embodiment of love and affection and a devout person, fully self-made. He was the first earning member of the family after completing the Pre-University Course in the pre-sixties from the Sri Venkateswara University. Well-versed in shorthand, at the behest of my father, he joined the Lederle Company (latter known as Cyanamid ) as a stenographer. While serving the Company, he graduated himself through self-learning. Post-retirement from the Cyanamid, he preferred to dedicate his life to service to humanity through yoga. He was an ardent follower of Ramana Maharshi’s writings and philosophy. He pursued his yoga learning under Yoga Acharya Raparti Rama Rao of the Centre for International Yoga Consciousness, Eizinigiri, Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh.

A Karma Yogi

Annually or at such intervals less than a year, he used to seek the blessing of his Yoga Guru. He did post-graduation in Yoga Sastra. Apart from teaching Yoga both at his home and at the houses of the students in the early hours and evening hours of every day, he delivered lectures on Yoga and its importance. He gave discourses on the All India Radio, Chennai on the International Yoga Day. 

He always believed that without himself being happy he would not make others happy. Whenever we brothers and sisters ring him and ask him, ‘how are you’, his response was always, I am happy. Even he was affected by Cancer and had intense suffering, he gave the same response that kept the kith and kin, near and dear, that all was well with him. This delusion distanced from early cure though all of us latter knew that the disease is by nature terminal.

The Palate:

He created a roof-garden where one can find beautiful flowers, vegetables for everyday use and built a small Yoga Room. It was only after he became less mobile and weak, did he shift to the ground floor at his lovely home in Chennai.

He treasures reading philosophical books and loves Cricket. He started admiring Hardrik Pandey for his versatility in batting and bowling. He used to give a call to me whether I was watching his test game or T-20.

The Bondage

Up to the Pre-Covid, he never missed a year to perform the customary annual ceremonies of my parents along with me, coming all the way from Chennai. He was my yoga Guru too. We used to reminisce into the past the way we moved when our parents were alive, going back six to seven decades, year after year. Unbound in affection, he never also missed to visit our sisters when he was at Hyderabad and his brother-in-law Ch. Rama Rao, a scholar, and a scientist in NGRI.

When he visited the US, he made it a point to visit Toronto to stay with my daughters and teach some basics of yoga too.

Enjoys Good Food

My Mother knew from the day he had the taste of food, he loved food and cleared the leaf. He also knew like a couple of my other brothers, cooking tasty vegetarian cuisine. His love for pickles – Avakaya, Menthikaya, and Magaya – all made of mango during the season and stored for the year, is immense. Many a time, he used to cook his own food at home as well. He loves cooking as much as his food.

Love for Music

He had very good friends of repute in the Karnataka music world. His love for Karnataka Music – vocal or instrumental, no matter, Thyagaraja Krithis, Annamaya Sankirthanas has no boundaries of region, language, and instrument,  His love for other fine arts is no less. Whenever our sisters gave music concerts, he always sent the video clippings to me to listen and enjoy. We inherited this love for music from our legendary and affectionate parents.

I had a small privilege of editing his AIR talks. A year back, I visited him at Chennai, after he got the unfortunate disease.

Etched in my memory great moments I enjoyed, I miss him, miss him a lot. He chose to go to my parents’ heavenly abode. God bless him.

B. Yerram Raju, the elder brother.

My Unforgettable Moments

 

My Unforgettable moments

B. Yerram Raju

The year was 1979. I was Project Monitoring & Evaluation Officer in the Department of Agricultural Finance and Rural Development at the Local Head Office of the SBI. I was having regular interface with the then faculty and Dean of the Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University -APAU (now Prof. Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University – PJTSAU). One evening in July 1979, I received a call from A. Appa Rao, then Dean and later Vice Chancellor of the APAU to join a meeting being held at the local Horticulture Department of the University at Khairtabad, the next morning at 11 a.m., as the topic for discussion was on Agricultural Credit under the joint auspices of the APAU and the Society of Scientists for Advancement of Agriculture (SSAA).

After the discussions, they invited me to be a Life member of the SSAA. I did not hesitate  a moment as it would give me the association of several leading agricultural scientists that periodically holds conferences, discussions, deliberations on key issues affecting the farm sectors and farmers in general. J. Raghotham Reddy, the only farmer Vice Chancellor of an Agricultural University to which he donated his family property  of 200 acres. His memoirs have been published in a book form latter by the Farm and Rural Science Foundation (FRSF), which was a Trust formed by the family members of Raghotham Reddy garu. Almost a year later, I was requested to be a member of the Board of SSAA. I was on the Board for a decade.

There used to be field visits and training of farmers and frequent interactions with the scientists, agricultural economists in which I had a unique opportunity to learn. Under the auspices of this platform, it was decided to give Awards to the best farmers in agriculture, animal husbandry, agri-technology, agricultural journalism in first and second categories. It was an experience to select the Awardees as part of the jury. Those progressive farmers and their achievements have always been moments of great learning and interactive experience.

My six-year stint as Senior Faculty and Vice Principal ( for a few months) during 1984-90 at the Stte Bank Institute of Rural Development (SBIRD), this association and learning experience made me different from others both academically and administratively. After leaving SBI in 1994, thanks to such association and learning experience, I was taken as Senior Professor and Area Chairman, Agriculture and Rural Development at the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI). It also helped me to interact with persons like Pascal Lama, the first President of World Trade Organisation.

In the year 2000, when AP Government formulated Vision document, sectoral vision aspects were discussed at a Roundtable conference in MANAGE under the auspices of the then Vice Chancellor and Ganaga Prasada Rao, a very eminent farm scientist and former Vice Chancellor of Pantnagar Agricultural University. This was brought out as a Conference Publication under the joint authorship of Ganga Prasada Rao and me. This was uploaded to academia.edu and this continues to get readership of high value. APAU published the vernacular version of the book that was released by the then Minister for Agriculture, Government of AP, Vadde Sobhanadreeswara Rao.

In one of those precious years, all the members also visited Marathwada Agricultural University and held intense discussions.

I was entrusted with organising the first Memorial Lecture in memory of the Founder J. Raghotham Reddy garu and the SSAA took the lead. This Address was given by R. Radhakrishna (popularly known as RR), an eminent agricultural economist in his capacity as the then Vice Chancellor of Andhra University. Since both SSAA and FRSF were housed in the building donated by Acharya JRR, and since both the organisations were performing similar functions, it was decided to merge both as FRSF. From that day, I had been member of the Board of Trustees of FRSF and biannually we have been conducting the Annual Award and Memorial Lecture Function. As I have decided to bid goodbye to my 45 years of association with the FRSF, it would be a worthy recall and hence this blog. A period of great association and learning when I interacted with great savants in farm science like late M.S. Swaminathan, K. V. Raman (NAARM fame) Ganga Prasada Rao, E. A. Siddique, Yella Reddy (Extension Specialist), A. Appa Rao, V. Praveen Rao ( Vice Chancellor of PJTSAU where he retired last year), Dr. Padma Rao, Anil Epur and many others is an unforgettable journey in my life.

I salute to all of them in all humility.