N Balasubramanian, Balu Thatha to Vidur, and “Appa” to Sury, and consequently, fondly, Appa to me – is being honored yet again.
This time, he has donated his rare collection of vintage Bharatiana – archival material, literary and photographical on Mahakavi Bharati – a library-load of books and exhibition material to Sevalaya (even while there are high-profile personalities and organizations coveting them all).
So, Sevalaya has now proposed a thanksgiving function for him on Thursday 23rd Dec. 2010, to which they invite all through the invitation card. Sevalaya is located at Kasuva village @ Tiruninravur next to Avadi.
Appa – when I first started calling him that, I would find it secretly amusing because I am not used to calling anyone Appa. Anna, yes, because I call everyone I meet “Anna”. But “Appa” needed practice. He’s a terrific person and one gets the feeling that there’s nothing he does not know lots about. Thiru Bharatiyar expert, Sanskrit pundit, Mathematician, Cryptologist, Singer, Composer, fantastic writer all bundled into one easy-going person who gets along with everyone (and their friends) – nicely overdosed with a great sense of humor. Real humor – punning and coming up with completely out of the box views on things.
Strangely, when I Googled his name, and his aliases, I couldn’t find anything except a tiny photo. That’s because all his work is in print. Why is this strange? Because this is the great man who was involved setting up the first ever super-computer in India at CMC. Beat that for an interesting life! Okay – just found a profile here.
Let me reproduce the short paragraph here:
N.Balasubramanian:
N.Balasubramanian, Defence R&D Service, Mathematical Modelling in Defence Science problems, Cryptological Research/Design/management – Independent Research in Number Theory, Combinatorics – Experimenting in Math Education tools – Literary achievements in creative writing in English/Tamil/Sanskrit/Hindi prose & poetry plus inter-lingual translation, Tamil Theatre Acting/Direction/Scripting.
Profession
Researcher and Advisor (Math & Cryptology)
What interests him most in Math Education
Specifically interested in salvaging the present Math education system in our(Indian) schools and colleges from extreme non-creative teaching routines. Would like to bring in [what I fancy] the original indigenously Indian paradigms of mathematical thinking in methods of learning, proof and algorithmic approach to problem-solving.
God bless him with good health. Congratulations, Pa. Here’s a pic with Sury, Vidur and Thatha. Don’t be fooled by the elderly look – there’s a very young and energetic heart beating inside along with a very sharp mind.
My Mom would have been so thrilled with this news.
Ok. Obviously I have not done justice in terms of singing his praises. 🙂 More soon.
