Life spent in equilibrium, equipoise and equanimity

My uncle Shri  V.K.Rao, the last surviving ICS officer completed 101 years of distinguished and an eventful life on 15^th July, 2015 It has been my privilege of knowing him and receiving his affection, though I must confess I was only on the ringside. Possibly his way of bestowing kindness was in a measured way, not ostentatiously but in a silent fashion. People talk of detached attachment, the result possibly of his long association with  Bhagwan  Sathya Sai Baba. When I cleared the competitive examinations, he was discretely anxious what about what particular service I would choose.

The third son of an assistant engineer, he was relocated in his schooling days; but wherever he was educated  he distinguished as a student of immense potential. The shifting ended when he joined Loyola College in Madras where he excelled in  intermediate and BA (Hons) courses. He stood second in MA and there was no looking back. It was in 1932 he married Smt.Prabhavati from the Nidamarti family. My aunt breathed her last on 31^st December, 2014.  Uncle absorbed the tragedy with great equanimity. He proceeded to Cambridge  in 1935, where he was selected as a Wrangler in mathematics and in the same year 1937, stood fourth in the I.C.S. examination.

On his return to India, uncle was posted to the then Bengal province where he worked in Midnapore and then Manikganj, near Dhaka. The family lore has it that his young wife would on occasions spend tremulous time when he would go out on inspection on a boat in surging rivers. Later during the Bengal famine and the tumultuous pre partition riots, the family was  ensconced in Ballygunj but they spent anxious times nevertheless.

Post partition my uncle opted to serve in India. After three years of service in the Madras Secretariat in different departments, revenue, finance etc. he was posted as Collector at  Vizag.  In 1953 when the process of dividing Madras into Andhra and Tamilnadu  began , he represented Andhra in the committee formed to oversee the division of the state.

In 1959 he was appointed as a Joint Secretary in the Planning Commission. However he began to feel that the entire exercise of planning was quite  unnecessary and wasteful . Interestingly the present government has converted Planning Commission to NITI Ayog.  Not surprisingly thereafter, he moved over to the Works and Housing Ministry where he worked along with Shri.Dharamveera.

  The then Minister Meharchand Khanna, a tall well built person, often guffawed that between Dharamveera and my uncle who was taller, as both were short statured personalities.  The call of the State  made uncle  move back to Andhra where he served as  Secretary to  various departments. It culminated  in his becoming the Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh.

When Andhra was engulfed in agitation he was made an advisor to the Governor along withShri H.C.Sarin, who would present himself as the points person of the P.M. After the agitation petered out he was made Vigilance Commissioner.

He served on the interview board of UPSC.  A young aspirant apparently rendered a Carnatic classical song  during viva voce and was selected for the  IAS.

 His final posting with the government was to work  as Special Secretary to  Shri. Neelam  Sanjeeva Reddy, when the latter was the President of India.

Not being given to politicking he moved back to Hyderabad once the President’s term ended. Some well-wishers wanted to see him occupy higher positions but the “powers” at helm opined that, he was not sufficiently “political”.

An important characteristic of his personality is that he remains detached. The profound spiritual influence of Baba made him not to aspire for positions but positions came his way. He spends his time mostly reading and receiving old friends and sharing with them his thoughts. I understand he  also spends times listening to music. He is happy and contended and instead of identifying with situations, he observes and witnesses them in a detached manner. That is the essence of Ashtavakra Gita.