A Tribute..

To call her Superwoman would be an understatement.

Born in Madras; travelled to Karachi when my grandfather’s job took them there.

Back to India during the partition & settled down in Dombivili

Travelled from Dombivili to Matunga (SIES) to attend school.

Started career as a typist / stenographer at the age of 18.

Married to my father at the age of 26.

Widowed at 36 with 3 children aged 9, 7 & 5.

Over a period of the next 16/18 years - all the 3 children completed their studies – graduation / post graduation / professional course & settled in their careers.

When she was 51, she conducted her daughter’s (my sister’s) marriage.

When she was 54, favorable circumstances enabled her to take a Voluntary Retirement from Service (VRS) from Railway, with 6 years service still remaining.

She opted for VRS to pursue her personal interests, which she could not do justice to, in the past 16/18 years.

At the age of 55 she got introduced to Prajapita Brahmakumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya, which along with music would be the passion & purpose for the rest of her life.

Somewhere around the age of 74 she got introduced to the wonderful world of technology where WhatsApp, Youtube, & Live Chats were her constant companions helping her to make friends with  those whom she has neither seen nor met & to wish several of her friends a cheerful Good Morning.

That was who Amma was. 

Named as Balambal at birth, she became Renuka after her marriage to my father (Renuka being the name of the Devi of my father’s ancestral village)

Birth & Brief History

She was born as the eldest of 5 children to Ramachandra Iyer & Rajalakshmi Ammal. Being the first born in the family brought its responsibilities. After completing her SSLC from SIES School she started learning short hand at home from my grandfather. She appeared for the short hand exams, procured a certificate for that effect & took up a job in a private organisation where her grandfather worked. In the couple of years she worked in that organisation, she brushed up her stenography & typing skills, learnt Hindi stenography & typing & got a job in Western Railways which she held till her 54^th year when she took a voluntary retirement.

School Days

During her schooling period the family was based at Dombivili, which shifted to Sion Koliwada after some years. During their stay at Dombivili the neighbouring community consisted of amma’s mama’s family, a few other friends & relatives. It was after their shifting to Sion that Amma’s formal music classes began. Amma alongwith my grandmother & chiti started learning music under Sri T S Krishna Bhagavathar (who I am told had undergone gurukula vasam for sometime under Tiger Varadachariar).

Marriage, Family Life, Career

After her marriage to my father (who was allotted a Housing Board house - through lottery – very close to where my grandparents were based), she continued with her career in Railways & her music. Brief breaks in music during the birth of myself & my sister. Due to health reasons Krishna Bhagavathar couldn’t continue his classes & Amma joined Shanmukhananda where she had opportunity to learn under Sri Ramachandra Bhagavathar, Brindamma & Muktamma. After the birth of my brother in 1971 she had to discontinue music classes as managing family plus career was a priority.

In 1976 when my father died due to Cerebral Haemorrhage the burden of managing the family fell on her totally. The only solace was the Railway job, though the salary would not amount to much. There was a nominal family pension. With 3 children of schooling age, making ends meet, both with her salary plus the family pension, was a perennial struggle. Month end soft loans from sincere friends was a routine. Amma used to mention that the month was split into 4 weeks : golden week, silver week, copper week & pauper week.

For us, as students, tuitions were out of question. Bright side – we learnt to be self reliant.  As far as studies were concerned we managed a major part of our studies & related expenses through scholarships.

Fancy clothing, footwear & electronic gadgets were beyond our dreams. Bright side – when we could afford these things later in life we knew the value of money.

Travelling during vacations was possible since Railways would issue a couple of free passes per year for travel to any part of India. This was for the employee plus minor children. She made it possible for us to be in touch with most of the relatives both from our father & mother’s side including those staying in Madras, Vellore, Rourkela, Secunderabad, Calcutta, Tiruchirappally .. This enabled us to value human relationship above everything else.

The only indulgence was music classes! Out of the monthly income a sizeable portion would be set aside as music tuition fees. Close relatives felt this was a wrong priority, with finances the way they were.

Bharat Scout Guide Movement & St John Ambulance brigade

Along with her Railway career Amma became a guide member of the Bharat Scout & Guide movement & became a trained nurse with the St John Ambulance brigade. Because of this association we got to visit & see the Independence Day & Republic Day parade & drills conducted by these organisations.

Music, Bhajans

Amma used to attend bhajans regularly. Invariably she would be required to sing a thiruppugazh or a Purandara dasa devarnama. During the days before her marriage she used to attend Bhajans conducted by the Gnanananda Bhajan Mandali. Later - Shashti bhajans at Chuppamani Mama’s house near SIES old college at Sion, Ashtapathi Bhajans at Duncan Rangan mama’s house Chunabhatti & Saturday bhajans of Om Bhakta Samaj. At her office functions like Satyanarayan pooja, etc she would invariably be called upon to render the opening bhajan.

Music had always been a priority in our family. When myself & my sister used to undergo

music tuitions under Sri V Krishnamurthy (who was a Maths & Tamil teacher in SIWS School, who would invariably be attired in a sparkling white dhoti & matching half shirt – not to be mixed up with another Krishnamurthy Sir who was the headmaster in SIWS, who would mostly be attired in a suit complete with tie) Amma attended the classes – purely through shravanam - & learnt several compositions. With her having learnt music earlier she could pick up much faster.

In 1983 she enrolled for the diploma course conducted by the University of Bombay in karnatic vocal music through the Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Vidyalaya & completed the same successfully in 1985, leading to her receiving the diploma at the hands of Maharajapuram Sri Santhanam. It was during this period that we got introduced to Smt Kalyani Sharma, Smt Nagalakshmi Santhanagopalan, Sri V S Babu, Principal K S Narayanaswamy Sir & several other great personalities in music.

To a certain extent this was also instrumental in some of our neighbours, friends & relatives realising that here is a good musician who can also be a worthy music teacher. Thus began her career as a music teacher when a couple of girls from our colony & a few relatives started coming home to learn music from her. But this only increased her appetite for music, as along with teaching she started attending advanced classes in music.

During her visits to Mount Abu when she would attend meditation camps at the Brahmakumaris’ ashram, she used to have a couple of local sevadharis from the Ashram who would visit her to learn Carnatic music. Over a period of time music classes during her Abu visit were something which her local students used to look forward to.

During her last days she was teaching music to my chithi (a retired Income Tax employee) & a colleague of my chithi, an Income Tax Officer who used to travel over an hour one way to attend the classes.

Brahmakumaris

In 1995, at her age of 55 she got introduced to Prajapita Brahmakumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya. After attending the one week course conducted by the Vidyalaya, she started attending the Gita classes regularly & very soon became a popular student at the local Centre. This also instilled in her the habit of getting up at 4 AM in the morning & spending the next hour in blissful meditation, a habit which she would continue to follow, without fail, each single day, till her very last day.

After a couple of years she got an opportunity to visit the Brahmakumaris’ head quarters at Mount Abu. She liked the initial visits to Mount Abu so much that later on her yearly railway passes invariably used to be to Abu Road. She used to average 2 visits per year & regularly used to volunteer as a sevadhari in the medical wing. 

Attending morning Gita classes was mandatory for her, whether at home or away. If not morning, evening classes.. 

Ready to attend Gita (Murli) classes at Cochin during our trip to Kerala.

With fellow students at Brahma Kumaris Centre during London visit 2005

One person, several roles

A mother (& father - to me & my siblings), grand mother, mother in law, music student, music teacher, judge in music competitions, stenographer, Hindi & English speed typist, society committee member, nurse, girl guide, cook who comes out with innovative dishes, active participant in music Live Chats, guide to several people, go to person to provide solutions to several problems, sevadhari ……… …….. & many more. She has donned several hats & played each part to the best of her abilities.

To call her Superwoman would be an understatement..


Some Fotos

Group foto during family trip to Alibag

Was a proud moment for all of us, 
especially Amma, when my nephew Aditya (first grandchild for Amma) qualified as a Chartered Accountant

Family Group foto, during Dubai trip 2012

Amma applying Nalang Manjal to Rohan, a compulsory tradition on Diwali mornings

One of Amma's activity in her retired life, decorating dolls!

& Fotos! 

 Sri Lakshmi Narayan

Sri Krishna

 Devi Saraswati



She must have decorated atleast an hundred of these fotos & used to gift these to family & friends, mostly on special occasions & several times just like that!

Some of the Messages sent by friends & well wishers

Condolence messages came from a lot of people.. Some of these are :

Very sad to hear the news.  I saw the msg.   now.  Sangeetha  Pithamahi  has left  her sangeetham   here &  flown away.  She was really my  guide. 

Heartfelt condolences on the passing away of mami. Her presence will be missed during the annual periyava pancharatnam programme. Also her participation in chats during live concert webcast will be missed by many.

My heart felt condolences to know that one of my best friends , passed away peacefully....the last word denotes her quality of life she lived all through...my memories dates back from the time we started learning diploma in carnatic music in Shanmukhananda. A great soul indeed...i feel like repeating it often...God has given her befitting farewell for all the good deeds she did in her life..

A beautiful soul has passed on. We will miss her sorely.

Oh so sad. I still remember sitting with her as a judge in shanmukhananda competitions wherein I learnt a lot.

Very Shocking to hear the news!!! I  enjoyed, judging the Shanmukhananda Competitions, in February, where, I had a wonderful opportunity to share many things related to music.. Very nice Person

Oh so sad. She was such an avid listener of all online concerts and used to forward links immediately for the benefit of group members.

In the Live Chat, we would wait for the final authoritative assertion on matters relating to music, and she would brush away, with great humility, any appreciative encomiums paid to her by all the participants. She breathed a sense of joy and happiness in the LC, perchance she was absent, that was very consipcuous! She educated most of the average talented participants in the LC. Her Aatma would exist even after her mortal coil is gone. Kindly bear the loss with courage and consolation

Oh..  Very sad to hear.  I had promised her to meet personally when I come to Mumbai.  Let almighty give her the Salvation..  Moksha.  Even though,  I haven't met her personally,  her in depth musical knowledge had always fascinated me.  She was a manasa guru for all  online LC listeners

We regret, bcos of the prevailing situation we were unable to come down for the last rites of our beloved sister to pay our differential obeisance for the last time. She was a grt lady of firm determination to raise the children to the present stage without the help of the partner whom she unfortunately lost at a very young age and that too when this help  was needed the most. We can never ever raise to her level. Hum to hamesha usse umar me aur baki sab cheezon me chote ke chote hi rahen hai aur rahenge bhi

This is coming as a shocker to me...

She was in touch with me for the last few years and every would send a good morning message every day and a word of thanking for the concert she'd listened ; she was very popular in the chat section and most of them revered her..' I was also wondering how come she is not on line"

I recd  her message 18th of April...and not after this. She was very appreciative of my afforts and infact she sent some contribution also couple of years back

A very upright person with commitment and  care. knowledge of her music and passion in sharing with her son's gift of music are remarkable. Anayasa maranam is a blessing.

So sad to hear about amma's passing away.  So many times we used to recall about all of you but some how or other we missed out talking to you. Amma was always a smiling friendly lady  interacting comfortably

Grieved to note. She was a quiet person deeply interested in Carnatic music. May the Almighty give strength to the family to bear this loss.

I am saddened  to her the demise  of ur beloved mother who was a strong  pillar to ur family. I remember  her presence in our office to discuss  the scope of practicing  instead of going for service in ur case. She accepted  my views and was firm in deciding  for u to practice.  Great lady great  soul. Take care and Om Shanti