A tribute to my father
Written by
Jay Doraiswami
Naikenur Rangasamy Doraiswami, or N.R.D., as we all knew him, was a legendary figure, who rose from very humble beginnings, faced enormous challenges that would have brought down a lesser person, chose the “road less travelled” and achieved so much in his life.
Today we remember him as the amazing father, father-in-law, grandfather who earned our love through discipline, a thundering velvet hand and gentle means of sculpting. We remember him as the consummate professional that built a large and high-quality tax and audit firm from scratch. We remember him for sowing the seeds of an important charitable organization that continues to serve the public. We remember him as a favorite uncle with a wide and affectionate reach across our extended family of cousins. We also remember him for touching the hearts of literally thousands of people: generously sharing his wisdom, his time, and his mentorship.
Early Life
Our father’s life started in rural Naickanur, on March 3, 1926. His parents and older siblings were farmers, eking out a living from the harsh land that they owned. Our grandfather was a simple, rustic but loving man, our grandmother a tough-as-nails lady who worshiped Dad. One of his older sisters tragically lost her husband at a tender age, so at a young middle-schooler he was recruited to go live with her in nearby Mettupalayam, balancing his academics with household duties. He loved education, studying in his room from the light of an electric street- lamp, graduating with a first rank (valedictorian) in his class. Upon returning home, he was expected to be an agriculturist and was given a small plot of land to farm. Dad had other ideas: he wanted to go to the nearby “town” (Coimbatore), so in his typical overachiever mode, he did both! Government Arts College classes during the day, frequent bus trips to the farm for working at Night.
The accident that changed his life path
The strain of this ‘double life” proved to be too much; one day when he was operating a sugar cane crushing machine, his right hand caught in it and he lost most of his fingers. Along with this devastating physical loss, his dreams of becoming an engineer shattered. Through what must have been a painful recovery period, his grit showed again; he taught himself to write (haltingly) with his left hand for the upcoming “intermediate” college exams, reconciled himself to study accounting and enrolled in the Bachelors of Commerce “B.Com” degree. To meet his college cost, he yielded his land to his siblings, sold his only other possession, a favorite bicycle, and moved to Coimbatore. He also learned to write by holding a pen with just the thumb and little finger (when we were growing up, we were constantly awed with his beautiful penmanship).
Profession
Again graduating at the top of his class, he set his sight on the coveted Chartered Accounting profession, which at that time was the domain of highly intelligent brahmins raised in families with a long tradition and support for academics. Needing a clerkship, he persuaded one of local chartered accountants to take him on as an apprentice for two years, then set up a small office which also served as his sleeping quarters at night. Bit by bit, through sheer determination and tenacity, he built his business, on the bedrock principles of competence, hard work and integrity. His initial clients were the potato merchants from Mettupalayam, then small business traders and finally bigger trading and manufacturing corporations and famous mills (the flagship Suguna Mills among them).
The pinnacle of his professional achievement was his appointment as the auditor/financial advisor for some of the prestigious Lakshmi Group of companies’ businesses and family members. He was invited by the legendary industrialist Mr. G.K. Devarajulu, to accompany him on a trip to Switzerland, to form the important initial collaborative agreement with Ruti Textil, a major textile machinery supplier.
Family Life
In 1954, Dad was introduced to an extremely beautiful young lady, Saraswathy Rangaswamy, who was raised in a wealthy family of cotton merchants in nearby
Papanaickenpalayam and educated, coincidentally at the same Government Arts College (four years his junior) graduating with a B.A. in geography and social science. Looking at their wedding photos, people always admired the lovely paring: the groom with his movie-star good looks and the beautiful radiant bride. Older nieces in the family still talk about waiting for this couple to ride up on the motorcycle and gawking at them. There is an iconic black and white photography, taken on their trip to Kanyakumari; the man with his swashbuckling traditional attire, the lady shivering but looking gorgeous in her sari (why did he not get her a shawl?).
We, his children, won the “parent-lottery”: Ravichandran in 1954, Jayachandran in 1956 and Usha Rani in 1958.
Charitable Work
As my sister-in-law, Mrs. Sungua Ravichandran, played an increasing partnership role in the firm, Dad turned his energies towards creating a much-needed children’s hospital. Using his long standing status as a Grand Master in the Masonic Lodge, he brain-stormed a brilliant idea to form a charitable and payment system with the top industrialists and doctors in Coimbatore. Spending long days to negotiate the purchase of a plot of land in Race Course, setting up the clinical systems, recruiting doctors and nurses, even creating a world class canteen to serve those who accompanied the children, was a labor of love for Dad. His visionary implementation of an emergency ambulance system probably saved countless lives.
Today, the hospital flourishes as a center of medical excellence in Coimbatore
Passions and interests
His personal interests were wide: he rode a motorcycle (an Ariel), shot his target rifles at the local Police Range, hunted with a BSA shotgun for sport and had a Webley revolver for protection. Everything he acquired followed one theme,
they were the highest quality he could afford. When he moved to cars for his family, he chose the best of breed (always Fiats), had them maintained at the famed T.V.S. service center and rotated into new cars every four years – when word got out that N.R.D. was selling his well-maintained cars eager buyer lined up. All of the cars had catchy “numbers”: MDC 2525, MDM 3366, etc.
My father really admired Mr. Rajinikath the Tamil movie superstar/ Perhaps because he also came up from nothing to achieve stardom. When we went to Coimbatore, there was always a Rajinikanth move playing in the living room TV.
