Dr. K K Damodaran, whom we used to fondly address “Dr. Sir”, is no more. He was the heart and soul of Sree Narayana Mandira Samiti (SNMS) which he co-founded and led from the front for 50 years. He demonstrated by his own life and work as to how Sree Narayana Guru's principles and philosophy should be put into practice for the welfare of humanity. His name was synonymous with the Samiti and his personal contributions towards the growth of the organization to its present stature have been phenomenal.

Dr. Sir was a humanist to the core. The qualities he had are innumerable. Humility, simplicity, sincerity, dedication, integrity, piety, compassion, devotion are only to name a few. I was particularly attracted to some of his special traits which were exceptional. These are his persuasive capacity, flash memory and his charming smile.

My acquaintance with Dr. Sir dates back to early 1980s. I got introduced to him by my wife's uncle (late Shri. K.P. Balan) who was also an active member of the Samiti for a long time. I was posted in Mumbai then. He quickly spotted in me a potential aid for his fund collection drives. Without any hesitation he expressed it in so many words. He followed it up with his characteristic phone calls for introducing to people who could be potential donors and soliciting advertisement for souvenirs. His persuasiveness was so much that I used to even avoid at times. Finally he will win over. This touch and go relationship continued for years whenever I was posted in Mumbai. I was never directly associated with the Samiti those days nor even knew the nature of services Samiti was doing. I was only obliging him by yielding to his irresistible perseverance.

I lost in touch with him for a long time when I went on postings to Delhi and abroad. Then one day in 1996, I got a surprise telephone call from him in Brussels (Belgium, Europe) where I was posted then. I do not remember the date, but it was a holiday. He told me that he and Mrs. Saraswathy Damodaran were on a European tour after visiting London for some award function and that they landed up in Brussels for a short while. He expressed the desire to see us. I went to the place of halt and brought them to our residence. They had lunch with us. Luckily we had his favorite fish curry which they relished very much. We have fond memories of the two hours or so they had spent with us. He narrated the activities of the Samiti on which I got enlightened and at the end of the talk he opened his bag and took out the application form to become a Patron in his characteristic style.

I came back to Mumbai in 2001 on my posting in the Custom House. Dr. Sir promptly got in touch with me whenever there was a fund collection drive and I used to oblige within my limited capabilities. He never used to insist on any particular figure or target, but was always happy with whatever was achieved. He encouraged me to visit the Samiti office and attend the functions organized. He will promptly send the passes and ring up to remind. Again I went out of Mumbai and came back in 2007. My association with Dr. Sir got renewed automatically, the main reason being the fund collections and the occasional visits for anniversary functions. He also used to request my assistance on certain govt. related matters for the Samiti

It was not even in my wildest dreams that one day he will ask me to work for the Samiti and that too in this capacity. It happened in early 2011 when I was about to retire from govt. service. I did not know how he had that confidence. My first thought was to run away. But he was a master craftsman with heavenly charm and I surrendered.

The three years in office in close association with him was experience of a life time. He had a watchful eye on everything. He used to be as punctual as ever in meetings, though at times remained absent due to ill health. He had a definite view on every issue and always insisted on consensus. He was still active on fund collections, particularly on events like anniversary, gurujayanthi and theerthadanam. He had a set of contacts which he used to utilize for collections. He reveled in collecting the maximum and getting appreciation. His speeches and writings always touched upon the need to mobilize funds for expanding Samiti's education facilities and other humanitarian activities. His energy, enthusiasm and the charm he exuded in this respect have no parallel and went a long way in building the solid foundations of the Samiti.

His fantastic memory, particularly dates of events, names of people, telephone numbers, etc. were amazing. We used to get even unrecorded details of events from him. He never to used a telephone directory to ring up people. All were recorded in his memory. It was hard time for us to make him agree to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Samiti in 2013. He was certain that the 50th anniversary will come only in 2014. He insisted that one anniversary was missed long back and therefore the celebrations should be prolonged for another year. We tried to reason with him that the Samiti was set up in 1963 and hence 2013 was the right year of Golden Jubilee. He finally agreed for a compromise formula of spreading the celebrations for one year from 2013 to 2014.

There was not even a moment in my memory when Dr. Sir lost his cool. He was always seen smiling and exuding charm even in unpleasant circumstances. Even in acute pain while in hospital he was seen smiling at every visitor and talking patiently. On 11th August there was a combined meeting of the Board and Council with the old and new team of elected representatives. We were expecting Dr. Sir to join the meeting. When he did not turn up, I rang him up. He picked up the phone after a few rings. He told me that he was not able to come for the meeting due to some personal problem and asked me to covey his best wishes to everybody. Little did we know that he was ailing badly and suffering from pain.

As luck would have it, we (Chairman Shri. M.I. Damodaran, Vice-Chairman Shri. M. Mohandas and myself) visited his house that day and found him seriously ill. He was trying to convince us that he was alright, but again with a lot of persuasion he agreed to be taken to the hospital. He was straightaway admitted to the ICU in BARC hospital where we could arrange the best medical care possible. He knew his end was coming. He asked for the son and daughter to come. They came. His son narrated the last moments. On the last day, he had asked the doctor to prepare the death
certificate as he was ready to go. In the fateful afternoon of 17 August 2014 at 4.40 PM, he peacefully withdrew from this world smiling and biding goodbye. Blessed was he that he had a premonition of his own death. The departure of Dr. Sir is a tremendous loss, but he will live in our hearts and continue to inspire us. It is our consolation that we have been able to honor him during his 80th and 90th birth anniversaries and also to celebrate the Samiti's Golden Jubilee in his gracious presence. He achieved a great deal in his life time, much more than possible for any ordinary human being. He had set very high standards for us. We need to strive hard to carry forward his mission and live up to his expectations.