K.Narayana Sastriar's family have been living in Race Course for over a century. He was a foremost criminal lawyer of his times and was the proponent of the free library movement. K.Narayana Sastriar founded the Coimbatore Cosmopolitan Club along with fourteen of his friends in 1891. The family continues to live in Race Course and the apartment block is known as ' Centre Court ' . Its so named due to their involvement in the game of tennis.
K.Narayana Sastriar's family have been living in Race Course for over a century. He was a foremost criminal lawyer of his times and was the proponent of the free library movement. K.Narayana Sastriar founded the Coimbatore Cosmopolitan Club along with fourteen of his friends in 1891. The family continues to live in Race Course and the apartment block is known as ' Centre Court ' . Its so named due to their involvement in the game of tennis.
K.G.Subramanyam (1903 - 1988) happens to be the nephew of the good intentioned Narayana Sastriar. He was born to K.Ganapati Iyer and Saraswathi. The family deity is Palani Andavar and the family had contributed towards the construction of the steps leading to the hill temple in Palani. Ganapati Iyer was a leading civil lawyer and was a member of the Coimbatore Cosmopolitan Club. K.G.Subramanyam did his higher education at the Presidency College in Chennai. He used to assist the Nobel laureate Sir C.V.Raman in research, however destiny made him a lawyer. K.G.Subramanyam (KGS) was known as Acha by the elderly and Anna by the members of his family. He was known for his honesty and he never swerved from the ethical path. These noble qualities made KGS extremely popular in the Coimbatore region.
The family members of KGS had a cricket team which was known as ‘ Jolly Brothers ‘ and it used to do well in the matches.
The honest advocate was blessed with the good Pattammal as his life partner. "We are very fortunate to be blessed with a good mother in law and father in law. Father in law never spoke about dowry at the time of our marriage. Our mother in law would never even ask us details connected with the silverware ornaments held by us. They were excellent human beings," recalled the daughter in law Meenakshi Vaidyanathan. KGS and Pattammal had been blessed with eight kids - Sharadha, Balam, Lalitha, Radha, Ganapati, Viswanathan Vaidyanathan and Natarajan.
KGS was the legal advisor to P.S.G & Sons Charities and he had been very closely associated with the founders. His drafting of the scheme decree is considered to be a master piece among legal documents. It had been passed by the court of law. He was considered to be an authority on Company law, Trust Acts, Land acquisition and Land reform matters apart from civil law. Sri Gopal Naidu Educational Trust, Kalaimagal Kalvi Nilayam, Manickaswamy Memorial Trust and many others were formed under his guidance. He was the legal advisor to a number of industrial houses in Coimbatore.
A few unjustified and unpleasant events made a mark in his life. The hanging of an innocent Dalit and the ill treatment of Dalit college students in a public institution made him resolve to fight for the down trodden and for the abolition of capital punishment. Thanks to the help of his friend K.Krishnaswamy Naidu, it was possible to start a hostel for Dalits and he got awarded a gold medal by the Government in 1953 for his contribution. His work with regard to removal of untouchability was remarkable. He strongly felt that if an innocent person was given a death sentence, the State is guilty of murder. His book "Can The State Kills Its Citizen ?" was referred to and approved by the Supreme Court. He proved that one can adhere to the principles of truth, justice, equity, good conscience and yet be a good professional. Justice Maharajan used to state that KGS used to place both the sides of the argument really well and therefore the opposite side would not require an advocate to argue their case.
KGS was a true scholar and he could quote from Adi Sankara, Milton Goldsmith and Shakespeare with effortless ease. He had an excellent sense of humour and this came out through his book "On the lighter side of law". KGS had a remarkable psychic experience in his life. It was the year 1939 and the left leg of his 2 year old child was about to be amputated. She had been unable to put her leg down and was in pain. Late Dr.Rangachari was called in by KGS and after using a method called séance the good doctor was in a position to carry out treatment. An advise was given through a psychic message for the removal of the pus collected inside the bone cavity. This was followed by the surgeon and the girl was cured. KGS was a brilliant tennis player and was good in billiards too. He won the Mylapore Presidency Open Billiards Tournament in the year 1926. He was the Secretary of the Coimbatore Cosmopolitan Club. KGS was the architect for the Golden Jubilee Souvenir of the club (1941). He was a born artist and had drawn a number of cartoons too. KGS was the Vice President of the Coimbatore Bar Association.
The skill and erudition of KGS drew a number of admirers. The gazing lawyers and clients ranged around used to wonder as to how he could carry so much in his head.
The illustrious life of KGS was amidst a lot of sufferings and this due to medical mishaps. He had a detachment of the right eye retina and had progressive muscular atrophy on his right leg. However, he was ever lively. KGS was extremely fond of children all his life. The family emulated his sporting traits. His third son K.S.Vaidyanathan was a lawyer by profession but was famous for his sports exploits. He has played the Ranji Cricket Tournament on behalf of Tamilnadu and has established his name twice in the Indian book of cricket records. Vaidyanathan put his energy behind his son Ganesh and daughter Nirupama in order to make them tennis champions. He gave up on his practice and began coaching them rigorously. They became players of great repute. He is the only coach from Coimbatore who has represented the country in a number of Grand Slam Tennis Tournaments.
Ganesh Vaidyanathan played tennis in the company Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and of course his cousins K.G.Suresh and K.G.Ramesh. They are the grandsons of KGS through his first son K.S.Ganapati. The first son was a fine cricketer and tennis player as well. Nirupama, the daughter of K.S.Vaidyanathan was India's undisputed No.1 women's tennis player from 1991 to 2000. She had consistently won women's singles and doubles titles nationally. Nirupama has played in all the grand slam tournaments - the US Open, the French Open, the Australian Open and the Wimbledon. She is the first Indian player to have won one round in the main draw of the Australian Open during 1998. She led the Indian women squad in the world youth cup, Fed Cup, SAF Games and the Sydney Olympics during the year 2000. Nirupama won 4 gold medals in the SAF Games held at Chennai, bronze medal along with Mahesh Bhupathi in the Bangkok Asian Games. She had also partnered with Kim Clijsters in the Belgium WTA and played against the Williams Sisters in the 2000 Australian Open Doubles Event. Nirupama is the author of ' Moonballer ' and is always ready to offer her guidance to the sporting fraternity.
The family added to the glory of K.G.Subramanyam. He was a true Gandhian who followed the principles of truth, non violence and concern for the down trodden.