Mr. Vijay Raghavan Thiruvadi has been my patient and friend for over 15 years. That we had common interests made the bond between us strong. He had multiple health problems and these needed constant care and surveillance. That he lived 82 years with this many serious health problems, a full life, is m itself a lesson for others.
He died suddenly of a heart attack yesterday morning leaving a legion of nature lovers grieving. Vijay was justifiably famous for his encyclopedic knowledge of trees of the subcontinent, especially those one sees in the urban set up such as in the city of Bengaluru. His weekly walks taking a group of enthusiasts in Lalbagh were a must for nature lovers who lived in the city and also those who visited from out side. In one of my recent articles, when I was at a loss to identify a set of trees that I had came across and sought his help. I was rewarded not only with the name of the tree but also with the ancestry and the legend associated with it [ Kauri Pine].
He was also a Historian and based his talks on well researched facts, His walks in the Lalbagh and Cubbon park garden and in the sprawling campus of the MEG center were like history books of the past 300 years opened in front of you. Adding to the knowledge, a flair for story telling and keeping himself in the back ground made Vijay a unique person.
His death is an irreparable loss
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Shri Vijay Thiruvadi is a late discovery in my life.
While organising a get together of civil servants of 1964( my batch) vintage I came to know of Late
Vijay ' s Lal bagh walk and registered with him.That was in the beginning of May 2023.
It turned out that he was a classmate of one of my IAS batchmates, at St.Stephen's college pursuing Nathematics Hons.course in the early 1960's.
Vijay later on became an Architect.But from his childhood he has been a lover of nature.
He was brought up as a child in New Delhi by his grandfather, the famous Physicist Dr.K S.Krishnan.
In New Delhi those days you lived in houses with green trees visited by birds,peacocks,etc.
That is where Vijay the Nature lover was born.And this became a lifelong affair
In any case ,our group of about 20 people spent 3 unforgettable hours in Lalbagh that day about 3 months ago, in the company of Vijay.
Vijay kept them spell bound with his talk which showed his mastery of Epigraphy, Geology, history,horticultuture, silviculture, etc.
This happened once again hardly 3 weeks back when my son and daughter with thir families came to Bagalore from their present home in the USA.
They could not believe that their guide fir Lalbagh walk, who was basically a Mathematician and Architect , possessed so much knowledge of so many other subjects.
They could not believe that Lalbagh had so many objects of interest from multiple viewpoints.
It is hard to believe that Vijay is no more.
Just the other day I received a message from him which had reference to a letter from Einstein addressed to his grandfather, Dr.Krishnan and other scientists in the world, in the aftermath of dropping of Nuclear Bombs on two Japanese cities.
Before I could respond he left us.
Vijay is truly a rare human being
May his soul Rest in Peace.
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