It was homecoming of sorts for retired civil servant C.K. Gariyali, a Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer, whose book, ‘My beautiful journey – from Kashmir to Kanyakumari’, was released here on Monday.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Gariyali said that it was in Coimbatore as an Assistant Collector-trainee that she had had first tryst with the Tamil culture and people and since then the journey had been very pleasant and special.
Soon after she landed in 1973, it was in Coimbatore that she watched her first Tamil movie – Arangetram - in the company of a family that took care of her.
She watched the first Tamil theatre ‘Harischandra’ in the city and it was again in Coimbatore that she first went to carnatic singer M.S. Subbalakshmi’s concert and danseuse Kamala Lakshman’s performance.
Her training under the then Collector J. Shivakumar laid the foundation for the rest of her civil service career, Ms. Gariyali said that what she had learnt about Tamil culture and arts in Coimbatore helped her organise the music and dance festivals in Chidambaram, Mahabalipuram and Chennai.
Ms. Gariyali’s friends Priya Sam and Vatsala Jaganathan recalled their association with her since the day she landed in Coimbatore.
Collector T.N. Hariharan, Superintendent of Police Ramya Bharathi, trainee Collector B. Priyanka, Managing Director, Brookefileds, M. Balasubramaniam, and others participated in the function.
