As I open the gate at T.N. Seshan’s house on St. Mary’s Road in Alwarpet, I sense butterflies flying in a formation in my stomach. When the opportunity to meet the former bureaucrat had come my way, I was thrilled. But now, when the moment has arrived, I am gripped by the anxiety of a schoolgirl taking her twelfth Board exams.
So, here I am, 10 minutes ahead of the scheduled interview to meet the man who imparted a rare colour and character to the post of the Chief Election Commissioner, which he held in style in the early 1990s.
I walk past the car parking area, which is free of wheels, and the striking feature is a patch of greenery close to a wall. Goutham Chander leads me to the living room on the ground floor, where Mr. Seshan is seated in a chair.
I am meeting Seshan based on an invitation from Goutham who has started a social organisation called Sankalp Beautiful World, which helps patients by offering them financial assistance through crowd funding platforms. Since its inception a year ago, Seshan has been its chairman and guiding light.
Mr. Seshan is wearing a long loose-fitting dress similar to those worn by in-patients at a hospital.
Age has caught up with him — he’s 84, looks heavier than before, tired and seems to be battling age-related ailments.
However, when he starts speaking, there is a metamorphosis. I see the sharp and witty Seshan that all of us have known and loved.
“His memory is as sharp as can be. When you make your next visit, you can test it for yourself,” says Goutham.
And, I was right, I am more the questioned than the questioner. Before he asks me a question, his face takes on an intense look. This intensity is one of the features I have always identified him with.
A few minutes into the conversation, Seshan identifies my hometown in Kerala.
“I studied at Madras Christian College where I had many friends from Kerala,” he says.
In Seshan, one sees a demonstration of how the limitations of the physical can be overcome with mental acuity and a positive outlook.
Although he reveals at the start of the interview that he is hard of hearing, at the end of it, I realise that I have not had to repeat any question.
Mr. Seshan is now mostly confined to his house. Even there, he restricts his movements to certain spaces. His feet are swollen, as he cannot walk as well as he should to give them enough exercise.
“My eyesight is poor; I have started giving away my books,” he says. I am told he watches television and calls people to read aloud for him.
And then, we settle down to discussing his association with Sankalp. He talks about his first encounter with cancer.
“My sister-in-law died of cancer. She was in the United States when she developed a small patch in the knee that was diagnosed as cancer. Later, she came to the city for treatment,” he recalls, adding that “death is inevitable but not suffering.”
He also recalls the pain and suffering a young officer, who worked with him, underwent when his mother had cancer.
“Cancer is one disease that is dreadful even to contemplate. More research is required. Cancer care should be made more affordable. We also need to educate people about the disease; cancer detected early can be cured,” he says in a soft voice. “We are working with Dr. V. Shanta of Adyar Cancer Institute to start an oncology centre at five places in Tamil Nadu.”
Seshan lives a quiet life with his wife Jayalakshmi, away from the glare of publicity. During the course of the conversation, the phone rings. He tells me, “It's for my wife... she likes to chat with her sister.”
Do friends visit him? “All my friends are just as old. How can they travel to visit me? And youngsters have no time; they have only time to watch Baahubali .”
As I rise to leave the room, Seshan asks Goutham to share his number with me.
“You must come next time as a friend and not as a journalist,” he says, with a smile.
As I shake hands with him, he chides me gently, “Your handshake should always be firm.”
(Learn more about Sankalp Beautiful World’s mission in the next issue of The Hindu Downtown, which will see the light on June 30)
