OBITUARY - T.S.K. NAIR

“HAPPY FAMILIES - CENTRAL NUCLEUS TO PEACE AND HARMONY”

RECENTLY on 21st August 2007, we heard the passing away of Mr T.S.K. Nair who was a doyen of the Indian Community in Seychelles. Many glowing tributes were paid by various members of the public and the Indian Associations, for he was an integral part of the Indian Community and strived for friendship and cooperation bet-ween Indians and Seychellois. He was instrumental in the setting up of the Hindu Temple, especially with the acquisition of the temple site and was a very active Chairman of the Indo-Seychelles Friendship Association for many years.

He was indeed a proud and adventurous soul, who lived life to the full and enjoyed it.

Those of you who knew him well would know the story of how he landed here on the shores of Seychelles – but for those who don’t, Mr Nair came here in the mid-1960s from the Port of Aden where he had been working for 12 years. Recently, somebody asked him if he regretted not going to the Middle-East at that juncture in his life as did many of his friends at that time who are mostly multimillionaires today! He replied that never anywhere else would he have been able to live a fulfilling life as he had in Seychelles and that he had absolutely no regrets.

Young, adventurous and daring as he was then, he took the first ship out of Aden with all his savings to these totally unknown islands that were then a British colony. He heard of Seychelles on the BBC Radio, a habit he always indulged in, even until his last days. On arrival here, he checked in at the then famous Continental Hotel and stayed there for three months. His small family soon joined him and ever since Sey-chelles has been his adopted home country. According to him, there is no place on earth as beautiful and peaceful as Seychelles, which was why he was very keen to come back here after his treatment to spend his last few days.

He befriended many good people, in all walks of life – always a good mix of Seychellois and Indians. He first friend, Mr K.D. Pillay along with others like President Mancham encouraged him to start his own accounting practice, after a brief stint with Government. He set up his office in one of the first office buildings in Victoria – the Premier Buil-ding. As its oldest tenant he still maintains the same office to date.

But this did not keep Mr Nair active enough and being full of life and energy, he boldly invested in the 1970’s in many business ventures employing many Seychellois, all along maintaining his accounting firm; the first shoe company – Crescent Shoe Factory, the first travel agency – Ship and Travel, the first Indian restaurant; the first goods clearing company, the first Trade Directory, etc. to name a few. Many of these ventures were daring initiatives, totally unheard of, in those days involving considerable investments and employing many Seychellois. He soon got tired of most of these businesses, some of which also did not take off very well but all along he persevered, worked hard and did exactly what he believed in. For him, challenges, obstacles and difficulties were simply things you thought about and then rolled up your sleeves and tackled head on. As long as he did what he set out to, he just enjoyed meeting up with every challenge and was never ever discouraged. He had absolutely no regrets and was passionate in anything he undertook.

The children reminiscences, “whenever we would say ‘we can’t do this’ he would just reply ‘of course, you can – you can do anything that you set out to do – you just need real energy and drive in all what you attempt.’ Indeed, it was a lesson he taught us that we still hold dear to our hearts to this very day, and a very empowering statement which has been a strong motto for us!”

“Another lesson valued so dearly by us that our father taught us is that hard work pays and that there are no free rides. He used to constantly drill into us that the fact that you have to work for these things makes them worth having, a sense of satisfaction, that cannot be matched in anyway else. Earning the money to pay your way of life can be a pain but if everything comes too easy there’s no sense of achievement and satisfaction. That is why he was so proud of us, his children, as our father felt that he worked hard to educate us and make us what we are today.”

He believed that strong happy families were the central nucleus to peace and harmony at home and would insist on the family being together always. He was an active member of the Seychelles Club and would participate with the family in all the occasions and functions, something which was a rarity amongst the general populace. He was the perfect family man – full of love and joie de vivre and firmly believed that the family should always be united and be there for each other. “Despite us having our own families, we can’t help rallying at home even today! We just can’t get away from each other even if we want to…the “outlaws” join the clan instead! That is why we all have come back after our studies to work here in Seychelles and be together,” the children stated. He was very strict but that was always underpinned by the gentle, ‘you know, I am always there for you,’ kind of love and he gave us that in abundance. He always had a ready scolding and a big smile immediately after and we knew that he was always there for us.”

“We will miss his distinctive laugh, his strength, his energy, his huge appetite, his constant encouragement and certainly his ability to solve all our pro-blems. We will miss the con-stant scolding, his sudden app-earance in mud after his vege-table gardening hobby that he enjoyed so much or him taking candid pictures. We will miss his display of flexing his mus-cles that only a proud athlete could have or his agility that came with years of practicing Yoga. Our father was the greatest dad … the best of the best! We will miss him terribly,” the children opined.

Mr Nair is survived by his wife, Shantha and his three children – Lekha Nair, Jaya Nair and Rajesh Nair.

The family takes the oppor-tunity to thank all for the kind words of sympathy, help and for being there with them du-ring their moment of sadness.
(Contributed)