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A `national integration' example
Reader Korattur G Radhakrishnan reminds me that another family that was a sterling example of `national integration' was that of Dr. Paramasiva Subbaroyan, the Zamindar of Kumaramangalam, a zamindari near Thiruchengode, Salem District; Subbaroyan was married to Radha Bai from what is now Karnataka. Her leftist leanings were passed on to their son Mohan Kumaramangalam, who married a Bengali, and to their daughter Parvathi, who married a Keralite. Another son, General P.P. Kumaramangalam, was the Army Chief-Of-Staff. Perhaps uniquely, three generations of this family were Union Cabinet Ministers - Subbaroyan serving in Nehru's Cabinet, Mohan Kumaramangalam in Indira Gandhi's, and his son, Pronit Rangarajan, in Vajpayee's!
Subbaroyan, whose house, Fairlawns on Commander-in-Chief Road is today the Presidency Club, was the Founder-President of the Indian Cricket Federation, the first association in the Madras Presidency to represent Indian cricketing interests. The grandiosely named federation was formed on April 25, 1933. Two years later, on April 30, it merged with the Madras Cricket Association, that had been formed in 1930 with four elite clubs including the then `Whites Only' Madras Cricket Club, and reconstituted itself as the Madras Cricket Association. P. Subbaroyan was once again elected Founder- President. He was later to preside over the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
A barrister by profession - though I'm not very sure whether he practised much - Subbaroyan had a Doctorate in Law from Dublin University.
S. MUTHIAH
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