-- By K. Senthilathiban

My relationship with Professor Kaliappan began in the year 1979. At that time, he was a lecturer in criminal psychology in the Department of Psychology, University of Madras, where I joined as a student of the post graduate course in criminology. When he was teaching criminology, he exposed me to the concept of, ‘Minimum Teaching and Maximum Learning”.  He divided the entire syllabus among us and asked us to prepare and take classes. That was a nice experience for me and l instantly liked his way of teaching. I cannot forget the after class walk to the canteen with him and other faculty members for a cup of coffee.

​We became very close when he accompanied us to attend the Indian Society of Criminology conference conducted at Aurangabad. He never interfered in our plans and gave great support. One thing I observed in him was that he never got tensed even in critical conditions and was willing to be with us, even to the extent of fighting for our comforts. It was because of him, even after completing the course, that I used to go to the department frequently and be with him and others. He created an interest in research and made me undertake research studies. My first published research paper on ‘Anxiety among Delinquents” was written along with him.

He was instrumental in making me undergo the training of trainers programme on entrepreneurship motivation and this was a turning point in my life. I dedicated my life to learning and development from that year (1992). He gave me a lot of opportunities to conduct training sessions in the university (Academic Staff College), and in the corporate, government and development sectors. This helped me start my own consultancy, Sparks Development Group, in 2001.

I also became a council member of the Indian Society of Criminology and later its secretary, when he became its chairman. I also served as the associate editor of the Indian Journal of Criminology along with him when he was its editor. Yet another assignment I was associated with him was in running the three ISC-Pudhu Vazhvu (New Life) centers for prevention of alcoholism and drug abuse in the three districts of Salem, Vellore and Cuddalore.

​Professor and madam were part of our family. Our visit to his house was always an enjoyable one. His support to me professionally and personally was something great and I cherish each and every aspect of it. When I had a health condition, he simply said, “ You will overcome it, easily.” 

[Written in March, 2016]

  -- By Arulnambi K.

Appa's approach to relationships, friendships and his positive attitude towards life and its many challenges were influenced greatly by some of the truly wonderful students he was blessed to have. His personality and his style of teaching and collaboration were such that he naturally attracted many good people to him. 

One such student was Mr. Senthilathiban. He first came to know Appa in 1979, so was one of his earliest students. Dr. Karunanidhi, Dr. Latha Pillai, and Mr. Senthil - this was the trio Thambi and I essentially saw more often at our home than other relatives or extended family. They were incredibly close to Appa, and grew to be some of Amma's favorites as well. They were family in every sense of the word. Amma named my son 'Adhiban", picking the name from the second part of Mr. Senthil's full name. She would say that she loved the name as an enthusiast of Tamil names. She was also very fond of Senthil, remarking that he was such a good person.

As Appa's academic and administrative career reached many peaks, his students were a constant fixture at our home. They would stop by sometimes just to chat about personal matters, or get guidance on a thesis or research paper,  or discuss an upcoming workshop or conference. Just growing up in that environment steeped in the sights and sounds of higher academia was exciting. And Mr. Senthil and the others were very much at the center of it. Their academic and professional lives were influenced by Appa's own special brand of education and training - less reliance on traditional classroom instruction and books, more hands-on activities - camps, seminars, conferences, and training programs by the dozen. Mr. Senthil himself was actively not just participating, but constantly challenged by Appa to involve himself directly in organizing, administering, mentoring and teaching. Then there were Appa's massive initiatives for the betterment of society at large. The psychologists were not confining themselves to their classrooms, offices and clinics, but reaching out and helping those in need. Those were challenging but exciting and invigorating times.

​I was deeply shocked and saddened to find out that Prof. K. V. Kaliappan passed away. My wife Gomathi and I were his students at Madras University (1978 to 1981). We both did our M.A. (’78 – ‘80), followed by M. Phil (’80 – ’81), and Prof. KVK was my research supervisor for both my M.A. and M.Phil. theses. Later, Gomathi and I both left for Australia to continue further studies. While we maintained minimal contact earlier on, we drifted away after some time. 

Fortunately, we resumed contact in 2011-2013. Gomathi and I visited Prof. KVK and his wife, Prof. Kanthimathi Kaliappan, and we had some wonderful and memorable exchanges. We visited their house in Shenoy Nagar and went out to eat a few times (based on the recommendation of Prof. KVK). Prof. KVK was very pleased by our professional progress and spoke highly of us – just as a parent would talk about their children’s successes. He spoke to Gomathi about academia (as she was an academic at the University of Sydney) and with me on clinical topics. We spoke at length about starting a specific clinical psychology training programme in India and he provided pragmatic ideas. Later, I invited Prof. KVK to be a member of the Australian Centre for Addiction Research (ACAR) and he gladly accepted. See: http://www.acar.net.au/profile.asp

Unfortunately, my wife, Gomathi, was diagnosed with cancer in January 2014 and Prof. KVK was very supportive, assisting us during the dreadful ordeal we faced. He recommended books to read, told us how to lift our spirits, and most importantly gave us hope. Prof. KVK was the quintessential problem solver. This is what I remember of him from the time I met him in 1978. He would never be worried about any challenges or problems. He always possessed the “we can do” attitude. His optimism was infectious. People who knew him well always benefited from his vision and resilient personality.

Due to my wife’s illness and the laborious time spent in the hospital, we lost touch once again. I did contact him now and then but did not receive any response. Gomathi passed away on February 17, 2016 and I tried to inform Prof. KVK – without realising he had passed away on March 15, 2015. 

I am truly sorry that Prof. Kanthimathi was also afflicted with cancer and passed away a few months earlier. 

Please accept my belated condolences.

They are legends and while they are no more with us, their legacy lives on through their perpetual contributions to their respective professions and humanity. 

Yours Sincerely,
Sitharthan

Dr. N. Raj Mohan is one of the founder directors of "BODHI", a consultancy organization for corporations, educational institutions and the general public. He has done extensive research in the selection process of employees, career counseling, and has developed psychometric tools for assessment and suggestion of solutions. Dr. Raj Mohan is also an author, having published two books and various articles in English and Tamil. [Dr. Raj Mohan's full profile]

​Dr. Raj Mohan was a Ph.D. student of Dr. K. V. Kaliappan, and was closely associated with him until the very end. The following is the video (in English and Tamil) and English transcript of Dr. Raj Mohan's tribute to his teacher at the memorial meeting organized by the family, students and friends of Dr. Kaliappan on March 22, 2015 in Chennai, one week after his passing.

Although I say 'Good morning,' I don't really feel that, but one way, it's feeling good because we are here, basically, to understand us, by talking about him (Dr. Kaliappan), by thinking about him, by feeling about him. That is what I can perceive about this moment. When I was planning what to talk about today, I was thinking that all of you already knew him very well, and some of you knew him very personally, so there is not any scope or need for me to give an introduction about him. The only thing I can speak about is how I saw him as his student.

I was introduced to Dr. Kaliappan by Mrs. Suseela Mariappan, who used to work in the uninversity and is no longer with us. I went to her and asked her to suggest a Ph.D. guide (advisor) as I was interested in pursuing a doctorate. She remarked that they were many people like that. I said, "No, it can't be anyone. The person should be ethical, and someone who won't steal my work. I have heard about such things happening." She immediately said, "There is a Dr. Kaliappan in the psychology department. You don't know him. He is also involved in the N.S.S. (National Service Scheme) currently. Go and see him." I went and met Dr. Kaliappan, not once or twice, but several times. Every time, he would not commit to taking me on as a student, and would just say, "Let's see."

Then, we happened to attend a meeting together by accident, and I happened to speak at that meeting by accident. I had not intended to attend that meeting. I had just walked in impulsively. I was dressed in casuals (lungi and jippa!) and spoke for about five minutes in front of that gathering of nearly a thousand people, near the end of the meeting. Upon hearing me talk, he went in front of everyone and said that he would be truly fortunate to have me as his student. It was then that I understood something about him. After understanding a person well, he would go directly to that person's state, whatever state that was (I had not even entered the Ph.D. track at that point), and encourage and enthuse him. That was such an appealing quality to me. There was no reason for him to publicly say what he said then, in that chance encounter, but he did. He also mentioned that I had been pursuing him for nearly two and a half years.

After that, I started interacting and working with him, but always maintained a distance, as I was a bit afraid of him. Perhaps, that fear was due to his reputation of being rather strict and being cautioned by Suseela Mariappan to be careful, as I always tended to speak frankly.

So, we were maintaining that distance. There was a Professor Ranganathan in the School of Social Work, who was known to both of us. I mentioned to him after about one and half years that I had joined for Ph.D. with Professor Kaliappan. He asked, "Why do you want to do Ph.D." He asked it casually, but it struck me then, after nearly six years, that I did not know why I wanted to do a Ph.D. Maybe, I could think of reasons why I should not, but could not think of reasons why I should.

I was doing my Ph.D. as a part-time effort, and the time period allowed by the university expired. I had to pay a fine and restart the effort. Dr. Kaliappan asked me why I had delayed it so much. I said, "Sir, I had a problem." He asked, "What was the problem?" I said, "I didn’t know why I should do a Ph.D., that was my problem." He asked, "Well, have you found your answer?" I said, "Yes, sir, I have." Then, he said, "Okay, tell me… but wait, don’t say it here. There is a meeting of staff members I am going to. Come there and say it." I liked that. Those were the sort of small things that I picked up from him.

​So, I went to the staff meeting with him and said to everyone, "Even though I had the satisfaction of doing my Ph.D. under Dr. Kaliappan, I only found out why I'm doing a Ph.D. just recently. I truly think that it is not going to add any value to me." He looked surprised. I continued, "Internally, I'm not going to benefit by it, but one thing is clear. There is a thing called 'market value'. If I put the title of 'Doctor', maybe people will call me to speak. If I don't have any title, nobody would call me! That's what I see, honestly, sir!" He started clapping, and said, "You spoke correctly!" Dr. Kaliappan would tell me, "There are many people who are of no use even after getting a doctorate, and there are also many who have no doctorate but are of much use (to others). You are a mix of the (best of the) two!" A professor like this!

I met with him frequently over those two and half years. There is one thing I really liked about him. I didn't know many people that he knew, but he would tell me about them. He would say, "This is Kanchana." He told me a lot about Kanchana (one of his students). "Radhakrishnan, Senthil, Karthikeyan…" - he would speak about all of them to me, and similarly, he would tell them about me. A teacher, who, without prejudice, had the habit of telling about one's virtues and good qualities to another. That's a great thing - the reason that he, as a teacher, is entrenched in my heart.

Today, he is gone… emotional level, yes, (we are affected)…we are all psychologists, and psychologically, yes, there is a vacuum. But I suddenly feel that he has not passed away, because, look at all the students here, and Kaliappan is everywhere. When I think about it, for the question, why did I do a doctorate, there is a difference in my answer then and now. Today, when I speak to ten people, a thousand people, or a lakh people, the person I am thinking of is Dr. Kaliappan.

A few years ago, he took me to speak at a college. When I spoke about how difficult it was for me to become his student, he shed tears. He asked, "Did I put you in such difficulty?" I said that I did not see it as a difficulty and I spoke about it only to show my audience that one needs to overcome difficulties to come up in life.

I ponder my relationship with him - Friend? Father-Son? - I cannot say. In my interactions with him, he has even been my student many times. I am not saying this out of pride or arrogance. We have all experienced this. He would say, "Tell me, I will listen," and run to get his notebook and jot down points. He would call me suddenly, out of the blue. "I read your book. It was superb," he would say. "I want to recommend this right away to a couple people. Send me two copies."

Whenever there was a TV program, or anything else I was involved in, I would immediately share it with him. We are all here. Why? I think it was Karthikeyan (another student), who said to me a few days ago, "He changed our lives." He was a turning point for all of us. Do all of you agree? That’s why we are here!

He was a great innovator. Once, I was doing an employee  training program. I had selected a hundred employees. I realized only later that they would show up in shifts as they worked in shifts. I told Dr. Kaliappan that I had a practical problem - in the third shift, I only had two employees in my training program. He said, "So what? Create a model for training just two people." It didn't matter to him whether the group was two or five or ten people. I liked the way he came up with such suggestions and ideas that were unconventional. I am basically a person who is not orthodox, and we connected well and shared ideas because he was also unorthodox. Being orthodox basically means looking straight (in one direction only).  He did not look straight. He looked everywhere. That was a quality that he was always inculcating in me.

(Addressing Dr. Kaliappan's sons:) You have your father existing in all of us. This is not a political speech. Our presence when you were not here (when he passed away) was voluntary. People felt that they needed to be there. Being there would help us to become who he wanted us to be. That is what your father has created. How do we keep him alive? One is that we keep him alive in ourselves. And what did we learn from him that could, perhaps, be practiced?

After finishing my Ph.D., I told him that I felt sort of shy to call myself "Doctor". He insisted that I did, and always addressed me with that title. My wife could not be here today as she is not well. She had an opportunity to be his student as well, and asked me to share that Dr. Kaliappan would give a very patient hearing to any student who went to him and for any question that was asked.

These are the things which I feel that he left with me, and left with most of us. How do we get connected to him? By connecting to all of us. By getting connected, a common theme would emerge, and we can talk about Dr. Kaliappan. And his children too should get connected to us. And that is the way we keep him alive.

Thank you for listening patiently to me. I feel good now, as I think I was a good student to him. Whatever I learned from him will definitely be inculcated, distributed and disseminated to all of you. 

Dr. Latha Pillai is currently the director of the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development in Sriperumbudur near Chennai in India. She is the first woman director of the institute, which was started in 1993. She is a former pro-vice chancellor of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). She has more than three decades of experience in higher education and has held various other positions in educational administration, including advisor of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and deputy secretary and education officer at the University Grants Commission (UGC).

I had the opportunity to speak to Dr. Latha Pillai about her association with my father, Dr. K. V. Kaliappan, who was her teacher and doctorate guide (advisor) in the Department of Psychology at the University of Madras.

How did you come to know Dr. Kaliappan?

I first met Professor Kaliappan in 1980, when I had registered for my Master’s in Applied Psychology, with a second year specialization in industrial psychology at the University of Madras. There were about 11 or 12 students in my class, and many of us had direct access to the professor as his students. The first subject Dr. Kaliappan taught us was community psychology. It had to do with taking psychology to the community. That was his message and that was his life - really taking psychology to the grassroots and connecting. I got to know him and that message very well even during those early days as his student.

What were your first impressions of him?

He immediately struck me as a very down to earth person, affable, and could put anyone at ease. He had a calm and matter of fact approach to things.

How would you say you have benefited by your association with Dr. Kaliappan? How did he help you with your education and career?

I was kind of an introvert (still think I am!). I was hardly the kind of person who would speak out in class. He asked me to handle the first seminar in my class. I really didn’t know how I would do it. But I must say I really did a very good seminar. It was appreciated by everyone. Since then, I have really not stopped talking, I feel! That is because, professionally, in the last 20 years, my jobs required a lot of talking, advocacy and things like that. I am ever grateful to him for giving me that first push into talking. If you have to swim, you have to jump into the water sort of approach is what he had. It was a tremendous thing. Now, of course, I am appreciated everywhere for the kind of talks and speeches I give.

You knew Professor Kaliappan for over 30 years. What other highlights of your professional and educational connection with him can you tell us about?

I did my Ph.D. with him. So, I was in his Master's classes for two years and my Ph.D. work with him lasted four years. I did my Ph.D. on writer’s cramp and he believed that it was one of the disorders that were not really known and required to be publicized. As a student, I used to wonder why I was taking so long to complete my thesis as I took longer than other students did. But I fondly remember the many evenings I spent at your home in the veranda discussing my work with the professor. That’s something I can never forget. Subsequently, I also worked with him. He was in charge of the NSS (National Service Scheme) as NSS coordinator at the university and I was hired as a program executive to work with him. I worked on programs like personality development. He designed those programs to reach out to the masses and to the students. He created that position and I worked with him for more than a year.

He had a tremendous amount of faith in my abilities. At first, he wanted me to get a job as a teacher in the university department. The only vacant position was a reader. I knew I could not become a reader without becoming a lecturer first but he pushed me to interview for it. I went to the interview but did not get the position. Then I got married and moved away and could not go back to teaching. He thought I would be a great teacher. When I could not teach, I spent long hours discussing my next career steps with him. He had just created an organization called ISEL (International Society for Effective Living). He wanted me to run it. Some of the objectives of this organization were to conduct training and psychological assessments. My family required a steady source of income, so I could not make the decision to become an entrepreneur and did not join the ISEL.

Professor Kaliappan also entrusted me with working on many national and international conferences. I traveled with him to Calcutta, Varanasi and other places. I was associated with the IAAP (Indian Academy of Applied Psychology) and the MPS (Madras Psychology Society), professional bodies that the professor was very involved in. In retrospect, I realized that being involved in all those things helped me come out of my shell.

What do you think is Dr. Kaliappan's legacy? As his student, what would you do to carry on his legacy?

The legacy he left behind is that it is very important to take the subject to the people. To move beyond theory or put theory into practice. That’s one thing he really stood for. He believed in overall personality development, done in his own way. There were differences in opinion between diverse groups of people about how he went about that. He stood his ground on what he said about it. As his student, I do it (carry on his legacy) by propagating the same kind of philosophy of personality development. Beyond that, I would encourage us to look into the possibility of creating an endowment in his name to perhaps recognize a meritorious student every year or something along those lines. This would require more thought and I have recently discussed this with some of the professor's other students.

There are some other things I have done in my career in educational administration, which may not have been done directly in Dr. Kaliappan's honor, but I would say were somewhat influenced by my being his student and a student of psychology. IGNOU has a large number of distance learning programs but did not have a program in psychology, so I started it there. In my present institute, there is now an M.Sc. in Counseling Psychology.

Thank you so much for your time! Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

I was fortunate to have Professor Kaliappan as a mentor and role model. He gave me a tremendous amount of confidence. He motivated many of us. My good friend Dr. S. Karunanidhi  (the present head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Madras) was the only male student in our class. At that time, for various reasons, he wanted to quit the Master's program. Dr. Kaliappan really gave his support at that point of time. He cajoled and pushed Dr. Karunanidhi and saw to it that he did not quit doing his Master's in Psychology. He made his life with it.

Dr. Karunanidhi  also went on to hold several administrative posts like controller and registrar at the university. Maybe that was something that we took on from our professor - moving into administration. In any university, you would find any number of professors who stick to their department and just want to be good in their department and their subject. We made some choices to move beyond that.

(Interviewed by Arulnambi K.)