Eulogy- Desikan

Desikan… what an irreparable loss to student community!  He died of Post covid complications after a prolonged battle today around 2 PM.

He was just 32 years old. He has achieved more than what a man who lives for 70 years can achieve. Had God given him a full life, the heights he would have reached would have been humongous.

He was a wonderful faculty and human being. Gentle, soft spoken and ever smiling.  Extremely knowledgeable in Company Law and very passionate about the profession. He started taking classes for students immediately after finishing CS and he proudly stated few years ago that he completed 10 years as a law faculty (He was just 30 years then!)

The best aspect about Desikan is the individual/ personal attention he gives to the students; analyzing their strength and mentoring them.

Passing a professional course is a tough task for many young minds and this is where Desikan played a great role. He gave them confidence, hand holding and personal guidance at every stage of their study. Today whats app is filled with many such students sharing how he inspired him/ her in their status. One of the student rightly mentioned that "He made students believe being a close friend to a celebrity". 

When CS syllabus was changed, he advised few students to voluntarily shift to New syllabus; his logic was very simple. Module 2 in old Syllabus had FM and Information Technology, which many struggled. He suggested that by shifting to new syllabus they can crack it quickly since Module 2 had law papers. His analysis was spot on and many succeeded in the next attempt.

He always expected the students to understand the law clearly and also they should excel in the exams.  He focused on both these aspects on the students. He ensured that students start gaining great interest over the law papers and he was very successful in that.  

There has been many interesting hearsays about Desikan. He locked himself for 2 days after Companies Act 2013 was introduced – to familiarize himself with the new sections and provisions.

His respect for his Guru Late Anantharaman is huge. He treated his Guru almost like God. He used to quote Lord Denning also many times. 

We had invited him to speak at SIRC and in Chennai West Study Circle on various occasions. He never missed any invitation and will accommodate his professional commitments/ classes and will speak in the Forums. As organizers, we used to tell that there will be a separate fan club/ attendees since Desikan is speaking, which is absolutely true. After every Members meeting where he addressed, lot of people who were his students and now a qualified CS used to wait for him and speak to him.

He last spoke in Chennai West Study Circle on April 10, 2021 and understand that it was the last physical meeting he addressed. That was the last time I met him. Never knew it !

Apart from profession he loved acting in Dummies Drama troupe as well. When I write film reviews in Facebook, he will suggest some very good movies and I have never missed the movies that he has recommended, since his taste and selection about movies was very good.

CS Family – column was regularly published and Desikan commented that we must write about me and daughter Sneha as well in it. I told him “When I am publishing this series, how can I write about myself"; Desikan was immediate to reply: I will write about you and your daughter. He could not write about us and Fate has made me to write this Eulogy about him.

His books are always best sellers and sought after by students. He will live in his writings/books even after his death.

Having lost his father at a very young age, he was brought up by his mother. He did not have siblings and is survived by his mother. Our heart goes to his mother and may God give strength to her to overcome this toughest period of her life.

Desikan- you will be remembered every day by thousands of your students and well wishers like me.

Rest in peace dear Desikan!

Written by: Cs Mohan Kumar, Company Secretary, Chennai