The death of our intimate friends is, in fact, life’s most disturbing intensity. It entails a loss of language, as relationships breed distinctive expressions born of time and shared experience. Kottayam IR School has always provided a setting for this shared experience.
It is with profound sadness that we reminisce great moments—spanning over more than three and a half decades—with our dear Raju K. Thadikkaran.
The inimitable Thadikkaran has left us for good at a precarious time in our life’s history.
Insofar as death halts relationships, it ends the characteristic exchanges in which these relations find their being, meanings, ways of talk and understanding formed together. Raju was always the fulcrum of these exchanges in the IR School.
We come to ourselves by way of countless others, our identities formed in relationship with others.
Raju was always instrumental in the making of ourselves.
We feared his stepping down from IR School would carry intimations of a coming solitude.
Yes, that literally happened and got worsened in a pandemic time.
Anyone who knew Raju would tell that he was genuinely all about affection, relationship and generosity.
Raju’s spirit was a giving one. A spirit that thrived on relationship with people and helping people connect with one another.
Raju’s unique academic-administrative leadership, abilities and captivating personality were readily apparent.
I have no hesitation to call Raju ‘a transformational leader’ and ‘change agent’ who had great dreams of what IR School should be.
He had a gift of innovative thinking, a visionary spirit, and the steadfast patience required to successfully lead meaningful academic initiatives.
It was a great privilege for us to have been a part of Raju’s life-world.
Dynamism, commitment, integrity are all words that begin to capture our image of Raju.
Would that we had many more like him.
But Raju was one of kind and will be deeply missed as a colleague, scholar and friend.
Raju—a caring and beloved family man, a cherished colleague, an institution builder and friend—will be missed by many, but never will he be forgotten by those who were fortunate enough to have known him and associated with him, all these years.
Beyond teaching, Raju had a crucial role in starting and sustaining many initiatives at the IR School.
For over three decades, Raju’s Thrissur accent resonated in the IR School foyers.
As a teacher and institution builder, Raju was known for his sense of commitment, meticulous attention to details, his thoughtful crafting of programmes and activities.
There was no finer, more faithful, or more generous friend.
Conflicts and disputes with him only made us mature.
My travel with him to many places in India and abroad, including China and South Korea, was an exploration in history.
As his cliché goes, we tried ‘to learn from each other’ in every travel episode.
Raju apparently met the challenges of his personal life with grace and audacity. He faced adversity in health with courage and no hint of self-pity or complaint.
Shirly and Manu remained the most faithful dears all throughout.
Though we seldom met these days, in sheer fear of pandemic challenges, there was an intimate conversation between us.
I could see and sense what Raju has been telling….
Even those last moments I could feel, in the midnight, when sleep slowly faded in vivid memories, going back and forth.
When Lalu kept sending messages, in the middle of the night, it was as if I were waiting for that last message.
By that time, I could see him melting in the thin air……
Raju would most like to be remembered as a man of ‘planning and development.’
Being a gentle and kind man, he cared greatly about access to justice.
Raju genuinely had a good heart and was gracious to people and institutions alike. Not many people knew about it.
Memories of his persona and accomplishments will remain with many of us and Raju will dearly be missed by everyone who knew him and was closely associated with him.
