Beyond desk work and meetings: Senior officials make time for their hobbies, inspire youngsters

Municipal administration secretary Harmander Singh is a tabla player, government Egmore museum director Kavitha Ramu frequents marghazi Sabhas performing Bharathanatyam, while the commissioner of revenue administration K Sathyagopal takes classes on organic farming and is now busy planting saplings. There is also the retired industries secretary CV Shankar who is engulfed in his yearly hobby of counting migratory birds.

“Playing the tabla makes me feel rejuvenated and I have been doing this for 40 years,” said Harmandar. “It started with my father who recites Shabad kirtan on harmonium. it is a recital of Gurubani i.e., praise of gods and I engage him with my tabla. I learned to play the instrument only for a couple of months from a teacher and got better at it with practice,” added Harmandar who has been looking after smart cities and drinking water projects.

For seasoned dancer Kavitha Ramu, art forms do not lose their value irrespective of the times we are in. “I have been dancing for more than 35 years and performing for about 28 years. Dance is a part of my being. 

I work, dance and take classes,” said the dancer turned bureaucrat. “I had a dance school with about 75 students before I joined service. Later, I had to shut my school for a few years when I was away from Chennai, now I take classes during weekends,” she said. Bharatanatyam has evolved itself to suit the digital era as well and there are teachers who handle classes over Skype, Kavitha added pointing out that women can multitask with ease.

After multiple visits to cyclone Gaja hit districts, additional chief secretary K Satyagopal — who also heads the disaster management — is now busy with botany and bio-shield classes. “This is the best time to plant trees especially since we have felled or cleared half of them,” Satyagopal says while attending to students and the government staff at Anna Institute of management on Saturday. “I am doing my part to preserve nature by planting trees and this is a collective responsibility,” signed off the senior bureaucrat at his class on biosafety and root zone irrigation.

“I have come across several bureaucrats who know about birds but none like Shankar sir. He keeps himself updated about them,” said bird watcher KVRK Thirunaranan, who used to accompany the former additional chief secretary CV Shankar for bird watching. “It keeps you engaged and it is always a learning process to be with the ornithologists,” said the soft-spoken Shankar who frequents the wetlands in Chennai and Kancheepuram.

Speaking about how officials make time for what they are passionate about, a section clerk attached to the finance department, said, “Some of them do have the patience and the intellect to pursue their passion but time is an issue for all the IAS officers. He admitted that his boss Ananda Kumar, (additional secretary with finance department) has been forced to skip playing cricket because of the work load.

But when asked about the matches, the young R Ananda Kumar giggled and said, “I am doing enough exercise at the secretariat by shuttling between departments. Also, I am not playing the IAS and IPS cricket matches these days.” The avid cricketer was once popular among the corporation staff for his weekend cricket matches.

A senior official at Fort St George, said, “These officials are often greeted by their fans. Senior IAS official TK Ramachandran is famous among vocalists and is scheduled to perform in January here while the former Hindu religious endowments secretary Ramachandran is an accomplished Carnatic vocalist who has trained with Chitraveena Ravikiran.”