It is given to very few people to live up to a hundred. P. Sabanayagam, retired IAS officer, distinguished civil servant and former Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu, is one such. Until a couple of years back he was a familiar sight in the area near his residence, where, with an attendant, a couple of dogs and short baton-like stick, he walked each morning. To those who greeted him he was affability personified. Very few would guess that he had extended the same courtesies once to the high and mighty of the land.
It has been a life of very interesting twists and turns. Born on June 7, 1922, his date of birth at school admission was given as August 15, that being the date of enrolment. Ewart School, Purasawalkam, where he was admitted, allowed boys to study there only till Class IV but his father felt that the boy was of a slight constitution and so requested that the institution allow him to study there for one more year. His father kept renewing the request each year and so he completed his Class X in the same school, being the only boy to ever graduate from Ewart’s! He completed his BA at the Madras Christian College.
The boy who studied throughout in a girl’s school aspired for an Army career. He applied for a Temporary Officer’s Commission in 1943 and was rejected as his chest measurement fell short by an inch. A three-month workout regimen corrected that, and he was selected. Second Lieutenant P. Sabanayagam soon moved up to Lieutenant and Captain and was earmarked for Regular Commission in the Army but his father insisted on his applying for the civil services and so he quit.
