Cook, coin collector, commissioner

Cook, coin collector, commissioner
The cool man in the BBMP hotseat is a doting father who gives his family quality time, and whose childhood in a rural setting gives him wider perspective
Aarthi Raghu | TNN

Bangalore: Climbing trees, playing pranks and drinking kerosene were a few of S Subramanya’s favourite things when young. “He was so naughty that many of our relatives still remember him as kapi (monkey),’’ says Rashmi, his wife, with a laugh. Running a burgeoning city like Bangalore is no monkey business, however. It’s strenuous on the mind and the body, as the BBMP commissioner found out much to his chagrin in early December, when he tripped and broke a foot while checking out the road-widening work at Race Course Road.
Out of action for a month, he’s just got back to work. And he’s put the break to good use “to update my coin collection’’. Subramanya’s big passion is collecting coins. He has nine huge albums with detailed notes put together with his daughter Nikila, a management student. His 4,000-plus coin collection and currencies from 187 countries include a 1780 Victorian pound given to him by a friend
and a one-rupee note of King George V handed over to him by his father J V Suryanarayana Rao. He attributes much of his knowledge of history to this passion. Ditto for equanimity. “Whenever in a bad mood, I just take two coins in my hand and start observing them. In no time, you realise a shift in mood,’’ says this numismatist.
Subramanya took over as BBMP commissioner in 2007. Becoming an IAS officer, however, wasn’t a childhood dream. A post-graduate in Botany and a post-doctorate in plant pathology, he was into research. “I got motivated more by the respect they (IAS officers) got when they visited our village, and also due to my parents,’’ he says. His first crack at the civil services exam in 1982 saw him make it to IPS. A second attempt landed IAS. Interest in plants is still alive. He’s the only IAS officer from Karnataka to go abroad in the mid-90s to research the blast disease in rice crops. “I am out of it now but the ‘cause and effect research’ helps even now,’’ he says wryly.
Subramanya, whose foot is now out of cast, was born in Hassan and spent his childhood in Mysore. Many of his classmates from high school are now in various professions; one’s a meter reader with the electricity board, another’s an agriculturist. He’s in touch with them. His rural background has made him dream of “having an experimentorium, particularly for children, in the rural areas. Coming from such a background, I can also understand the problems they face in understanding concepts only through books’’, he says. It also makes him ruminate that, “My kids don’t seem to have the luxury that I then had, exposed to the village life and the fresh atmosphere.’’
Father of two — Nikila is currently in her first-year BBM, while Kiran’s a second-year engineering student — Subramanya’s other passion is cooking. The only thing he wasn’t allowed to experiment when young was cooking. “His mother (late Jayamma) did not allow him to enter the kitchen. But, he does it with relish now,’’ Rashmi, who runs a private health care concern on quality, says. Nikila pipes in, “My father is an excellent cook. He is best when it comes to Chinese. I like all his dishes, paneer tikka and spring rolls in particular.’’
His current stint as city commissioner has drastically cut into his time in the kitchen. A daily regime that has him wake up at 6.30 am followed by a 40-minute session of yoga/pranayama or a walk, a quick browse through the newspapers followed by breakfast, before getting to work and returning at 9 pm, leaves little time for family either. They have no regrets, though. “He involves himself completely in whatever he does. Even though he’s out on work for long hours, he still manages to give us quality time. He has excellent time management skills and we make the best use of whatever time available,” says Rashmi.
Would he want his kids to follow in his footsteps into the civil service? “I chose the way I want to live and so I give them the same option,” is all the doting father will say. To Kiran, the “best part of him is his patience. He is very down-to-earth and never puts down anybody’’.
Nourishment for the mind obviously is as important as for the body, with reading being another of Subramanya’s main interests. Anything interesting finds a place on his book shelf and is also passed on to others with similar interests.
One of the earliest occupants of Yelahanka New Town, the four residents of ‘Benaka’ embody traditional Mysore family values with a shared passion for food, shopping and movies. The only things that are not welcome: idleness, tragedy movies and restrictions on phone calls!
However, it is the fifth resident of Benaka that holds pride of place in Subramanya’s heart — a huge and rather lazy Simbha who lands for a siesta right under his leg. The fivemonth-old Labrador walked into the house when just 40 days old. “His laziness worries me a lot at times but there is nothing like the reception a dog can give when you come home from work to lift you up,” says Simbha’s proud master.

What does HE do?
The BBMP commissioner is chief executive officer of the corporation. He has many important roles — from ensuring cleanliness to building roads and flyovers to collecting tax and developing parks.


A few of my FAVOURITE things
ADMIRES: Mahatma Gandhi HOBBIES: Cooking, collecting coins and antiques, swimming and basketball
DE-STRESS: Time with Simbha, his dog CURRENT READ: Will Durrant — Case for India FAVOURITE CUISINE: South Indian BEST CAREER STINT: “Was serving as director of watershed development. It brought me to terms with the reality of agriculture. It was outside of textbook knowledge and this experience has guided me in all posts since.’’


FAMILY MAN: Neither commissioner S Subramanya nor his family has any regrets about his almost 24-hour job for the city; he still makes time for them


S Subramanya | COMMISSIONER, BRUHAT BANGALORE MAHANAGARA PALIKE (BBMP)