Laxmi Kesavan
1936-2022

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Rajalakshmi (Laxmi) Kesavan, who served as a family matriarch on two continents, passed away on November 30, 2022 in Bangalore at the age of 86.  A daughter of India, she immigrated to the West with her husband H.K. Kesavan in the 1950s, eventually settling in Waterloo, Canada.

Laxmi is survived by her three daughters, Rohini Srihari of Williamsville, NY, Anita Srinivasan of Mississauga, ON, and Kalpana Sarathy of Redondo Beach, CA, by six grandchildren, by one great-granddaughter, by a younger brother and two sisters, and by many nieces and nephews.

Early Life, 1936-1954

Rajalakshmi was born in 1936 in Mysore, India on Vijayadashami, the last day of the Dasara festival commemorating the victory of good over evil.  The date was potentially October 25, 1936, although the date of Vijayadashami varies annually.  In later years, Laxmi and her family would celebrate her birthday each year on September 8.

Her father was C. (Coimbatore) Rajaiyengar, a general contractor, and her mother was Indira.  She was raised in Mysore as the fifth of eight children who survived to adulthood.  She continued her schooling throughout her childhood, receiving her SSLC (Secondary School Leaving Certificate, equivalent to 10^th grade) before her education stopped upon marriage, as was customary at the time.  In later years, her father would own a printing press before eventually leaving Mysore and settling in the Malleswaram neighborhood of Bangalore.

Marriage, Waterloo, and Kanpur Days, 1955-1968

On June 10, 1955, Rajalakshmi was married to H.K. Kesavan at the age of 18, shortly before Kesavan’s departure for the United States.  She would eventually join him at Michigan State in mid-1957, where she regularly hosted meals for other graduate students.  These gatherings helped her to improve her English skills and learn more about western culture, including American football.  In 1960, Kesavan took up a position as associate professor at the University of Waterloo, beginning their first stay in Canada.

From 1964-1968, the family returned to India when Kesavan served as the first head of the Electrical Engineering department at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur.  Kesavan and Laxmi would make many friends in those years that would remain with them throughout their lives.  In addition to their own three daughters Rohini, Anita, and Kalpana, they also provided important support to Laxmi’s extended family in Bangalore.

Life in Canada, 1968-2014

In 1968, Kesavan and Laxmi returned to Canada, this time with three daughters to accompany them.  The following year, they moved to 279 Glenridge Drive in Waterloo, which became the center of life not just for their immediate family, but for a large network of extended family, graduate students, and other visitors to Canada.  As Kesavan would later explain it:

“Throughout my life, I have been blessed with a number of acquaintances and friends.  After my marriage, the trend has continued in a more pronounced way because Rajalakshmi also has a similar temperament to mingle with people with obvious relish.  I could not have carried on my style of life in these matters without her cooperation.  Consequently, our Glenridge home has attracted many visitors on a continual basis.  Apart from my own professional friends, we have had the good fortune to entertain visitors from India, quite a few of them from our own community.”

Laxmi immersed herself in the tasks of raising a family while continuing to be active in the local community.  She was a member of the East Indian Ladies Club in Kitchener-Waterloo and enjoyed playing bridge competitively.  She also worked in the local schools as a cafeteria aide.  Her busy kitchen, while famous for producing excellent traditional South Indian cuisine for generations of family and friends, was also often a laboratory for culinary experimentation.

The family returned to India for a year in 1973-74 during Kesavan’s sabbatical before returning to Canada permanently.  However, annual visits to India would continue for many decades, and Laxmi continued to play a leading role among her extended family there.  She and Kesavan eventually established a home in Bangalore – Maple House – that would become another hub for the family, and she took pride in sponsoring their education and in their subsequent successes.

Over the course of two-plus decades, Laxmi oversaw the marriages of all three daughters and welcomed the arrival of five grandsons and a granddaughter.  She continued to uphold Indian traditions while living in Canada, wearing saris every day until late in life while also enjoying Hindu rituals and chanting.  Yet as a Westerner, she also became an avid ice hockey fan and would eventually become the family’s most devoted supporter of the Buffalo Bills.  Unusual for an Indian lady of her generation, she also embraced modern technology quite early, regularly exchanging email with family around the world and keeping in touch through video calls.

Final Years, 2014-2022

After Kesavan’s passing in 2014, Laxmi increasingly spent time staying with her daughters and occasionally visiting India.  She continued to delight in the accomplishments of her family in Canada, the United States, and India, and she welcomed her first great-granddaughter in 2020.  She passed away on November 30, 2022 while staying in Bangalore at the age of 86.

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Laxmi Kesavan had three daughters and sons-in-law – Rohini and the late Sargur N. Srihari of Williamsville, NY, Anita and Ramesh Srinivasan of Mississauga, ON, and Kalpana and Sriprakash Sarathy of Redondo Beach, CA.

She is also survived by six grandchildren – Dileep Srihari of Washington DC, Ashok Srihari (Caroline) of Gainesville, FL, Arun Srinivasan and Rahul Srinivasan (Rashmi) of Toronto, ON, and Anand and Kavita Sarathy of Redondo Beach, CA.  She has one great-granddaughter, Vera Srihari.

She is further survived by her brother Radhakrishna and sisters Sumitra and Tara of Bangalore, India, and by many nieces and nephews.

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