The Reverend Santiago (1869-1929)
Santhiyahu Pothahar was born in a small village called Silukkuvarpatti near Madurai in a catholic family and later on joined American Mission thru his father. In his early days he worked as a Teacher in Pasumalai and then became Professor of Mathematics in the American College, Madurai. After that he became a teacher in Pasumalai Seminary.

A.Sebastian (My Grandfather)
Sebastian was personally motivated by Rev Santiago to go to a village called Devadanapatti to do Gospel work. He went and settled down in the same village. He was well respected by all the communities living in the village and was knows as “Periyavathiar”(Big Teacher) because he was the first teacher for the entire village and its 18 sub villages. He established an Elementary school which is now Government aided and run by Church of South India. He served as the first Headmaster of the same school.
He built three churches in Devadanapatti , GhatRoad and in Genguvarpatti with the help of Jeyaraj Nadar of Kodaikanal. He was handling all the three churches with the help of local leaders. And then his sons took over. He had five daughters and three sons. His unique style of preaching and singing attracted many people into the church. Even after he became blind, he was faithful in serving the church that he established. He was buried by the side of Rev Santiago in Batlagundu.

S. Jeyaraj (My father’s elder brother)
Mr. Jeyaraj became the Headmaster for the CSI School, Devadanapatti. He also took over the church in Devadanapatti and served as Elder/Deacon till his death. He followed the footsteps of his father Mr.Sebastian and maintained the same traditions that his father established. He became Pastorate committee member and actively involved in the administration of Madurai Ramnad Diocese of the Church of South India.He was buried near his father and Grandfather in Batlagundu.

A.S. Thiagarajan (My Father)
A.S. Thiagarajan is a fond son of his father. He had his early education from his father and went to Pasumalai for higher education. He actively took part in Love Divine every year and he was chosen by Bishop Leslie New Begin to act as Jesus Christ every time because of his fair skin color. He became a Teacher in Hindu Middle School; Devadanapatti after his training .He became very popular within a short time. He served as an Assistant Head Master and won the Best Teacher District award. He was a strict disciplinarian both at school and at home. He was a man of principles and taught the same to his children and to his students. His students are thriving every where .He was my eighth grade teacher and never allowed me to call him Daddy at school. In the district level competition for the 8th graders his student from Hindu Middle School got the first prize almost every year. He was a poet and wrote songs for children and published it. He was also a very good singer. He was a responsible father and always took care of his children. In his later days he migrated to Chennai to live with his children. After a brief ailment he passed away at his age of 70 and buried in St George’s Cathedral.

S Jeevaraj (My father’s younger brother)
Jeevaraj is a popular teacher and worked along with my mom and dad in the school called Hindu Middle School, Devadanapatti. He is a very kind hearted person and took care of the Ghatroad church though there was no income. He is a very good singer. He has two sons and one daughter and now living with his son at Madurai.

Mrs. Susila Nesamani (My Mother)
My mother is the last daughter of a rich Raya Savarimuthu and Rajarathinam and a native of Dindugal. She was trained as a teacher and got married to my father and lived in Devadanapatti till her retirement. She was my first teacher for first grade. She was very popular teacher and whenever there is admission, everyone would line to join in her class only (1-C) though there are totally three sections for first standard. Whenever she takes off, all her students will come home and I have seen it my own eyes. She had to literally chase them back to school. Every morning there would be at least 10-15 students will come home to accompany her to school. She visited me in New York and stayed with us for six months in the year 2003.She lives in our Chennai home with my younger brother Rajabaskaran.

Raya Savarimuthu (My mother’s Father)
Raya Savarimuthu was a land lord and lived like a Zamindhar in Panchampati. He was a local leader. He came over to Dindugal and bought a vast land of 10 acres and built a palatial house and started living there. He had a durbar hall wherein the villagers would come for settling their disputes. He also bought several lands in and around Dindugal and did active farming. He built a school (St.Peter’s Middle School in Round Road) and got the recognition from government from Mr K. Kamaraj the then Chief Minister. He had four sons and two daughters. He gave very good education for all his sons and daughters. Though he was born as a catholic he practiced Protestant Christianity.

Rajarathinam (My Mother’s Mother)
Rajarathinam was a woman of God who took care of me from my birth. She was a prayer warrior and spent several hours for prayer in a day. She was a house wife but actively helped her husband in all his activities including farming. She was a very good story teller and instilled God’s fear in all her grand sons. She was also known for her tasty cooking and expert in doing it quick in spite of traditional cooking style using firewood.