It was at this time that my marriage was arranged with Krishnakumari, the daughter of a well-known scholar, Vidwan Krishna Pillai from Thiruvanandapuram, Travancore. She was brought up and educated there and her brother, Mr. K. Balachandran was my colleague in the ICS and we had spent our probation together in Dehra Doon. He had come first in the competitive examination in India in 1942. Later he married my sister and through him, I came to know his sister, whom I married.
I met Krishna only once and that too briefly and in the presence of our families before we were married. Free meetings between young men and women did not happen those days. There were no boyfriends and girlfriends. However, I was quite happy to get married. We got married in Thiruvanandapuram on November 9th 1945 and it was considered a great honour that Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer, the Diwan of Travancore, attended our reception. At that time, the Indian princely states still existed and Travancore was ruled by the Maharaja Sri Chitra Thirunal.
Mine was an arranged marriage, but it has worked. My wife has been a tower of strength to me. We have two children, a son doing business in the USA and a daughter, who is Director of the United Nations University Institute for Globalization, Culture and Mobility. We have a grandson who is a Civil Servant for the British Government and a granddaughter.
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