Mrs. Janaki Krishnan, mother of three and mother-like figure to so many more drifted into her heavenly abode peacefully in her sleep, the morning of Nov. 30, 2025.
Born on August 29, 1941, to Shri Thiruvaiyaru R. Srinivasan and Smt. Rajalakshmi at Munnar, she grew up in Coimbatore attending the Girl’s High School, R. S. Puram. She was brilliant in school and graduated with very good grades. Family’s financial situation however meant that she couldn’t pursue formal education, and she took up clerical duties at Govt. Audit department. Her formal education may have ended there but she never stopped learning. Not till her last day. She had a flair for languages and passion for Sanskrit. She studied Valmiki Ramayanam, Devi Mahatmiyam and several other Sanskrit classics. She received her master’s degree in Hindi Literature from Mysore university in her late forties.
She picked up a love for Carnatic Music from her father, himself a musician. She had limited formal training in vocal singing, and she honed her skills on her own.
She married Shri. D. S. Krishnan on July 15, 1964, and moved to Delhi. A new place, where she learned the local language, cuisine and the way of life. She was an excellent cook. Her Gajar Halwa and Godhumai Halwa were legendary.
She was a very good teacher, sharing her knowledge of Hindi, Sanskrit, Carnatic music, and culinary skills with anyone interested. Kids loved to learn from her.
She was socially adept, mixing with people with ease. She had the talent to work around issues and move on to next step. Her philosophy was ‘what needs to be done should be done’. She was an epitome of knowledge and wisdom and defied the notion that University degrees define intelligence. Her lateral thinking and practical knowledge were incomparable. Age to her was just a number.
Her literary career started when she did a 6-month course on translating and her first foray was translating the Marathi text “देशी गाय : एक कल्पवृक्ष कृषी संस्कृती” by Shri Subhash Palekar into Tamil.
Her magnum opus however is the translation of Valmiki Ramayanam into Tamil. She wrote the entire script by hand into multiple notebooks and once she picked up her skills with computers, typed the whole script. The entire text is available for all in her blog. She followed it up with all major texts about Bhagwan Shri Krishna including Bhagavat Gita, Bhagavadham and Narayaneeyam. She has also translated the great Devi Mahatmyam. Her most recent work was translating the history of Kashmir from Sanskrit to Tamil.
She also wrote her own short stories, mainly in Tamil. Some of her works are published in the online magazine Solvanam. She enjoyed working with the editors of Solvanam and Solvanam often featured in dinner table conversations.
She had her own multi-lingual blog. One of her earliest blog post was verse in Sanskrit describing the celebration of Arizona Cardinals players when they scored a touchdown following a turnover on the very first possession in overtime against Green Bay Packers in NFC Wildcard playoff game.
Curiosity and Creativity defined her. Whim also played a big part in her decisions. She learnt Kannada because my sister moved to Bengaluru and Spanish, just for fun. Perusing online English, Tamil and Kannada news outlets was part of her daily routines. She was also fond of good movies and TV shows, often getting involved with the story. She had choice epithets, especially for the villains in the show.
She was conservative yet modern. She was adept at picking up new technology. When she worked, it was with an iPad, laptop and a smartphone in front of her.
Looking back, the sheer volume of her work leaves me with one question: Where did she find time for all that she did?