His memory was remarkable. And such was his love for tabla! that he is said to have read every issue.
Mr Narayana Iyer Narayanan (right), who went by the alias Narayana Narayana, breathed his last on July 28.
The 95-year-old retiree had suffered a heart attack on June 23 and was hospitalised.
“My father was alert and lucid up till a few days before his death,” said his second daughter Radhika, 55.
“He was an avid reader and would ask for tabla! every Friday morning. After reading the paper and completing the sudoku and quiz, he would ask me to deliver the copy to one of his friends.
“He was so fond of tabla! that he would encourage his friends in Singapore and overseas to read it.”
According to his youngest daughter Savitha, 51, Mr Narayana had read every issue of tabla! since its inception in October 2008.
“He did not partcularly like the tabla! digital version, he preferred the hard copy,” recalled Ms Savitha.
“He would ask us to pick up a copy for him from the MRT stations, 7-Eleven stores and even Mustafa.
“He was careful how he spent his money, yet he subscribed to tabla! to get it delivered.”
Born near Ernakulam in Kerala, Mr Narayana attended primary and secondary schools in Singapore, after his father K.N. Narayana Iyer migrated to Malaya in 1911.
Mr Narayana returned to India during World War II and completed his BA in mathematics from Loyola College in Madras.
He returned to Singapore in 1948 to work as a bookkeeper in a rubber broking firm and then moved on to become a stock broker at Alliance Securities and Ong & Company before retiring at 62.
“My father had lots of opinions and began to make them public after he retired,” said Ms Radhika, who does consultancy work.
“He made letter writing his ‘second career’. He would go to company AGMs and ask questions and write to the forum pages of mainstream newspapers. He championed the cause of the underdogs and gave voice to others.”
Despite being born into the orthodox Malayalee Brahmin community, Mr Narayana was open-minded. He would attend all kinds of events and mingle with people from all walks of life. He encouraged his four daughters to think outside the box and be independent.
“My father was a champion of critical thinking,” said Ms Savitha, a polytechnic lecturer. “He had phenomenal memory and could recount events that happened 60 years ago in detail.
“He allowed us to lead our own lives. He empowered us but was always there to support us. All of us are non-conformists, just like him.”
Mrs Narayana is survived by his wife Meenakshi, 84, and daughters Savitha, Radhika, Rema, a 62-year-old private school teacher, and Lakshmi, a 58-year-old tutor.
