Sankaran's postcards
Shankaran is unique in the way he greets and wishes people on their birthdays. Shankaran sends a post card with birthday wishes. I have got several cards from him over the years. The greeting card will invariably have some additional information. He lists the names of some well-known people who were born on the same date. All of his friends receive such cards from Shankaran. There are three ways the card lands on your table. He would post it and it would be delivered. If he was in the office itself, he would personally come to wish and hand over the birthday card. If one was not around in the office, he would leave it at the table. Shankaran continued with this practice even though he left TOI a few years ago. His greeting card would still land on the table or he would personally leave it at the reception. I worked in the editorial and he worked in another department. We would always talk. We would talk on subjects that I was not interested in. He would assume that the two subjec...