The family was the sole responsibility of the mother, a tall, big built, impressive and bold matriarch. She was very spiritual, sang devotional songs, practiced Yoga and had a deep knowledge of the Indian Medicine. People called her a daredevil. Once when Kalanidhi’s elder brother, who is now a colonel in the army, was beaten by the manager of the village school who was incidentally her husband’s elder cousin, she wrote a bold letter to him which read something like this:

Mr. Manager,

 You have no business to deal with the students. As a manager you can only deal with teachers and not the students.

Mother of X student

It was a very bold step from an inheritance less woman in an Indian against a village bigwig as well as an elder-in-law. She asserted herself in a male chauvinistic society against the rich and powerful, while she was poor and penny less. She was jovial and laughed and talked all the time. She made friends easily and was a leader in every situation. She had three sons and a daughter and never allowed them to think that they were any less than others. She taught them to think big and lit a flame to achieve something in life. She also passed on to Kalanidhi her love for yoga, meditation and Indian Medicine.

Kalanidhi’s early schooling took place in the same school where his brother got beatings. Later, he went to the District Board School at Pughalur and daily walked six miles up and down. At school he did not show any extra-ordinary promise and was just like any other village lad. After completing the school he wanted to become an engineer. Those days selection to the Engineering courses was only through an interview (and influence). Somehow his father helped him to obtain admission. When he was asked to indicate a place of choice he naively indicated the newly started Salem Government Engineering College as it was nearest to his native village. Luckily, he was placed in the Coimbatore Government Engineering College, since the building of the Salem College was yet to get ready, and by default managed to get a better education than he would have got at Salem.

In College he had a miserable life due to the acute want of money which his family was facing. Whatever little land had remained in the family had been sold for meeting his educational expenses. To make both ends meet he also obtained a Tamil Nadu Government Educational loan of Rs.1000 per year. Plodding through his education, penny-less and without any guidance he somehow managed to get a first class. After passing his B.E. degree he came to Madras in search of a job. No one, among his several relatives living there, came forward to put him up so he stayed in a choultry (charitable-inn or Dharamshala). The little money that he had he used for his food. He did not know what was a campus interview and how to prepare for a job interview. He could not get any job as he performed miserably in all the interviews. Meanwhile, his father again made a rare appearance in Madras and predicted that Kalanidhi was destined to do his Post Graduation (he was an astrologer and had faith in his own predictions). He pushed an application form, for Guindy Engineering College, in the hands of his son and disappeared for the next six months. At that time Dr. Kulandai Swami was the Dean and as luck would have it Kalanidhi again managed to be on the waiting list for M.E. - Refrigeration and Air-conditioning course. He was also given a government stipend of Rs. 250 per month that was a princely sum to him. He could now easily pay his fees and mess bills and still feel rich. For the first time in his life he was not thinking of the next rupee. At Guindy he took great interest in sports. Having been swimming in the river Cauvery in his early years he became a swimming champion. He won all the medals that were to be won in every aquatic event and won the championship. He also represented the Madras University at the Inter-University sports at Ahmedabad. He went rowing in the Adyar River and made to Senior Sculls. He flowered as a sports man while in Guindy Engineering College.

After post graduation he was a graduate trainee with the Pallavan Transport for a while. Soon he got a job as an associate lecturer in the Salem Engineering College which he gave up within the next fifteen days and joined as a lecturer in the A C College of Technology, Madras. It proved to be a turning point in his life.