Manohar devadoss biography definition

They started by gathering every piece of work of Manohar that represented Madras — from the city-defining red brick buildings of the Indo-Saracenic style of High Court and College of Madras University, to colonial-era works of College of Engineering, Guindy, and Rippon Building, from the towers of temples to spires of churches, from the busy streets to lazy rivers, there’s a slice of every part of the city. This was made all the more special that the works come from all phases of Manohar’s loss of vision. “Unlike other books, where the sketches were drawn especially for the books, here I did the drawings for various reasons. Most of these were greeting cards but I did some (of the rest) for my wife Mahima, some for a magazine cover and various other things. The copies I had were also of various sizes. Also, the drawings were made by a person who had perfectly normal vision when he started and slowly dying as he went along. Now, I’ve completely lost my sight. The book is coming out when I can’t even see it myself,” points out the 85-year-old but follows it up with the assurance that he is quite a happy man.

Madras Musings will be coming out shortly with a full-length tribute on Mano. In the meantime, here is a small article I wrote on him for The Hindu dated December 8, 2022.

It is hard to believe that Manohar Devadoss is no more. He was so full of life. Born in 1936 at Madurai, Mano was blessed with a natural sense of perspective that led to art as a hobby . He found his métier in ink-on-paper, a tough medium, but a fortuitous choice. While in his thirties, he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, an incurable eye disease that progressively led to blindness. As his colour perceptions faded, the black and white of ink-on-paper became his means of expression. He devised methods to draw and kept at it till almost the very end of his life. Thanks to him, much of Chennai and Madurai’s heritage, is preserved on paper. 

A chemical engineer by profession, Mano married the talented Mahema in 1963. What ought to have been a fairy tale of happily ever after was marred by an accident in 1972 that left her a quadriplegic for life. It was a shattering blow for a young couple with a child, but they rose to meet the challenge. For years, Mano and Mahema kept each other going – he making sure she was taken care of by a team of helpers and she reading to him while he worked late into the night on his art. It was a unique team. And there was not a social event they missed – Mano proudly wheeling in Mahema immaculately dressed in silks and a circlet of jasmine in her hair. A wave of cheer would go through the room on their arrival – lit up by her smiles and his infectious hugs and laughs. 

Any other couple would have saved for themselves but not so Mano and Mahema. Each year he prepared greeting cards featuring his sketches and they would be sold by Mahema, the proceeds going to various charities – chiefly those that researched eye ailments. When Mano turned author, the royalties too went the same way. Mahema passed away in 2008 but Mano continued with life, writing m

Indian painter and writer (1936–2022)

Manohar Devadoss (10 September 1936 – 7 December 2022) was an Indian artist and a writer from Tamil Nadu. At the age of 83, when completely blind, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, for his inspirational work in art and charity.

Early life

Devadoss was born on 10 September 1936, in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, which was then part of the Madras Presidency of British India, to Harry Jesudasan Masilamani, a doctor, and Cynthia Masilamani (née Devadoss), a granddaughter of M.L. Pillai. He lived in the Goripalayam neighborhood of Madurai until 1943. After spending two years in Kottaiyur and Madras (now Chennai), his family moved back to Madurai when he was eight. At the age of 12, he realised that his eyesight was gradually degenerating, a result of a condition that was diagnosed years later as retinitis pigmentosa. He completed his secondary education in 1953 at Sethupatti High School, where he excelled at Art and Chemistry.

Career

Devadoss started drawing seriously when he was in sixth standard, but initially pursued a career in chemistry rather than art. He studied at American College in Madurai, completing a Bachelor of Science in chemistry in 1957. That year, his father died of a heart attack, and he was forced to begin work at the district collector's office as an accountant in order to support his family, as his elder brother was doing a master's degree and his younger brother was still in middle school.

After a few months working as an accountant, he received an offer from Oldham's, a British corporation manufacturing batteries, which had a factory in Madras. It would later become Standard Batteries, after a merger in 1971. He would work for them for the next forty years, designing new models of miners' cap-lamps and of lead acid batteries and became a recognized expert across India in the latter. In 1969, he left for the US to study fo

Manohar is a scientist-writer-artist, an innovator with a restless intelligence and vivid imagination. He grew up in the Madurai of the 1940s, a schoolboy at large, roaming the city under the great gopurams (temple towers) of Goddess Meenakshi.

Mahema, his wife, is an engaging person, lively and articulate. She was born and raised in Madras, a convent-educated gold-medallist who studied Art and Literature.

Soon after they were married the couple moved to America. They had a beautiful baby girl named Suja. They traveled. They made friends. Eventually they moved back to India. Wherever they were, they lived and laughed a lot.

And very often they talked about the Art of Giving, something dear to Mahema's heart. It was important to her- to them- that they share their many blessings with others. She was a wonderful teacher, he was a gifted scientist, and they were both talented artists. Together they found many ways to give.

And Life was Good.

Then there was the car accident that changed everything. Mahema was badly hurt. The accident left her paralyzed below the shoulders- for life.

'She had no control over many bodily functions ... she would have to be loaded with drugs that would dull her sharp mind. She would have to live with the constant threat of infections, bedsores and spasms. She would be a 'dependent' all her life, needing 24-hour attention ...' 
- Manohar Devadoss, from his book "Dreams, Seasons & Promises"

Mahema looked at her new life and it was hard. From now on it was going to be easier for her to receive than give. Easier- yes. But who says Mahema ch