T. M. Venkatraman, a long time resident of R. A. Puram and Abhiramapuram, passed away on 8 June. He was 87. His son-in-law M. N. Srinivasan recalls some interesting points in his life.
Venkatraman joined the Indian Airlines as Traffic Assistant in 1947 and rose to the position of Chief Commercial Manager of the entire Southern region in a career spanning 4 decades with the airlines. He was instrumental in developing the Trichy and Madurai region of the airlines. He served for more than 20 years at Madurai. During this period, he arranged same-day arrival of ‘Madurai mallippoo’ to overseas countries like gulf countries and Singapore, by scheduling the connections. The flower sellers of Madurai are much appreciative of his efforts, as it improved their economic condition greatly. The Indian community in these countries were also happy about this arrangement.
Venkatraman also contributed to the growth of tourism in Port Blair during the 1980s. To promote the large tourist potential of the area, he increased the number of flights to the area, thus enabling more tourists to visit. He had unique marketing ideas, even for a monopoly product, and increased the market share and the revenue for the airlines.
His brother was T. M. Naganath of Alitalia Airlines. The brothers were known in the airline circles as ‘Wright brothers’, who were famous for inventing the aeroplane.
Vekatraman is survived by his wife Champaka, son V. Natarajan and daughter Lalitha Srinivasan. The family can be contacted at 24956139. The family residence is at 3B, Bhashyam Manor, 18 Warren Road, Mylapore.
