Chennai:
Former Tamil Nadu chief secretary S Malathi died in a private hospital on Sunday morning after a prolonged battle with cancer. She was 57.
An IAS officer from the 1977 batch, Malathi opted for voluntary retirement in August 2011. She was known as an honest and forthright government servant who expected the best from those who worked with her.
“Her work ethic was inspiring. She was meticulous, organised and straightforward. Every government order, every bit of information was at her fingertips,” said additional chief secretary Sheela Chunkath, who knew Malathi since 1980 when they were posted together in Trichy.
Malathi started her career as a sub-collector in Trichy in 1979 and held various positions including collector of North Arcot district (1987-89) and secretary of the municipal administration and water supply department (1996-2001).
“She was someone who young officers could look up to. She guided us, was supportive, planned her work and meetings carefully, and never wasted her time or ours,” said J Radhakrishnan, who worked under her for close to four years. Malathi was diagnosed with breast cancer in July 2003 when she headed the statistics department. She underwent treatment while continuing to work, and in seven months her condition improved. She continued to rise in the ranks and became home secretary in 2006. A scarf to cover hair thinned by chemotherapy and a swollen left hand due to lymphedema were the only signs of her illness.
In May 2010, as home secretary, she was diagnosed with recurrent breast cancer in the liver. Malathi was expected to take over from K S Sripathi as chief secretary but she was moved to the vigilance department to give her time to recuperate.
In August 2010, Malathi wrote a series of moving pieces on her experience for The Times of India. “I want people to understand that you can fight cancer. Taken with the right mindset, coming to terms with this illness is not that difficult. The trick is to be positive but prepared for the worst,” she told TOI during a meeting to edit the pieces.
She wrote: “After seven years you do get a feeling of having been cured… [so hearing the diagnosis] was truly shattering… From the totally despondent thought that I would die in a few days to the dread of therapy to how it will affect my daughter to how expensive the treatment will be, my mind was travelling in several directions but getting nowhere… The immediate desire was to sit in a corner and cry, but then the need to look dignified gets the better of you and stone-faced I left the hospital.”
Malathi became chief secretary in September 2010 in the DMK regime, only the second woman to hold the top bureaucrat’s post. In May 2011 when the AIADMK took over, she was transferred to the statistics department. Though she had three more years of service, she resigned in August.
At her farewell party when colleagues wished her health and happiness, Malathi told them that she didn’t have much time left. “It was hard to hear that from someone who was always a fighter,” said Chunkath. “But she said it with such strength and grace,” she said.
Malathi wrote for TOI: “I am not sure what the future holds for me: Will I get over this instalment of cancer and if so, for how long? In the time I have left, I shall live every day to the full, and be a good human being, treasuring relationships. Cancer has reinforced my effort to realize myself. If you are unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with cancer, things are not that bleak, there is hope. But cancer or no cancer, eat healthy, do not abuse the body and learn to treasure every day.”
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Chennai> Collections / by Shalini Umachandran / TNN / March 26th, 2012