MKV Remembered

A good family friend & also a neighbour for over 3 generations passed away last Friday. Those who have studied Engineering in TN would have definitely come across Maths textbooks authored by M K Venkatraman (MKV). My grandfather and MKV were colleagues and neighbours in Karaikkudi. Although I didn’t study BE, I have heard a lot about his academic work and have interacted quite extensively with him. My dad and uncle happened to be his students and often narrate about his distinct style in handling the subject. During his classes, he would often use the term MKV to mean Mukkhiyam Kattaayam Varum (Important, Will Definitely Come) so that the students give special attention to that particular topic from an exam point of view. He was a fatherly figure to my family and will definitely be missed.

Here’s what Ramadoss Magesh had to say about MKV:

Most of the books of this author that I have read are literal adaptation of some of the world-renowned books on the same topic. It usually includes solutions to the problem set that are left as exercises in those books. Inspite of the above-mentioned fact, I consider that a lot of student community (including myself) has benefited from such efforts. Such efforts are all the more relevant in situations where the original books were not accesible to students for a variety of reasons (higher cost, less exposure or just the fact the original ones are extremely difficult to understand).