CHENNAI, India -- Eight years ago, P. Sivakami went from Tamil Nadu to Tokyo to serve as Egional director of the Indian Tourist Office. She was in her early 40s then, usually dressed in a sari but often in slacks and a sweater, and still wearing her hair long and loose. She took her two young sons with her, but her husband could be with the family only during his holidays. Many people in Japan remember Sivakami for her energy and initiative, her merriment and seriousness, her curiosity and desire to know and join in. She was a bright presence in the original Indian Tourist Office on the Ginza, a Tokyo showplace since the 1960s of Indian color and flamboyance.
Sivakami, who uses only one name, with the initial standing for her father, returned to Tamil Nadu four years ago. She has come a long way since she was a child here on her father's farm. He, twice married with 13 children, had little education but was eloquent, politically alert, and an active freedom fighter. Sivakami valued his generosity of spirit and wide vision, qualities she made her own. Her father wanted all his children to advance, but insisted that at the same time they should help every day on the farm. He believed they should stay rooted in reality.
Sivakami carved her own way. When she entered college and moved to a hostel, she said, "My father made me go alone and look after myself from the beginning. He wanted me to be self-confident and independent." She took her BA in history, then moved farther away from home to study for her master's degree. She passed the demanding, all-India public service examinations, which have a success rate of only 1 percent, and entered the Indian Administrative Service. As she received further intensive training in all branches of national administration, she made social issues her particular concern and avocation.