VENKATA ANANDU

ANANDU--Venkata Subbiah. Venkata Anandu, or simply Anandu or Ajja, passed away on December 30, 2023 in Pelham, NY. He was 90 years old. He is survived by his two children Darshan and Nandini; his daughter-in-law Madhavi; his son-in-law Sanjay; and his grandchildren or, as he dubbed them, his young friends, Rathi, Shiv, Manu, and Vishwa. He was predeceased by his wife Jaya Lakshmi, to whom he was married for over fifty years. Anandu was born on August 26, 1933 near Bengaluru, India. It was there that he studied electrical engineering. Upon receiving his degree, he worked as an engineer for All India Radio, traveling far and wide across India, chancing upon artists, classical musicians, and technicians. While he loved his post at the radio and all its comforts, his wife would instill within him the dream to quest west. Together with their son, they immigrated to Montreal, Canada, where Anandu earned his master's degree and their daughter was born. Later, they moved to the US, residing in Savannah, Georgia for several years before finally settling in the great state of Texas. Hailing from a family of educators, Anandu himself took to teaching. He became a dedicated professor of engineering at a myriad of institutions, who was known for his precision, his fondness for the canteen, and his ambidextrous talent when it came to the chalkboard. He was cherished by his students, and he would author his very own workbook Electricity and Electronics to facilitate learning in the classroom. Anandu was an avid fan of tennis. He enjoyed watching game shows with his family, especially Jeopardy!, The Price is Right, and Wheel of Fortune, which he attended live with his wife, twice. He was a self-taught chef, who mastered the hits of South Indian cuisine. He was known for his routine strolls around his Houston and Pelham neighborhoods and for walking his grandkids to school. He had a penchant for straightforward storytelling, and for embellishing every detail with his trademark remarks, "absolutely fantastic," "unbelievable," "first-class." He will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved him.