My friend Muthusamy Varadarajan (widely known as Varad), who has died aged 81, was a respected Indian civil servant. He was a minister at the Indian High Commission in London (1979-83), and was instrumental in organising the 1982 Festival of India, under the patronage of Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher. The festival brought musicians, dancers, artists and artisans from India to various venues in the UK, developing a new mutual understanding between the two countries.
On returning to India in 1983 he became permanent secretary in the ministry of culture in Delhi, and promoted the careers of many deserving artists, including the musicians Ravi Shankar and Bismillah Khan. Varad had a passion for Indian culture and literature, and especially for Indian classical music and dance. Thanks to him, my book India’s Dances (2004) was launched in Delhi by India’s minister of culture.
Varad was born in Tamil Nadu, the son of Ombalapadi Appasamy Muthusamy, a south Indian Brahmin who was a high-ranking police officer, and his wife, Lakshmi. He excelled at St Xavier’s school in the Tanjavur district, and Madras University. He passed the Indian Administrative Service examinations in 1956 and chose to join the Uttar Pradesh cadre, an odd decision for a man from the south. Hindi and Urdu were not his native languages – he spoke Tamil – but he soon mastered them.
As a district head he initiated many community-based schemes that helped the lower castes, and was respected by both Hindus and Muslims. As chairman of the Textile Corporation in Uttar Pradesh he did much for the state’s carpet industry, which provided employment to hundreds of thousands of weavers, mostly poor Muslims.
On retiring in 1991 he did not stop working. He became executive director of the Indian Council for Child Welfare, member of the National Council for Child Welfare, member of the National Commission for Minorities, and chairman of the National Museum of India. He was fluent in French and was president of Delhi’s Alliance Française. In 2010 he was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur of the French Republic. He wrote books: Indian Enamel Jewellery (2004), and Incredible India: Traditions & Rituals (2007).
He is survived by two sons, Patanjali and Siddharth, and a daughter, Rathi, from his marriage to Usha, which ended in divorce.
