Sreenivas Ashtakala

Sreenivas Ashtakala was a highly intelligent and strong-willed father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He arrived at the University of Toronto in 1952 to pursue his PhD in Metallurgical Engineering under the great Dr. Lloyd Pidgeon. Although there were few other foreign students at that time, Sreenivas soon gathered them into an informal social group, often dining at his place on Indian cuisine prepared by his wife, the late Syamala Ashtakala. Ever dutiful, he turned down a job offer in BC at the call of his eldest cousin, Purushottam, to manage family matters. In the 1960s, he returned to Canada and started his career at the College Militaire Royal in Saint-Jean, Quebec, where he taught thousands of cadets and contributed to NATO research for the next 28 years. In Montreal, he continued his penchant for being a cohesive force in the Indian community, being a founding member of the Bharatiya Sangeetha Sangham and the Telugu Association of Montreal, as well as an active member of the Indo-Canada Association. He had a keen ear for Carnatic music, and hosted many musicians from India in his house. After retirement, he and his wife moved to Ottawa to join their daughter; it was here that he refined his acumen in the stock market and is remembered by his brokers as contributing several valuable recommendations for improving the functionality of their trading platforms.