Nirmala Devi Kandasamy

Nirmala Devi Kandasamy was born on December 16th, 1933 in Raub, Malaysia to parents of Ceylon Tamil heritage. She was the oldest of the five children of late Kathirgamu Alagar and late Chellamma Alagar. Her father Alagar was born and raised in Chunnakam, a town in the Northern Province of British-Ceylon and migrated to British-Malaysia to work as an accountant. Following her father’s retirement in 1948, her family relocated to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and settle in Chunnakam.

Nirmala was a loving sister to late Susila Devi, Gangadaran (UK), late Dr. Sivasundaram (Malaysia) and Rudran (Srilanka). Nirmala was a highly motivated individual and academically successful student who got her education in Malaysia and Ceylon. After relocating to Ceylon, Nirmala got her secondary education at Uduvil Girls’ College, the first Girls School established in South Asia by an American Missionary. As the first born, she was very close to her father and was his favorite. Her childhood ambition was to become a medical doctor, which she abandoned to oblige her father’s wish for her to get married. She married late Mr. S. Kandasamy in 1954 (Retired S.L.A.S Officer), who was the oldest son of Sinnadurai and Kamadchipillai.

Nirmala and Kandasamy had a prosperous married life of 62 years. Together, they had four children, Renuka (Rupa, UK), Hariharan (Hari, San Diego, CA), Vasumathi (Baba, UK), and Anushya (Usha, Australia). She was also fortunate to have three sons-in-law, Aravindan, Srikanthan and Rajh Mahendran, and daughter-in-law Mangala. She was the loving grandmother to Shylesh and Shyan.

Through marriage she also acquired six loving sisters-in-law, late Rasapoomany, Nakeswari, late Rajeswari, Mavis, Pathma and late Pathmawathy, and brother-in-law, late Sundaramoorthy. She had six nieces, Kosala, Suganya, Diane, Dharshini, Tharmini and Harini, and six nephews, Sri Shankar, Ryan, Sanjeevan, Dharshan, Jeevan and Harshyan.

Nirmala was a charismatic and generous individual with natural leadership qualities. She had a sharp mind and the ability to go straight to the heart of a matter to solve problems. She was strong-willed, confident and fun-loving. She had a keen interest in knowing people from different backgrounds and liked mingling in various circles irrespective of the age, gender or status. She was fluent in English and Tamil and spoken Sinhala. She lived in different regions of Sri Lanka including Chunnakam, Badulla, Kurunagalla and Colombo. Later in her life, she had the opportunity and enjoyed visiting her children and the extended family in different countries.

She loved cooking and enjoyed coordinating large family gatherings, weddings and milestone celebrations. Throughout her life, she was spontaneous and magnanimous with gestures of kindness. In her free time, she enjoyed reading, sewing, embroidery, coloring, music, and cinema. Growing up she was athletic and loved playing and watching sports. She played netball during her high school years and badminton into her thirties, winning championships at the club and local league levels. She was an avid follower of international cricket and tennis until her passing. Nirmala transformed her own experience to advocate for the higher education of youngsters, especially influenced young girls and women overcome societal barriers.

Nirmala moved to the USA in October of 2016 and lived with her son in San Diego, California. She remained active and independent until her last day and peacefully passed away in her sleep on January 30th, 2022.

May she be in peace with Divinity!

In lieu of flowers, anyone who wishes could send their donations in the name of Nirmala Kandasamy to the San Diego food bank or their local temples that provide food to the needy.