Excerpt from an autobiography published in 1981

5 days after my father wrote me a letter, he was executed for murder. On the 6th day my grandfather returned from Burma a rich man, I was born on the 7th day and God said let there be light. My father died not knowing that my grandfather had returned and my grandfather never got over the fact that he failed his son. I, however, grew up not really knowing who my father was or why my grandfather had disappeared. My mother always told me that my father was a freedom fighter who had been executed by the British.

I was eighteen when I finally read my father's letter. My mother regretted giving me the letter to read, she never expected my father to be honest about who he had been. I, however, am thankful my father let me know the truth. I would have hated to live a lie throughout my life. The letter my father wrote to me was almost a tradition and I have letters from four generations of fathers writing their woes out to their sons. In almost a century it is for the first time someone in my family has been in a position to write about why life is not all turmoil and fruitless toil. I do not think I should break a line of letters simply because there is no more need to warn of hard times or even because there is no need for letters since I could just as easily tell my son what I need to tell him over a telephone call. I wish to write to my son just as my forefathers did and if I were to write a short letter of my life, experiences and the lessons learned from it, this is how it would be -

Dear Son,

Fate has been kind to me. I do not have to apologize to my son for my shortcomings or failures. My grandfather who is long gone now, was a successful man and if truth be told he need not have apologized either to his son, my father, considering he died a very wealthy man. But it is upon me the mantle is thrust to predict tidings of great joy and success to the next scion in a lineage of hardworking men, if a lineage it could be called.

When my grandfather came home hoping to live the rest of his life in the peace he hoped his success would offer, he met with bitter disappointment at the loss of a son. He felt the need to take care of me as a son and provide me with everything my heart desired. He sought redemption in my happiness and it is thanks to him that I do not find the necessity to seek redemption. It is also thanks to him that you find yourself in a position of not having to worry about who your late grandfather was. While generations of men in our family faced the anguish and pain of bleak futures, you face the trouble of a future that lacks little. If you think I'm senile in my arguments you will do well to remember that a life of plenty like yours leaves little to be desired. Without desire a man has neither purpose nor ambition. Without either of these a man lacks direction and the gravest danger befalls him. Without direction a man may flounder and eventually stagnate where he is. Look up and use wisely the privilege you have. Do not believe that the horizons of your father encompass the universe; there is much to see and seek from the shoulders of your ancestors. There is much to be remembered and forgotten from your past. Perhaps you and I are now successful men now but while I can soon hope to retire a successful man you will have to travel greater distances before you reach the roads to your sunsets. Live wisely but also tilt swords at windmills if you have to. Do not rest on laurels that are not your own. Live long and prosper.

Your father,
R. Sampath