Shyamala (Krishnan) Viswanathan

Shyamala Viswanathan, residing in Northborough MA passed away at 3:20pm on Wednesday February 8th, 2017.  She is survived by her son Rajan, daughter –in-law Raji and grandchildren Arjun and Aparna.  She passed away peacefully surrounded by her family. 

Born in Calcutta, India, her upbringing saw many ups and downs.  Through it all she learnt to adjust the family and cultural responsibilities which led her to be the “mother” of the Indian community in Massachusetts.  She finished high school and was then married; as per tradition, though later she wished that she had resisted marriage and gone for further studies.  She learnt Indian classical music and was a proponent with her sister to form “The Calcutta Sisters”.  Her musical talent led her to independent concerts, dance arangetram vocal for Padmini Ramachandran and abhangs and bhajans in various cultural centers and temples.  She also taught music to many avid learners and was also an excellent chef.  Her recipes are mouth-watering and even Pandit Ravi Shankar would come to eat her Masala Dosa whenever he visited New York.  She was always a very strong woman who did her best to raise her son and grandchildren, only as she knew.  Even living together with son and daughter- in-law she taught them the ways of life and parted a lot of her cooking skills.  She never left her husband during their 53 year marriage.  He passed away on Saturday February 4th and she followed right after to take care of him in heaven. 

Her cremation and view will be held on Friday February 10, 2017 at 4pm.  The venue is All Faiths Cemetery and Cremation, 7 Island Road, Worcester, MA.   Rice Funeral Home, 300 Park Ave, Worcester, is in care of arrangements.  www.ricefuneralhome.com. 

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