His life story needs to be told from the roots. Kamatchikutty of Perumbatha veedu (born in March 1923 in Kuthannur, Palghat District, Kerala) and Sivaraman Nair  ( Vadvannur Pokkunni Madathil ) (born in August 1908 in Kollengode) were married to each other in August 1938.

On the 1st of January 1942, the dawn of the year when India would see the birth of the historic Quit India movement in the middle of the second world war,  S Krishna Prasad was born to Kamatchi Kutty and Sivaraman Nair, at Robertsonpet, Kolar Gold Fields, erstwhile Madras Presidency of British India. His mother, Kamatchi Kutty who hailed from a well off agricultural family, lived a life of simpler means after her wedding, but her genorosity was always her hallmark. Sivaraman Nair was a tailor by profession and a prominent member of the Sathyagraha / non violent Independence movement in India. A soft spoken man of modest means, whose calm and gentle nature, along with his mother's generosity must have been an inspiration to Prasad.

Prasad was the second born to his parents. His elder brother, Sivadas was his guiding force in his childhood. He sadly lost his brother to illness at the age of 12 but fondly remembered him all his life. Prasad's family was large, typical of the baby boomer generation of the time. He had 4 younger brothers  and 3 younger sisters who still survive him today.

Growing up in Coimbatore, Prasad offered to work whenever he could at his father's tailor shop earning pocket money of 25p (4 annas) which would fetch him rare treats like a visit to the cinema. Sharing those occasional spoils was his best friend, (now retired Commodore) KN Venugopal AVSM, who survives him today with memories of 70 years of friendship.

He studied at Government Municipal (Middle and High) school in Coimbatore from the age of 6. Though the medium of instruction was Tamil, it did not hinder him gaining mastery over English. He used to say "to learn a language you should learn to think in that language". And so he did! Mathematics was also his forte and in those pre-calculator days, he could work out arithmetic and logarithms faster than you can type on a calculator.

As the eldest son of the family (after the passing of his elder brother), as a growing teenager, he was already the man of the house people turned to for advice

After completing his PUC, Prasad decided to pursue his passion. He got admitted into The Government Polytechnic College in Coimbatore and was offered Telecommunications Engineering. He however, had his mind set on being a Mechanical Engineer. Dressed in his customary clean white shirt and a trouser, he cycled to meet the principal of the college every once in a while, requesting for a place in his area of choice. The principal suggested a good score in Math might help land him the place. Those were the days when you were allowed to attempt bonus questions on a exam paper, so score he did, not a 100, but 120 out of a 100, landing him the admission he sought. And that was a defining moment in his career. He went on to be an extrodinary Mechanical Engineer and was actively designing large machines till the last 2 weeks of his life!

After graduating with a LME (Licentiate in Mechanical Engineering) he started his Engineering career in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bangalore - one of the oldest aeronautics and defence manufacturers in the world. He often recalled HAL as the place that taught him Engineering.

In 1966, Prasad joined Batliboi, a machine tool company founded in 1892, involved in manufacturing machine tools, textile engineering, wind energy and electric engineering. Prasad joined as a Service Engineer and was soon one of the most sought after engineers by customers. He credited his knowledge of machine tools to his stint at Batliboi as Service Engineer.

He moved to Chennai (then called Madras) in 1975 to further his career. While in Chennai, he rose in his ranks to Regional Manager, Southern Division but decided to quit in 1991 to start his own venture.

As much as Engineering was a prominent dimension of his life, his marriage and family was a dimension that defined his life.

On 21st May 1969, he married Chandrika, daughter of Parvathavarthini Ammal and Krishnan Nair, and the sister of his best friend, Venu, hence taking their friendship to the next level. His marriage of 52 years was a exemplary love story filled with unwavering affection and devotion to each other. As an ideal doting husband, he stood by her through ups and downs. As her health declined in the recent years, he always supported her in every chore at home without complain. He was also an excellent cook and his culinary creativity was often at display whenever he had the opportunity.

In 1970, they had their first son, Sivakumar (named after his elder brother Sivadas), who would grow up to later join him in his work, and help run his business in Chennai. Their second son Naveenkumar, was born in1976 and later moved abroad for higher studies, and now resides in the UK.

Prasad was also a pillar of the extended family. As the eldest of all siblings on either side of the family, he played the role of the 'Karnavar' (the eldest male member). He was looked up to as a dear brother and a father figure to all in the family.

Mr Prasad was a Techprenuer (but back then there was no such term!!). He was technocrat first and a business man after (but there wasn't much space for it as technology filled most parts of his career). In 1991 he started a consultancy firm with his elder son and his classmate from college.

What started off in a 150 sqft room grew up to multiple companies, factories and at its peak Group Mechatronics had 6 factories and units across India and Europe. His supreme knowledge of machine tools especially the larger ones meant his interactions with customers invariably ended in the filling up the order book. Never to shy off challenges he went on to manufacture some of the largest machines ever made in the country. He was technocrat much ahead of his time as the machines that he made 12 years ago are yet to be manufactured by anyone else in the country.

One another unique side of him was his penchant to recruit fresh engineers. Through the thirty years of his second carrier close to 98% of the recruitment was meant for young fresh engineers. He would spend hours with them explaining what machines were under development and how they have been conceived.These young minds had probably the best initiation in to the technology side of machines tools, a fact that they realised only when they forayed  into the outside world.

Prasad and positivity was almost synonymous. There was never a day when he was seen worn out or demotivated by circumstances. His positivity was not one of outward exuberance, but of inner strength and courage and a quiet resolve to face the toughest of circumstances.

His self-confidence was inspirational. His favourite line was "If someone can do it, so can I". He established a business empire from scratch from his drawing room (starting at the age of 49). He would dream the biggest of CNC machines and however complicated they might sound at the outset, those around him marvelled as he would steadily design it part by part till it became a reality.

He was known to encourage his engineers to go experiment wthout fear of failure and they were all the better for it.

The positivity was at full display even in the last week of his life. He was seen to be cooking and helping with kitchen chores even while quarantining at home, down with Covid. He infact called his design engineer on the day he was due to head into hospital, to ensure he finalised some pending designs.

He was known as the most cooperative patient at the Covid ICU at the SRM hospital. He even made phone calls while he was in the ICU to let us know he was OK and just needed an oxygen mask to keep him comfortable. 

COVID managed to get to his 79 year old lungs in the end, all it could conquer were cells and tissues, it couldn't touch the spirt of the man that ran the show.