Like Father, Like Son and Daughter

Dr. Somashekhar (Som) Naimpally, Lakehead University Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, published close to a dozen books and over 100 research papers in his lifetime.

His daughter Anuradha (Anu) and sons Shivshanker (Shiv) and Ravi were born in India. Som moved his family to several cities in the United States, Canada, and India before coming to Lakehead University as a mathematics teacher and researcher in 1971.

Their father was, his children say, endlessly passionate about math.

His success and passion for his work strongly influenced his children, as Anu and Shiv, both Lakehead alums, are deeply committed to their professions as well.

Anu is enjoying her 25th year as a dance professional. Both a performer and a teacher, Anu runs her own classical Indian dance school, Austin Dance India, in Texas.

After one year as a psychology major at Lakehead, Anu moved to India to study professional dance.  Three years later, she returned knowing she wanted to be a dancer and teacher. “I then took courses at Lakehead that I thought would benefit this role,” she says. “This was a great decision because some of the human development courses I took have been especially relevant to my work with children.”

Anu received her Honours Bachelor of Philosophy from Lakehead in 1986, then a Master of Fine Arts in Dance Ethnology from York University in ’88.

Shiv (BSc’79 in Mathematics/HBSc’85 in Computer Science) also took a roundabout path to his current profession. After many successful years with Nortel in software design, technical training, and marketing, he was laid off during the massive tech downturn in the early 2000s.

Having moved from Ottawa to Texas for a promotion, Shiv found himself starting over. While on contract with a local firm writing patent applications, he quickly became intrigued with the work and enrolled in law school to become a patent lawyer.

“Going to law school at the age of 45 seemed crazy at the time,” says Shiv, “but it worked out.”  He has written patent applications for many tech firms including IBM, AT&T, Microsoft, Amazon, Intel, and Dell.

“Having been a software designer, I have a deep understanding of the subject and am better able to grasp and explain the inventive concepts,” he says. “Working as a patent attorney is never boring because I get to learn new technology every week.”

Som and his wife Sudha were great lovers of the arts, particularly Indian classical music and dance – another passion passed down to their children. For this reason, both parents were very active in the community, bringing cultural and artistic events to the Thunder Bay area.

Anu teaches Bharata Natyam-style dance, which is the most popular of Indian dances, and shares this part of her culture with her community by participating in local festivals, events, arts education, and non-profit fundraising.

In 2015, she planned and conducted a performance tour for 36 people, including 18
of her dance students, to southern India. There, they performed at six historic temple heritage sites, honoured, she says, to share their art with local communities. “It was an unforgettable trip,” says Anu, “and I was humbled to travel as an official Cultural Ambassador for the City of Austin.”

Shiv, meanwhile, has developed his musical talents. He plays the tabla, a type of Indian hand percussion instrument. His father gave him lessons when he was 10, after which he pursued more serious training in India with his uncle, an accomplished tabla player.

“There were not many tabla players in Canada, so I was able to accompany many famous Indian musicians.” He performed in two concerts that the CBC broadcasted nationally. “I still remember what a thrill it was to get in my car and listen to my performance in Montreal on the radio!”

Shiv also played the tabla with the Ottawa-based Celtic folk band Imaginary Heaven, which has recorded several CDs. One of the songs he played on, Taken to Silence, was picked up by a major label for a compilation album called The Faire Celts. “It was so cool to discover the song while listening to the album at a Virgin records store in Texas!”

”Shiv still regularly performs with various artists and at fundraising concerts for causes like the India disaster relief and the Sankara Foundation (which provides free cataract surgeries in India).

Though Som passed away in 2014, his love of Indian art and strong belief in philanthropy live on. Anu and Shiv have made sure of that.