Port O' Call

Capt. “Lux” Lakshman finds new adventures in life and business in his adopted home of Savannah

“If you show fear to your crew, you’re a dead duck,” says Captain Sankaran “Lux” Lakshman, with a smile that makes a life-or-death adventure on a raging sea seem almost lighthearted. Capt. Lakshman was put to this test back in 1991 when he served as Chief Mate on the M.V. Eagle during the “perfect storm.”

“About two days after we left Savannah, Tropical Storm Grace was upgraded to a hurricane and caught us off guard,” Capt. Lakshman recalls. “It was around the end of October, so it was the end of the hurricane season and there was a cold front coming down from Canada and also a nor’easter coming down.”

As one of the ships that made it through these uniquely dangerous conditions, the Eagle’s journey was a brighter spot in Sebastian Junger’s book, The Perfect Storm, which detailed the destruction up and down the Atlantic coast, most notably the tragic loss of the crew of a fishing boat, the Andrea Gail.

“Three days of hurricane-force winds and 60-foot waves is no joke,” Capt. Lakshman says. “But fear was not part of the equation.”

While he has no desire to repeat such a dramatic experience these days, you also won’t find him living the quiet life. 

The Ship Comes In

Capt. Lakshman was born and raised in a small, inland town in India. Though he had never seen a ship growing up, he joined the Indian Merchant Marine Academy and excelled as an apprentice. He graduated in 1982 and spent the next 17 years of his life on the sea.

“We saw the whole world and got paid to do it,” he says. “It was exciting.”

Capt. Lakshman then worked for Colonial Group for the next twenty years, spending enough time in Savannah to fall in love with it. He chose to settle in the city soon after marrying his wife, Kay.

“I was looking for good schools for my children and a good place to live, and we found it here,” he says. “This is my first and hopefully last port of call.”

You can still find Capt. Lakshman on a ship fairly often. He founded Viksniks Consultants, where he and his team specialize in risk management for oil tankers and terminals.

“Consulting and solving problems gives me the chance to be on ships, but not for months at a time like I once was,” he says. “I don’t really miss that part of it.”

Capt. Lakshman also dove into other various corporate ventures, including software development, medical scribing, digitization and indexing of healthcare records. He believes technological innovation should focus on making life easier and more efficient for the professionals who serve the community.

“Our goal is to save time for the doctors, so they can do what they do best,” he says.

Shoring Up The Community

Time is a precious commodity for Capt. Lakshman, and he spends a lot of his involved in the community.

“I came here with almost nothing in my pocket,” he says. “I worked very hard and this country has been great to me. In return, I feel like I owe it to those who need an opportunity, or deserve an opportunity, to be helped.”

He recently got a new opportunity himself—this year Capt. Lakshman is the incoming president of the Rotary Club of Savannah, one of the oldest clubs of its kind in the country. He also serves on the Board of Trustees at Savannah Country Day School and supports healthcare organizations such as the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and St. Joseph’s/Candler.

Capt. Lakshman’s youngest son, Nivan, has become a regular on the Candler Hospital campus of St. Joseph’s/Candler, where he is a student at the Southeast Campus of the Medical College of Georgia. Nivan Lakshman’s chosen career reflects a commitment to the wellbeing of others that has been a part of the family for generations.

“Giving back to the community is very important to our whole family,” Capt. Lakshman says. “I learned that from my mother, my grandfather and my great-grandfather. They laid that foundation. It feels great to help the people and places that are near and dear to me.” 

Changing Course

Captain “Lux” Lakshman’s team at Viksniks Consultants can sometimes tell when he’s missed a day on the pickleball court. That’s the only time the stress of work gets the better of him.

“I take my frustrations out on the court,” Capt. Lakshman says with a laugh. “It’s definitely my stress reliever.

Pickleball is the latest sport of choice for Capt. Lakshman. Originally, he was a table tennis player, and a very good one.

“I was a Georgia Games table tennis champion in Savannah from 1998 to 2001,” Capt. Lakshman recalls. “But eventually I couldn’t find enough other players to join me, so I switched to tennis.”

An injury to his rotator cuff, the group of tendons and muscle that surrounds the shoulder joint, forced Capt. Lakshman to change course again. Because of the therapeutic benefits of court sports, he wasn’t about to give it up. So he was relieved to discover pickleball, which is proving to be one of the most popular sports in the country.

“If there is a ball and a paddle in my hand, I will enjoy it,” Capt. Lakshman says. “My family and I will often play together. It just feels good to move around. When I worked on ships in the Merchant Marine, we took thousands of steps up and down those stairs on any given day, getting exercise without even realizing it. Since then I’ve always known how good outdoor activities are for the body and mind.”

Has joint pain recently kept you from doing a favorite activity? There may be some conservative treatments that can get you back in the action. Learn more here.