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Vol. XXIX No. 19, January 15-31, 2020

Our Readers Write

Praise from Vasishta

Just finished reading Short ‘N’ Snappy by MMM. What riotous fun!

Of course I’ve never been a fan of MMM. Neither the earlier avatar (may his memory live long) nor the current claimant to that pseudonym. I sincerely feel that both were/are snooty colonial sympathisers who looked down on mere mortals like me and would turn away rather than even give me the time of the day. Having said that, I have to concede that the new MMM compensates with his great sense of humour.

The Airport story (MM, Vol. XXIX, No. 17) with the final twist in the tale where the security officer gets the coffee is in the realm of PGW and GKC. (If you don’t understand who they are don’t bother to read further please!)
Calling your wife “She who Must Be Obeyed” is a great tradition (occasionally adopted by yours truly in his FB posts) coming down from Rumpole of the Bailey created by John Mortimer. Rumpole, of course takes it from the H. Ryder Haggard novels “She” and “Ayesha”.

I am sure MMM would scorn to read this missive and would already be looking down at it with rightful indignation as if it is a disgusting fly alighting unsolicited on his dabara of Filter Kaapi.

Still here is hoping to read more and more of his output…

S. Srikanth
sreesri26166@gmail.com

Editor’s Note: We are not sure as to what makes reader Srikanth so certain that the previous or the present editor would not give him the time of day. We are not sure if he made an attempt at any time to reach out. But since he has written to us, and since we believe in accepting feedback of all kinds, we are publishing it and also thank him for it.


More on P. Sabanayagam

The article Serving the nation well by R.V. Rajan, speaks well about the golden period of time when honest politicians ruled the nation. Ironically, the sentence in the concluding para, would change to the present time as follows,

“Officers who have Not compromised have always been forced to face charges later.”

Krishnan
Chennai 600 063


I read with interest the review of the autobiography of P. Sabhanayagam with whom I had some interaction. He formed the One-Man Commission to go into the pay anamolies caused by the Second Pay Commission.

I was lucky to be a member of the advisory committee to assist him. The Commission had to go into the representations received from more than 70 departments. Sabhanayagam gave a patient hearing to every representation, chiding sometimes for inappropriate demands. Sometimes he assisted the persons making representations by suggesting better and alternate solutions. He was patience incarnate and not once did he lose his temper. Every person had complete faith in his fairness.

When he was Education Secretary at the Center, I met him and he suggested how we should spell out before the Planning Commission the demands of Tamil Nadu to implement the vocational education programme in Higher Secondary Course, as recommended by the Kothari Commission. The doors of the chambers of the Chief Secretary were always open during his occupancy. It was not air-conditioned in his time.

S.S. Rajagopalan
30, Kamarajar Street
Chennai 600093

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