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Try mofussil way

Your piece on MMM going to college was hilarious and kept us in splits. I am very fami-liar with this, my son being a speaker and a quiz master. The smaller colleges which do not have a snob value are however different. Usually a vehicle is sent with a staff member or a student. At the college, he is taken to the principal’s room, offered a drink, then accompanied by the staff to the podium. The function is conducted in a dignified pleasing manner. Proper introductions are done, since bio data is taken beforehand. Momentos are given and the guest dropped back.

At the so called mofussil schools, the guest is welcomed with flowers and a ponnadai. Children maintain pin drop silence and stand up when the guest leaves.

It’s only at the so-called hep schools and colleges, the guest is treated with indifference and we know all attitude. So, MMM, try an outstation college next time. It will be a balm to your wounded ego.

Prema Raman
premaraman41@gmail.com

More information

I read the letter of P. Jega-nathan, on the Madras Museum (MM, November 1st) with interest. Historically, animal display (the Zoology Section) formed the nucleus of Madras Museum. I cannot comment on the opinions of Jeganathan particularly on the quality of displayed materials today at the Madras Museum, since it is ages I have been there. However, the name of Thomas Satyamurti, who was the Superintendent of the Madras Museum in the 1960s, crossed my mind as I read this letter.

I have neither known Satyamurti nor seen him. But I have heard my teacher, the late T. N. Ananthakrishnan, speaking highly of Satyamurti frequently. Ananthakrishnan used to refer to Satyamurti’s contributions to Indian Zoology, both as the Curator of Zoology section earlier and Superintendent of the Museum later, as profound. Satyamurti published several monographs and papers, mostly on vertebrates (from fishes and amphibians to large mammals), and a few on the invertebrates (e.g., echinoderms), in addition to writing on the science of museology – a young discipline during Satyamurti’s days.

Satyamurti’s paper entitled, ‘Modernisation of Madras Museum’ published in the Wiley Journal, The Curator (1966, 9: 67-84), is not only relevant to us today as an elegant piece of the history of Madras Museum, but also as a fascinating example of delightful English prose.

* * *

Philip Mulley’s supplementary notes on the Jesuits of Madras were enlightening. When I read the 2-part story on the Jesuits in earlier issues of Madras Musings, I felt that not mentioning Lourdu M. Yeddanapalli, who was trained in Princeton (USA) and in the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), and who later taught Chemistry in Loyola College (Madras) for several years, was a significant omission. Many of Yeddana-palli’s graduate students led pioneering research institutions in India and have contributed significantly to the development of Indian science. Paul Ratnasamy (Director, CSIR’s National Chemical Laboratory, 1995-2002) is one stellar alumnus of the Yeddanapalli group. When I was writing on the scientists of 20th Century Madras, I could not write a piece on Yeddana-palli, mainly because no documented literature was available to me easily. I deeply regret this insufficiency.

Dr. G. Sundaram
A-601, “Dugar Apartments”
Keshav Perumal Puram, Greenways Road
Chennai 600 028

All-time Madras XI
L. enkatesan writes that in an MM issue in December, 2013 an all-time Madras XI was selected by V. Ramanarayan.
The team was
1. C.P. Johnstone
2. K. Srikkanth
3. W.V. Raman
4. C.D. Gopinath
5. A.G. Kripal Singh
6. A.G. Ram Singh
7. M.J. Gopalan
8. Dinesh Karthik (Wicket keeper)
9. S. Venkataraghavan (Captain)
10. C.R. Rangachari
11. V.V. Kumar
12th man: Robin Singh

Partab Ramchand (MM, November 1st) and Ramnara-yan differ effectively only over C.P. Johnstone, R. Ashwin, Robin Singh and Rangachari. Is there a riddle to be solved?

Rajaji so facilely forgotten

In his Independence Day address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made evocative -references to some unsung heroes of the -freedom struggle. He directed his Cabinet -colleagues to undertake a Tiranga Yatra to -different parts of lndia, to visit the places of birth and martyrdom of hundreds of lesser known freedom fighters. He also advised them to publicise the performance highlights of his government that completed two years in May.
There is a strong reason behind this -direction: the Nehru -dynasty and its coterie were over-zealous in perpetuating the memory of Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Rajiv Gandhi by naming prominent places like towns, roads, -airports et al after them. For Tamil Nadu, this is nothing new. Over the last 50 years, Dravidian parties have been following a similar practice of naming streets and buildings after leaders of the Dravidian movement.
Smarting under the side-lining of leaders other than the Nehru clan, the BJP has been keen to utilise its hold of power by projecting stalwarts of the RSS, Jan Sangh and other Hindutva outfits like Veer Savarkar, Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Madan Mohan Malviya … We witness a similar pride in Bengalis over their sons, Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose …
Sadly, Tamil Nadu provides a stark contrast: caste divisions and politics have riven the politically hyper-sensitive State for nearly a century. Thus Tamil Nadu has failed to respect its -heroes. Mahakavi Subramania Bharati dreamt of a free India six decades ahead of its Independence. He took to writing strong editorials against the British. He roused the public -conscience through his fiery, patriotic poems on Independence and also dreamt of a free India focusing on education and industry to produce weaponry, paper… And how spiritedly Bharati talked about the liberation of the schedule castes and women from centuries of oppression and dreamt of a caste-free India!
Dravidian leaders wouldn’t recognise the -genius of Bharati and Tamils as a group failed to win for him his rightful place in the nation’s reckoning.
MP Sivagnanam (Ma Po Si), an ardent freedom fighter, once narrated the following:
“In the 1950s, the Central government, under the lead of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, -requested different States to provide -details on the contribution of leaders of their respective states to the freedom movement. The Centre offered to publish this. Other states complied with the request. In Tamil Nadu also a draft was prepared and submitted. Sadly, the leaders found that too many of the freedom fighters were Brahmins. Familiar with the virulent anti-Brahmin tirade, the leader chose not to send the draft to Delhi. Regrettably, Tamil Nadu failed to project its contribution to the freedom struggle.”
Time and again, we have witnessed the -result of such neglect. The I&B Ministry -produced a documentary on the Tiranga Yatra. It shows the NDA ministers visiting the birthplaces of Bharati, V.O. Chidambaram, Kattabomman and Muthuramalinga Thevar. There were -liberal references to Sardar Patel, Morarji Desai and dozens lesser known leaders. These are welcome, but why this glaring omission of the great sacrifices and productive contributions of Rajaji, Sathyamurti, Kamaraj, R. Venkataraman and C. Subramaniam?
The side-lining of Rajaji, whom Gandhiji -described as his conscience keeper, his sacrifice of a lucrative practice, his contribution to the smooth transfer of power by being the first -Indian Governor General and later accepting the Chief Ministership of the state, and his -intellectual prowess were so facilely
forgotten!

– S. Viswanathan
Industrial Economist
Chennai

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