dear TVK,
periyar (1879- 1973) was close to rajaji (1878 - 1972) in age, ie close to 90 when the former died. so the effort must have been high to stay with rajaji's funeral. also periyar was incontinent and needed help in just about every bodily function, i heard.
always wondered why the tambram leaders of that age (early 1900s) did nothing to counter periyar's arguements. rajaji's one response to antibrahminism, was that it always existed, and nothing could be done about it.which appeared to me a pretty lame excuse and cop out way of responding to what is a threat to his community.
how did the complacency come about? or was it arrogance? i really dont know. was it all a matter of winner take it all. did they not realize that the rules could be changed? always wondered about those things.
the net result of rajaji and his kula kalvi and the attitudes of the tambrams of those times, is the marginalization of the community now. i will not give periyar the credit for our diasporic existence..this moving out started early 1920s, with increased opportunities and money in jobs for the british govt and companies all over the india of those times (burma, ceylon etc).
1950s, when maximum migration occurred, delhi was the mecca of tambrams..the newly formed central government bureaucracy offered plum jobs and status. i have read a few of those experiences, and it was not only exhilarating but satisfying to participate in country building exercise of the nehru era - still by and large honest and uncorrupt.
the tambrams who have reinvented themselves have done well. just look at ananda vikatan now, and compare it with a 50s or 60s or even 70s edition. during those times, it was brahmin centred whereas now, there is hardly a drop of brahminism in it, in the various vikatan editions. same goes for tvs - 99% of their market is NB or non tamils - and they have a healthy level of NB management now, unheard of even 20 years ago.
us kerala pattars have a gripe against ems nambudripad. when the first communist govt came in 1957, ems passed these land reform acts, and overnight all the landlords lost their lands, with a token compensation. the hurt still lingers with many of the older generation, but what it did, was to drive the sons to education, and out of towns like palakkad or trichur, to bombay or mid east - where they did well.
a similar arguement could be said for periyar - thanks to loss of govt jobs, we have moved on to private sector and abroad and did exceedingly well. my girl cousin, 25 years ago, got 98% in PUC, denied medical admission in the then madras. she took biology, and moved on to immunology, to usa, and today she is a VP of a world renowned cutting edge biotech firm. a while ago, she mused, that mbbs denied, was probably the best thing that happened to her. ..
"also periyar was incontinent and needed help in just about every bodily function,"...
I may be wrong with his age but I have seen him walking with the aid of walking stick.. There might have been some assistants to help him in case needed but as per my friends he didn't take anybody's help.. I didn't went along with procession..
When I met him in person too there was nobody to assist him..and I remember he got up with his walking stick..
TVK
