THE PASSING AWAY OF A TEACHER AND A PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL

       When a friend of mine called me yesterday to announce the death of Dr. A. R. Venkitraman, Venki to all those he endeared, I was deeply moved. Venki, after a very long and successful career as Professor and Head of the Post Graduate Department of Chemistry at the American College, Madurai, passed away in his son’s home in Cincinnati, USA at the age of 92. In a context where the pandemic brings every day the news of strings of death of young and old, as well the dear and far, one might ask what is there to publicly utter about a person who retired some 30 plus years ago, and waned away from public glare. For me, it is not merely a matter of expressing the personal grief alone. It is the kind of publicness and political-intellectual content Venki brought into defining his role as a teacher which needs reminiscing and celebrating.

        Hailing from Kerala, Venki joined the American College in 1951, two years before I was born. From here, he went to the USA, and earned his PhD degree in Chemistry from the University of Rochester. Unlike many who escaped into greener pastures, he returned to American College, to put it in his own words, ‘to give back what he received.’ It is no exaggeration that he raised a flock of scientists who put American College in the international map. Some even went to bag the Indian Nobel, the Bhatnagar Award. This side of Venki- the scientist-researcher and Chemistry teacher, is very well known to all and as a Sociologist I am least qualified to speak beyond this.

 However, the point I would like to make here is that, if American College could stand as the last bastion of the liberal academic world with its classic overtones till a decade ago, it was certainly because of the fierce commitment to values of freedom and thoughtful public actions, people like Venki were committed to. By some queer coincidence, Venki was the President of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) Madurai unit (1982). Henry Tiphagne of People’s Watch, was the Secretary, journalist T.N. Gopalan of The Indian Express was its Vice President and myself, its treasurer.

 Two incidents I would like to recall: the first one was the infamous police lathi charge in 1982, disrupting a procession organised by PUCL in Madurai. The retired Justice and founder of PUCL, Tharkunde himself was beaten up on the road. Venki could not be seen after the commotion. My worry was more about Venki. Soon I learnt that he was one among the few who ran to safety and reached IMA Building near the Medical College. The second incident was, the urgent need to present a ‘freed bonded labourer’ before District Collector Mr. Devarajan, in his Camp Office. We three, Henry, myself and Venki had to be present. By the time we finished our work and got out of the Camp office, it started raining heavily. It was a working day. Before I suggested anything, Venki walked into the rain saying, “Chinnaraj I have a class at 11 'o' clock,” and rode away in his scooter completely drenched. That was the balancing of a profession and public commitment Venki taught many of us, by setting up personal examples.

 Venki was 24 years older by age to me, but that never came in our way. I had not known Venki till I joined the college. The day I first reported for work, I had to go to his office and introduce myself as he was the Dean. In spite of his very endearing manners, I was a bit nervous. After he picked up the conversation, he casually pulled out a packet of cigarette and asked, “Do you smoke Chinnaraj?” I hesitantly nodded my head. “No harm, you can always come to my room for a smoke if you like,” he said. The next half-an-hour we were smoking and talking, and he was inducting me into matters official.

Nothing came in his way- age, gender, caste, class or religion. William Zumbro, one of the founder-Principals of American College was fond of saying, “ONE NEED NOT BE A CHRISTIAN TO DO THE CHRISTIAN SERVICE, AND ALL THOSE WHO ARE BORN CHRISTIANS, NEITHER ARE COMMITTED TO IT.” Venki perfectly exemplified what Zumbro said, and gave that rare flavour of cosmopolitanism and inclusiveness to American College. He was very ahead of his times.

 In 2008, when I was the Principal and Secretary, I had to wage the last battle defending all that stood for more than a century in the name of freedom, inclusion, tolerance and excellence. Venki stood by me, shoulder to shoulder. This I need to state here and now.

Besides mourning the death of a fine human being, friend and a public intellectual, I am suddenly reminded of a world that was lost for ever. For this new generation of educationists, drunk with commercialism and buried in corruption, this might look as an act of blasphemy and a practice in sorcery.

 

Dr. CHINNARAJ JOSEPH

Former Principal and Secretary

The American College

12-06-2021 

 

 

 

 

 

THE DELHI MALAYALEE NURSES' ROW: REMEMBERING T. M. NAIR

A few days back, BG Pant Hospital (GIPMER) in New Delhi, passed a very questionable office order saying "A complaint has been received regarding Malayalam language being used for communication in working places in (GIPMER)... it is directed to all Nursing Personnel to use only Hindi and English for communication otherwise serious action will be taken." There was a strong protest from the strong body of Malayalee nurses, and the order has been subsequently withdrawn.  Some superintendent of the hospital went on air extending a personal apology, saying that there was no mala fide intentions on his part. His concern, he said, was Hindi-only-speaking patients' welfare. Thus, it has been made to appear that it all happened without the involvement of the higher ups or the maverick Chief Minister Kejriwal.

Of all people, this should not have happened to nurses in the first place whether they are from Kerala or Wuhan.   Nurses are nurses as long as their professional commitment, empathy and patient care are intact. They are free to talk to someone in their own mother tongue as long as the other party is willing to entertain it. The hospital should have been very mindful of the times as well.  When everyone is concerned not only about saving the lives of the helpless people inflicted with corona, but also the grave risks the frontline workers like the nurses are taking in order to perform their duties. Another point that comes to anyone’s mind is that, the nurses of Kerala over a century, have made a big mark contributing to building up the very profession. No single community from India or even elsewhere, can take this credit.

This episode reflects yet another example of growing intolerance of the hegemonic North. In my opinion, there is a serious political lesson for Keralites to learn. The pity is that Kerala ever since its inception entertains a three-language formula and kids in schools, mostly or always study Hindi as a third  language up to their tenth standard. In this sense, a Keralite is formally more qualified to be appointed in a Delhi hospital in terms of functionality, than someone from Tamil Nadu.  

Though Keralites demonstrate a lot of pride over their Malayalam language and literature, when it comes to learning Hindi and Sanskrit, their attitude has been always pro, or positively pragmatic. In the past few years however there has been an increasing concern for self-assertion and frequent protests against discrimination by the Union Government. LDF victory has made the voice shriller.

The nurses’ issue, forced me to recollect an interesting incident that happened some 40 years ago. I was to travel from Trivandrum to Madurai. I could get a last-minute ticket in a Tamil Nadu Transport bus, a deluxe service operated between Trivandrum and then Madras. A few minutes after I took my seat, a white-and-white-dhoti-clad, middle aged, smart gentleman took the seat next to me. No sooner-than he settled down, he spread out a the Malayala Manorama newspaper, and started scanning through. After a while, he picked up a conversation with me. I was really surprised when he said he was an IAS officer working at the level of a Deputy Secretary in the Kerala Secretariat, and was going to Madras. Given my age and inexperience, I could not resist my amusement and blurted a few words in his praise telling him how the IAS officers looked very different in Tamil Nadu– no dhoti business, no vernacular newspaper and no bus journey. (I am not sure how much it has changed now).

Both of us competed with each other for a while praising things on the other side of the fence. Then imprudently I brought T.N. Nair and his role in founding the Justice Party and giving early impetus for the Dravidian movement into the conversation. I also elaborated his anti-Brahmin anti-North outlook. I also expressed my disappointment over the lack of Malayalee sympathy for either T. M. Nair or for the Dravidian cause. Hearing this, the IAS gentleman grew very grim and said cryptically, “Sensible Malayalees never subscribe to any chauvinistic views like Tamils… and we are not emotional people like you and we don’t say we are Dravidian…  and only you people who give Malayalees, the Dravidian tag.” I became a little hurt and defensive. After dropping into silence for a while he continued, “See my dear young man, we live in a secular India, and we educated Malayalees want to move around, get jobs in Delhi or Assam and keep going. We don’t have difficulty with Hindi because our language is very Sanskritised in terms of vocabulary, grammar and phonetics…because of this, unlike you, we learn Hindi easily.”

At that point, I gave up my conversation. He slept in the comfort of being a Malayalee and I, embracing my chauvinistic pride as a Tamil. It was late in the night, the bus reached Madurai. I got up from my seat to get down. My Malayalee co-passenger was awake. He managed a broad smile and said, “Please don’t mistake me on what I said.” I said, “No… no,” expressing politeness.

Recollecting this after 40 years, I imagine that the Malayalee co-passenger of that night, should be sitting somewhere in Kerala, munching the news of the ‘Malayalee nurses’ episode.’ I guess it would have saddened him. 

 I thought I can raise this question to my Malayalee friends: What is detestable? The Dravidianist legacy and the spirit of independence from North the Dravidian lot like T.M. Nair, Thiyagararaya Chetty and EVR bequeathed to us, or the Hindustani-Hindu-Hindi chauvinism and hegemony of the newly emerging elite begotten by Bharath Mata. Kejriwal belongs to this lot. 

The clarion call for strong states and state autonomy came only from Tamils, and Tamils alone, because in the Dravidianist theory, linguistic-cultural self-assertion is the very basis for political autonomy of a state. Language is power, a power that can be either deployed against you to subdue you or, if you choose, you can creatively articulate it for breathing freedom. History holds several proofs.

Anyway, T. M. Nair will turn in his grave.

Dr. Chinnaraj Joseph

10- 06- 2021