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 There was a strong protest from the strong body of Malayalee nurses, and the order has been subsequently withdrawn.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.
Dr. Chinnaraj Joseph
10- 06- 2021
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