This is the picture that should have appeared on page 1 last fortnight. It is of the Government Maternity Hospital (Hospital for Women and Children) and NOT of the Government General Hospital.
– The Editor

Teachers remembered

The February 1st issue of MM brought me some sweet memories. Prof. Ignatius Absolam whom Justice S. Mohan remembers was also my professor (no, he was a lecturer, only Presidency College had professors). He was known for his immaculate sartorial discipline, baritone voice, reading of poetry with modulation and his love for students.

I was privileged to attend some lectures of Prof. Alladi Ramakrishnan. At one of the meetings, his wife presented a dance performance. Minister C. Subramaniam was instrumental in founding of several institutions of excellence. the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Taramani, being one of them. His passion for providing higher education through Tamil medium saw many standard works in different subjects being translated and published. If that had been pursued with the same fervour, education would have reached great heights. Once convinced of the efficacy of any project, CS would pursue it till it was successfully launched.

Dr. A.R. Irrawathi was a teacher totally devoted to her subject and when she was Professor of Geography in M.K. University, she took great pains to identify the Kadamba tree mentioned in Sangam classics and developed a Kadamba forest with great passion. She took me around when I was there for a seminar. Alas, the forest was done away with to make way for concrete structures.

Dr. S.S. Rajagopalan
30, Kamarajar Street
Chennai 600 093

The Canal & famine

The chronological data given by D.H. Rao (MM, January 16th) as to when all the extensions of the Buckingham Canal were made has great significance, especially after Government took charge of the canal and its development as it seems to be correlated with famines on the east coast of India. Famines have been a recurrent feature in the Indian subcontinent, numerically the deadliest peak having been reached in late 18th and early 19th Century with as huge as 60 million deaths.

During 1877-78, the Madras Presidency suffered a terrible famine with more than six million people perishing. The Duke of Buckingham, the then Governor, ordered ‘famine relief work’. For this, the unfinished canal stretching up to 5 miles between Adyar and Cooum Rivers came in handy and the work was executed in record time by funding Rs. 3 million.

However, it should be recalled with deep anguish that the British exported 1 to 1.25 million tons of rice and some wheat during 1872-78, while some 10 million people died here due to lack of food in those famine years.

K.V.S. Krishna
kvskrishna@gmail.com

Proposal for rejuvenation

The waterways in and around Chennai, such as the Cooum and Buckingham Canal (MM, January 16th), not only provided beauty, boons and benefits like labour, and additional facilities for movement of men and material, but also helped improve groundwater level, whether the City suffered a drought or not.

The Canal once witnessed hundreds of people moving on full moon nights to Mahabalipuram and such locations on excursions and religious trips. It has now become a place discarded for all worthy purposes and stands relegated to be used for committing open nuisance. A dirty sight, indeed!

In the early part of the last century, the Cooum once experienced unprecedented heavy floods and Mount Road opposite Wallajah Junction turned into a river with water flowing upto 8 feet height during some days. It could always happen again.

Maintenance of these waterways under strict supervision should be taken care of and undertaken by the Government. The waterways lend beauty to the city and are of great utility.

‘Garland’ N. Rajagopalan ias (rtd.)
Mayur Apartment
7, 24th Cross Street
Indira Nagar
Chennai 600 020

When RKL had rivals exchanging cartoons

During my long tenure in Mumbai as Head of Business for the western region of The Hindu, I had the opportunity of striking a pleasant and memorable acquaintance with R K Laxman, the cartoonist non pareil of The Times of India, courtesy N. Ram. Occasionally I enjoyed a drink with him at some get-togethers. Humour seemed to flow naturally from every syllable he spoke!

When RKL won the prestigious Raymon Magsasay Award in 1984, the entire media, it seemed, wanted an interview with him. My editorial colleagues too had been trying in vain to get in touch with him. It was then that, out of the blue, came a call to me from our Editor-in-Chief, G. Kasturi, that I should do an interview with RKL for The Hindu. Apart from the other major centres in the South, The Hindu had a special niche in Mysore, the home of RKL! Kasturi made it clear that he wanted a crisp as well as insightful interview and that I should not indulge in vallavallappu (Tamil for ‘rambling’) copy!

At first thrilled but later a little slowed down by trepidation, I barged into the great cartoonist’s cabin at the home of ‘The Old Lady of Boribunder’ and sought an interview. After a little hesitation he agreed despite his tight schedule but suggested that we meet at his home in the evening, but with the following caveat: “No pen, no pencil, no pad, a short chat and, of course, I shall offer you a couple of rounds of Scotch.” The kind person that he was, he gave me a good part of an hour and some interesting insights into his persona.

Presumably pleased with the copy, Kasturi upgraded the proposed back-page box item into an op-ed story and had our own cartoonist do a brilliant sketch of the Common Man drawing a portrait of RKL, flashing an enigmatic smile (see illustration)! It was published in The Hindu of August 12, 1984.

Satisfied with what had been published in The Hindu (though he did not say so in as many words), RKL promised to do a sketch for one of my articles at a later date.

When the great moment arrived and I had done a piece titled ‘Changing Media Spawn New Social Values’, I called on him with the script and reminded him of his promise. He smiled and his sketch landed on my office desk the very next evening with the following lines written in his characteristic style: “Here is a piece done with mischievous abandon! It shows Zee TV, CNN, BBC and, of course, DD as the dithering victim” (see illustration).

That a Times of India celebrity should do a sketch for a Hindu staffer for his article in The Hindu speaks volumes of the magnanimity of the great RKL. His act transcended and took no cognisance of inter-media rivalry!

Of such humility is greatness made.

V. Kalidas
(vkalidas@gmail.com)