At the suggestion of
some of my well-meaning friends, I am pleased to take a look back over the years
and share with you in this blog some interesting incidents in my life. Some of them throw light on the benign as also
the surly side of human beings, when they face unexpected situations. I present them in their true colours without
any exaggeration or play-down. The
incidents are not in chronological order.
Here I go.
ONE IN A MILLION
(By Subbaram Danda)
K. Kamaraj was the Chief
Minister of Tamil Nadu. It was election
time. I was a journalist in the Indian
Express. I was assigned to accompany the
Chief Minister in his campaign trail in the state and report.
At that time, there were only three English
newspapers published from Chennai, then called Madras. The two other dailies were The Hindu, a
morninger, and The Mail, an eveninger.
Of course, there were some Tamil newspapers. Correspondents representing the national press
were also based in the city. Television
was yet to enter the scene.
The Hindu also deputed
a journalist for the election tour. We
were in the Chief Minister’s convoy, a very short one unlike in the present
days. Kamaraj’s personal aide Vairavan
was instructed to take care of our requirements.
What impressed us most
was that the Chief Minister himself would come to our place of stay every
morning and make personal enquiries about us, particularly our food,
accommodation and facilities to transmit our reports. They were the days when we had to go to the
post office to file press telegrams or make trunk calls to our offices. Certainly, what the Chief Minister was doing
was far beyond a Public Relations job.
On our return we were
in for more surprises. It was
afternoon. We were travelling in the Chief
Minister’s Ambassador car. Next to the
driver was Vairavan. In the rear row, I
was behind the driver. Next to me was
the Chief Minister and next to him on the other end was The Hindu man.
We expressed a desire
to get down at a convenient point on Mount Road (now Anna Salai) at Saidapet,
instead of going to the Chief Minister’s residence in T. Nagar with him. This would enable us to easily get into a
bus heading towards our offices.
The car stopped. And I was about to open the door on the road
side as I was sure traffic on the road would have been cleared in view of the
Chief Minister’s arrival and also I did not want to disturb him sitting in the
centre. But to my great astonishment, he
pulled me back and said, “Don’t do that.
It is wrong.” He waited till The
Hindu man got out on the kerb side, then he stepped out of the car and made way
for me. I was stupefied.
Certainly, I cannot
forget the sheer humility and profound leadership traits of a great person –
Kamaraj.
(RECOLLECTIONS will continue)
January 01, 2018
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