Chennai Corner

(November, 10, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) While the Kalaingar was in the eye of a political storm over a "poem" eulogising outlawed LTTE's political wing leader SP. Tamilchelvan, there was also some Hindi doggerel that he had been busy reciting in public recently.

By: Pushpa Iyengar

Gold Nuggets
Growing up in Kolar Gold Fields, technically part of Karnataka, had its benefits because one got more than a nodding acquaintance of three languages--Tamil, Kannada and Telugu--because this gold mining town was on the borders of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. But Tamil dominated because that was the working language of the miners--so Tamil films (back then MGR, who went on to found the AIADMK, was the reigning God) were in, as was Tamil film music. Hindi was a strict no-no. So when Tamil Nadu vociferously showed Hindi the door in the late 60s, St Joseph's Convent, where we learnt Hindi as a second language also had "strikers" marching to its gates shouting, "Down, Down Hindi!" Much water has flowed down the Cooum since then and Hindi is not such an alien language, although if you want to whisper secrets, it is still the safe language to do it in.

Kalaingar, the Hindi poet?
While saas-bahu serials have captured the imagination, cutting a swathe across India, Tamil Nadu continues to keep Ekta Kapoor out although her regressive ideas have their Tamil clones on the proliferating Tamil channels on air. Dravidian parties continue to view Hindi with disdain, which is why the BJP, seen as a North Indian party, is still struggling to find a foothold in a land made famous by Thiruvalluvar and Subramanya Bharathiar. So it came as a surprise when "Kalaingar"--the title bestowed on Karunanidhi--spouted Hindi doggerel even as he was underlining DMK's agenda which saw Ravan as more of a hero than Ram:

"Hindustan hai desh hamaaraa,
Jaan se apnii humko pyaara.
Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isaai
Aapas main hain bhai bhai.
Bhai hoga bhai hamara
Aisa hoga chalan hamara

(India is our country and we love it more than life. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians are all brothers. Brothers will be brothers, such will be our conduct.)

For a leader who cut his teeth on anti-Hindi agitation and politics, Karunanidhi sure seems to have come full circle to use Hindi to further his Sethusamudram agenda to build a channel there. It is a different matter altogether that it was yet another "poem" eulogising outlawed LTTE's political wing leader S.P. Tamilchelvan that hogged all the headlines.

Hagiography In Verse
If Kalaingar is a poet, is it any wonder that a hagiography on him is also set in verse? The biography, Kalaingar Kaavium, by popular lyricist Valli, has been set to the accompaniment of music. The CD with Valli's verses are a compilation of select verses that he had written on different occasions on different aspects of the Kalaingar's life. "It was published as a book a few years ago and I have selected necessary verses for a CD," he says. The biography recorded on two CDs runs into 23 chapters and runs into two hours eulogizing the chief minister. Interestingly satirist Cho Ramaswamy -- editor of Tuglaq, who is one of the severest of critics of Karunanidhi -- has written the introduction to the book.

Our own Doogie Howser
Remember Dr K Murugesan and his wife Dr Gandhimathi? They gave new meaning to Tamil Nadu's claim to being a medical tourism hub when they let their 15-year-old son, Dileepan Raj, perform a Ceasarean surgery at their clinic in Manapparai a few months ago. Well, the license to practice of this couple was suspended. "The council will temporarily erase both their names from the register. They cannot practice until they get a clearance from the council," said Dr K Prakasam, president, Tamil Nadu Medical Council.Legal orders are still awaited in the criminal charges that have been filed.

But my big question is that if the couple had not paraded their son's exploits to get him into the Guinness Book of Records, would they have been found out? More importantly, would anyone dare take such action if not for the fact that the collective conscience of the community was roused thanks to media reports? Already, we know that a member of the Indian Medical Council watched the video of Dileepan conducting the surgery -- but he did nothing. In fact, the video was screened at the local unit meeting of the IMA.

Kidneyvakkam
Sometimes other doctors find their own brethren difficult to understand. "Can you wear two shirts, two pairs of designer trousers by earning money preying off people?" asks Dr Arjundas, who has built up a formidable practice in neurology that makes him a reference point in that branch of medicine in Chennai. "I am very very angry that some doctors think that owning the latest BWW is what makes them good doctors," he says. But for every Arjundas, there's a Dr Palani Ravichandran and the likes of him who are responsible for a suburb in Chennai being renamed Kidneyvakkam because of a flourishing kidney racket in Villivakkam some years ago. What is really tragic is that the area of operation is not just confined to Chennai but spreads all the way to the Gulf and South East Asian countries. Those that were ravaged by the tsunami in 2004 found they had to part with their kidneys because government help was inadequate and slow in coming. And their poverty forced them to sell their kidneys for as little as Rs 25000. Since the racket won't stop someone should at least do a campaign educating people that a doctor like Ravichandran charges in the range of Rs 15-25 lakh per kidney transplant.

(Out Look India)