THROUGH COURTSHIP TO THE COURTROOM

Love beckoned him to the legal profession

A young man named J.D.Abraham (JDA) joined the St.John's College in Palayamkottai as a lecturer after completing his B.A. at Madras Christian College. This was in the early days of the 20th Century. The MCC was near the court building in GeorgeTown, not in Tambaram. The next year he moved to Srivilliputtur as a teacher in the CMS High School.

There he became friendly with the headmaster's son, a tall, gangling young man who was studying Law in Madras. The two friends strolled about in the evenings taking in the sights and sounds of the small town. Among the sights that appealed most to JDA were the young girls returning home after a bath in a nearby tank. They carried a lot of wet clothes they had washed, and chatted and giggled as they made their way home. One girl in particular, a fair and rather buxom character took the fancy of the young teacher.

Brothers in law

Every time they saw the young girls JDA became tongue-tied, and gawked at the passing vision. His friend who had observed this, asked him one day what ailed him. "That girl... that girl in the green saree... " JDA muttered. "The plump one ?" asked his friend. JDA nodded dumbly. "Are you interested in her?" Another nod. "You want to marry her?" JDA nodded again. "I can arrange it," said his friend. "She is my sister". JDA gaped at his friend in grateful wonder. "But there is one condition" said the brother of the girl. "You must become a lawyer. Only then will you earn enough money to keep her in style." JDA nodded again.

JDA was passionately interested in English literature and had always wanted to be a professor of English. But love pushed him into the legal profession. The marriage was fixed in no time, and after the marriage JDA went to Madras to study law. He kept making frequent trips to Srivilliputtur, unable to stay away from his young wife. No wonder he failed a couple of times before getting his B.L. degree.

His brother-in-law then asked him to start practicing in Kovilpatti since it was a fertile ground for criminal cases. The brother-in-law himself became a well known lawyer in Madurai. His name was Edwin Periyanayakam.

Danger Zone

A few days after he had moved to Kovilpatti, JDA was coming out of his house when he noticed a man with a muffler round his neck sitting near a low wall with his hand on his moustache. When he returned after about an hour the man was still there. "What are you doing here?" JDA asked him. But there was no reply. The man just sat there and stared. So the lawyer tapped him on the shoulder, whereupon the man's head rolled off and fell to the ground. Someone had murdered him and left him like that. JDA knew he had come to the right place for a career as a criminal lawyer. Murder cases kept turning up almost every day. Soon JDA had built himself a huge house for the princely sum of Rs 3000/-. That was in the year 1917. The noted brigand, Jambulingam was one of his clients, and the patriot V.O.Chidambaram Pillai was his colleague.

JDA ordered his life well. He was in court in the mornings and in the tennis court in the evenings. At 6 pm he went to the Literary Association or the Thinkers' Club. After dinner he read his favourite authors like Dickens and Mark Twain. Magazines like `Titbits' and `The Strand' came to him directly from London. When the Kovilpatti Sports Club was started in order to promote hockey, he became its first secretary. He was an avid amateur photographer. Since there was no electricity those days he had to use natural light for taking the photographs and sunlight for printing. He won several prizes in the national level for his photos. The composition of these was near perfect.

Many young boys and girls were inspired and guided by him in literature and photography. I was one of them.

J.VASANTHAN

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu

THE MONKEY TRIAL

The monkey trial

A historic event becomes a memorable film

Courtroom dramas have always fascinated me. I am an avid reader of John Grisham's novels, and I used to watch the TV series, `The Practice' without fail. Films based on true or imaginary court cases have been among my favourites right from my college days.

Films based on plays have a certain dramatic quality that grips the viewer. Agatha Christie's `Witness for the Prosecution' and the World War II drama, `Judgement at Nuremberg' come to mind. But perhaps the film that is my favourite trial drama is `Inherit the Wind'. This was produced and directed by Stanley Kramer.

Big names in a little town

The film was based on a true incident that happened in 1925 in a southern town, Dayton, Ohio. A schoolteacher was arrested and tried because he had taught Darwin's theory of evolution to his students. This was a serious crime in the eyes of the southern fundamentalists. The trial took on a great deal of importance because some very big names in the US descended on the town to participate in it. William Jennings Bryan, a two-time Presidential candidate wished to make use of this situation for his next Presidential campaign. He agreed to be the prosecutor.

On hearing this, Clarence Darrow, a legendary trial lawyer, offered to appear for the defence. H.L.Mencken, an iconoclastic journalist known all over the US, came to Dayton to cover the trial for his paper. These VIPs in turn attracted a lot of admirers and followers, and soon the trial of the schoolteacher, Scopes, became a national event. The newspapers dubbed it as `The Monkey Trial', and the name stuck.

Stanley Kramer's film, `Inherit the Wind' (1960), was based on a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E.Lee. The screen adaptation, the slick direction and the brilliant performances of some extraordinary actors makes this film a delight to watch. When I first saw it I was so taken up with it that I kept going again and again to the theatre where it was being shown. The film uses fictitious names for all the main characters and the town and adds a few imaginary additions to the actual story. The local priest's daughter is in love with Scopes, and the priest curses her for it. And then Bryan quotes the Bible to pull up the priest. "He who curses his children shall inherit the wind", which gives the title to the film.

Several brilliant actors played the main roles in engagingly contrasting styles. Spencer Tracy as Clarence Darrow is quiet and dignified coming out with pithy comments when necessary. Frederic March plays William Jennings Bryan with flamboyant mannerisms and fluctuating emotional peaks and depths. The acid tongued H.L.Mencken is played by Gene Kelly who usually appears in musicals, being a terrific tap dancer and a choreographer.

When Tracy (Darrow) arrives at the small town, Kelly (Mencken) is there to receive him at the station. "Hello Devil, welcome to hell" he says. Darrow and Bryan pit their wits against each other in a thrilling duel of intellect and legal expertise. Darrow puts Bryan on the witness stand and there is a theological debate that adds to the dramatic content. Bryan mocks Darwin's theory complaining that it had man descend "Not even from American monkeys, but Old World monkeys". The judge permits the lawyers and others to remove their jackets and loosen their ties as the heat is almost unbearable. Small cardboard hand fans are distributed to everyone in the court.

Finally the trial is shifted to the Tennessee Supreme Court. A few days later Bryan dies of a heart attack. Darrow goes to Bryan's quarters to pay his last respects. Mencken is also there. And when he sees Darrow, he makes a flippant comment about Bryan's death. Darrow looks at him steadily and says, "One doesn't have to believe in God, but one must have faith in something. One who doesn't have faith in anything is just a slob. You are a slob". And then he walks off as Mencken wears a bewildered look on his face. The film ends on this note. `Inherit the Wind' is a tour de force of acting and direction touches, which makes a lasting impact on the viewer.

J.VASANTHAN

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu

REMEMBERING M. K. T.

Remembering M.K.T.

A forgotten superstar

According to a newspaper report published recently, the famous singer and film star, M.K.Thyagaraja Bhagavathar is no longer remembered even in his hometown. This goes to show how fickle fame could be and how short the public memory.

Blind love

I still remember the days when MKT bestrode the Tamil film world like a colossus. He was a great romantic hero and a heartthrob among female fans. In Ashok Kumar (1941) he is blind for about half the film and then he regains his sight miraculously. Towards the end of the film, the hero disgusted with the events he sees around him says, "I would rather not have eyes to see all this". And then he attempts to put out his eyes by thrusting two spears into them. The moment he did this a number of women in the theatre screamed and broke into sobs. Anyway, nothing happened to his eyes since there was another divine intervention, and presumably the lovers lived happily ever after.

MKT's singing voice had a timbre that was unique, and he enunciated the words with a clarity that made the song very attractive. Most of his films had music by Papanasam Sivan. The tunes were simple, with a minimum of background music. Most filmgoers were able to hum these tunes when they came out of the theatre. The later films of MKT had music by G.Ramanathan and K.V.Mahadevan.

Haridas (1944) ran continuously for nearly three years. His other hits included Chintamani (37), Thiruneelakandar (39) and Sivakavi (43). All the songs in these films became very famous.

Star crossed lovers

I saw many of the MKT films in a touring theatre (Paai Kottagai) in our town. One of my favourites was Ambikapathy (1937). In it MKT plays a sensitive and gentle young man, the son of the great poet Kambar. He falls in love with Amaravathi, the daughter of the Chola king, Kulothungan. Amaravathi was played by Santhanalakshmi, a plain looking actress with no sex appeal whatsoever. The dialogue was quaint and outdated. (Praana Naadha!), and yet there was a tenderness in the love scenes that tugged at one's heartstrings.

A later version of Ambikapathy had a heavy-jowled , overacting hero with a paunch and a buxom and saucy heroine romping about in the midday sun, eyes crinkling in the glare, and pretending it was moonlight. Compared to this, MKT's Ambikapathy was a technically well made film. Later I came to know that the director, Ellis R.Dungan had been heavily influenced by George Cukor's 1936 version of Romeo and Juliet. There is a balcony scene in Ambikapathy too. The duet "Chandra sooriyar poam gathi maarinum veezhinum namakkenna" is a high point in the romance. The lovers sit on a moonlit beach with the waves glinting in the background and sing in gentle melodic stretches.

There was one scene that had the elements of an old detective story. Ambikapathy goes to the palace to attend a function. According to the custom those days, he smears a lot of sandal paste on his bare chest. The princess gestures to him to come upstairs. Though hesitant at first, Ambikapathy goes up unable to resist the call of love. The king, who has been observing this, calls Kambar and takes him upstairs where the young lovers are discovered. "They must have been just talking" says Kambar. The king then points to the patches of sandal paste on Amaravathi's cheek - a result of her resting her head on Ambikapathy's chest. Eventually Ambigapathy is sent to his death and Amaravathi follows him out of this world.

I watched this film as a small boy and I noticed a number of women coming out of the theatre with tears streaming down their cheeks, weeping unabashedly. Today's audiences seldom react this way. And that perhaps is the reason why MKT has been forgotten.

J.VASANTHAN

(e-mail: jvasanthan@sancharnet.in)

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu

BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK

Bad day at Black Rock

A film classic remembered

I first saw the film `Bad Day at Black Rock' in 1957. Since then I have seen it innumerable times. It never palls on one.

No trains usually stop at Black Rock, a sleepy and isolated hamlet. But one day a train stops, and a one-armed war veteran gets off it to everyone's surprise. He is greeted with hostility by the townsfolk. Obviously there is some skeleton in their cupboard, and so outsiders are not welcome.

The lonely stranger

Macready (Spencer Tracy) whose empty left sleeve is tucked into the coat pocket, walks to the only hotel in town. The clerk says there is no room. But Macready pulls the register closer and finds that all the rooms are vacant. He writes his name in the register, and goes up to his room.

Later he enquires about a Japanese-American man he has come to see. Everyone freezes, and no response is forthcoming. From then on a group of thugs try to scare him off the town. He doesn't react to their taunts and provocations, but quietly goes about the business of finding that Japanese. All efforts of the tough guys to drive him off are in vain.

No one dares to help him. The sheriff is a frightened man who closes his eyes to all that goes on and drowns his sorrows in drink. When Macready tries to send a telegram to the police the telegraph clerk hands over the message to the boss of the tough gang. When he tries to hire a car, the car engine is damaged by one of the gang (Lee Marvin). Finally he manages to hire a jeep from a garage further off , and goes looking for the Japanese who owned a farm in the outskirts of the town.

The farm is deserted. The buildings have been demolished. Then Macready spots a kind of grass that grows on graves only. So he guesses that the Japanese has been killed. While returning to town one of the thugs in a car drives him off the road into a ditch. But Macready manages to reach the town, and when he tells them what he has found, the hostility increases.

The boss (Robert Ryan) tells his henchmen that the one-armed veteran should not go back alive. Fortunately for Macready one man in the town (Walter Brennan) becomes friendly and tries to help him. And Macready tells him why he came to see the Japanese. The Japanese man's son was a soldier in Macready's unit, and he had saved Macready's life, and died in the process. Macready had lost his arm in the same incident. Later he had been given a medal for bravery. And he had wanted to present the medal to the father of the boy. When this is known in the town there is a change of heart in one man who tells Macready how the gang had gone to attack the Japanese. They had set fire to his house, and when he came out the boss of the gang had shot him dead. This was just to appropriate the farm, but the reason they give is a patriotic desire to eliminate the enemy.

Brilliant technique

Macready now intent on leaving town gets a jeep and goes off. But the gang leader is waiting for him on a hillock, and starts firing at the car. Then Macready uses an ingenious ruse. He gets some petrol from the car in a bottle, tears his tie and puts it in the bottle, lights it and throws the bottle at the villain. The bottle hits a rock and explodes setting the villain ablaze.

When the film was first released, it was hailed as "a superior example of motion picture craftsmanship". The film was noted for dramatic unity, and an economy of word and action.

The whole story takes place in twenty four hours.

The director, John Sturges, was an expert in composing the shots. He used the technique of some Renaissance painters, forming triangles in the composition which made the scene dramatic. He maintained a crisp pace with never a dull moment.

The fight between Macready and a tough guy (Ernest Borgnine) is thrilling beyond words. The one-armed old man gets the better of the thug, using the tactics he had learnt in hand to hand combat. This is one of the electrifying scenes in the film. Borgnine is very good as the plug-ugly.

Spencer Tracy is one of the greatest actors ever. He was a natural actor who underplayed his roles to telling effect. Many actors used to go to him for advice about acting. Tracy would say, "Just know the lines and don't bump into the furniture".

The film takes you on a great and exciting ride - without any bumps.

J.VASANTHAN

(e-mail: jvasanthan@sancharnet.in)

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu

SHANKAR'S WEEKLY

On a cartoonist and his magazine From the time I started having my cartoons published in magazines, my great desire was to be published in Shankar's Weekly. There was a certain prestige attached to being a cartoonist in this magazine, though the payment was low when compared to other magazines. Somehow I didn't have the courage to try, since I was allergic to rejection slips. So I published my cartoons in Filmfare, Star & Style, Debonair, Film Mirror, Sportsweek and some other such journals. Shankar's Weekly was a distant dream. Nehru's Favourite Shankar, the famous cartoonist, had started this magazine more or less on the lines of the British magazine, Punch. Shankar's Weekly was perhaps the only magazine in India fully devoted to cartoons and humorous articles. Shankar's cartoons appeared in this weekly and were much appreciated by top leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru was a very hard working Prime Minister, labouring nearly twenty hours a day. Eventually he took a much-needed vacation. He went to Thekkady for a week of relaxation. At that time Shankar drew a cartoon in his weekly that seemed to say that there could be no rest for the PM. As Nehru drifted along in a boat, all the wild animals in Thekkady were depicted as the various agitations and political dilemmas that Nehru had to face. Nehru liked this cartoon so much that he asked for the original and had it preserved. Many top Indian cartoonists had their start in Shankars's Weekly before moving on to more lucrative berths in other magazines. The fact that they were in Shankar's Weekly seemed to throw open doors for them. After drawing and destroying a number of cartoons, I finally sent a set to Shankar's Weekly. To my delighted surprise all of them were accepted. A few days later I got a letter from the magazine asking me whether I would be interested in drawing regularly for them. Three cartoons a week was the contract fixed. I accepted, and from then on until the magazine closed down, I had three cartoons of mine in the weekly. Not favoured by Indira Gandhi After Indira Gandhi declared Emergency in India, many cartoonists were in peril. When government told Shankar that some cartoonists in his magazine will be proceeded against, I was in jitters, since I too had lampooned Mrs.Gandhi in three or four cartoons. But Shankar talked to Mrs Gandhi personally and assured her that he would close down the magazine and requested her not to harm any cartoonist. So we were let off the hook. This was possible only because of the respect Shankar commanded in the Nehru family. This brought out the qualities of Shankar that made him a good human being. He put the welfare of those who worked for him before the survival of his magazine. A few days later I got a letter personally signed by Shankar explaining the circumstances under which the magazine had been closed down, and promising to pay all the arrears due to the contributors. Sure enough, I got a cheque within a couple of weeks. Later, when Shankar passed away, the Madurai station of the All India Radio wished to interview me about Shankar and his weekly. I told them whatever I knew of the cartoonist and his work. It was also a tribute to a good human being. Even today I feel a sense of pride over my association with Shankar's Weekly. J.VASANTHAN Date:25/11/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2006/11/25/stories/2006112500200300.htm

THE CAT AND MOUSE GAME

In praise of a rib-tickling cartoon series Joseph Barbera, one of the two creators of the cartoon series, Tom & Jerry, passed away last month at the age of 95. The other member of the duo, William Hanna, died in 2001 aged 90. One is likely to feel perhaps that these two lived to a very ripe old age because of their actively imaginative minds or perhaps their wild and wacky sense of humour. Whatever the reason, these two did make several generations of viewers laugh and guffaw helplessly as the cat and the mouse tickled their ribs repeatedly. Hanna and Barbera also created The Flintstones and Scooby Doo. These are funny too, but the Tom & Jerry fans place the cat and mouse well above the dog or the Stone Age man. Masterly inventiveness I first saw a Tom and Jerry cartoon in the early 50's. And since then I have been an avid fan. Even today I prefer watching a Tom & Jerry caper to the melodramatic TV serials or the fast-motion gyrations of the film hero and heroine, not to mention the thirty or forty "dancers" accompanying them in wild abandon. They are also funny in a way, but for all the wrong reasons. Tom & Jerry cartoons are not only hilariously funny, but also demonstrate a highly skilled approach to the medium. All these cartoons are not of uniform merit. The earlier cartoons produced by Fred Quimby and directed by Hanna and Barbera seem to be the best. An outstanding feature in these cartoons was the bouncy music of Scott Bradley. Later Chuck Jones started directing these shorts with music by Eugene Poddany. These were not as good as the older ones. After this came a series directed by Gene Deitch, where laughter was almost non-existent. I have a good collection of the Fred Quimby films in CDs and cassettes. Watching them frequently makes one see certain factors in the cartoons that attract one to them. The main theme in all these films is the underdog getting the better of a more powerful adversary. Since the audience sympathy is with the weaker of the two, we enjoy seeing Jerry the mouse overcoming Tom the cat. Jerry manages this with ingenious tricks and a brash cheekiness. The warmth of friendship Sometimes Jerry is helped by some friends whom he helps in return. In `The Flying Cat' a little bird helps Jerry. In `The Bodyguard' it is a bulldog called Butch. "If you need me, just whistle" says the dog, and Jerry spends most of his time whistling and getting Tom into trouble. Jerry's cousin who is a tough character comes to his rescue in `Jerry's Cousin'. A baby elephant helps too. Sometimes Tom and Jerry help each other against a common adversary. All this mutual help evokes a warm feeling in the audience. The ending of the film is like a wish fulfilment for the viewer. The Fred Quimby productions were very high in technical values. The drawing, the animation, the sound effects and the music - all blended beautifully to create masterpieces. They won seven Oscars. Perhaps the greatest of these films is `Cat Concerto'. It is a work of genius that won an Oscar. Tom is a pianist giving a solo recital. The way he bows to the audience, his eyebrows going up and eyelids drooping superciliously prefaces the fun to come. He starts playing a classical piece, Hungarian Rhapsody. Jerry having a nap inside the piano is disturbed, and decides to wreck the performance. What follows is a hilarious alternation of classical and pop music. In the end, an exhausted Tom collapses on the keyboard, while Jerry quickly dons a dark coat and takes a bow. The great inventiveness of this film lies in the way in which a well known piece of classical music is given a twist to suit Jerry's mischief. My wife and I sit and watch Tom & Jerry as often as we can. Sometimes visitors observing our pastime wear a quizzical look as if wondering what two senior citizens are up to watching kid stuff. But we go on as usual even at the risk of being dubbed juvenile. J.VASANTHAN (e-mail: jvasanthan@sancharnet.in) Date:13/01/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2007/01/13/stories/2007011300380400.htm

CHILDHOOD GAMES

There was a wide variety of games for children to play those days Those days, many many years ago when I was a small boy, there was a lot of open space for us to play in. Close to our house in Kovilpatti there was a huge maidan where the boys of our street played football and hockey. Wide open spaces for playing Every house in the street had a huge compound where also we could play games like tennikoit, kabadi (called chadugudu those days), marbles and hide and seek. We also used the road which was usually deserted except for an occasional bicycle. Motorbikes and scooters were unheard of. And there were only two cars in our town which plied in a different area far away from ours. On the road we played games like chillaankuchi and kambuthenni. Chillaankuchi was a game that had a slight resemblance to cricket. A short stick was used to hit a small piece of wood. There were fielders who could catch it and declare the hitter out. There was something like running between wickets and scoring runs. But it was a native game and much older than cricket in our area. In kambuthenni all the players used sticks that were about four feet long. Lots were drawn and the loser had to lay down his stick. The others had to push it along with their sticks while the boy with the grounded stick tried to touch them. The players had to touch some stone or rock with their sticks to become immune. The technique was to approach the stick from two or three sides to make it easier to dodge the boy. When he has succeeded in touching someone, he will have to bring the stick back to base without drawing his breath - somewhat as in kabadi. On moonlit nights we played games like hide and seek, or guess what. In the latter game things were divided into six sections - man, woman, child, animal, vegetable and mineral. By asking a series of questions one was supposed to guess what had been thought of by the group. This was the only game in which girls were allowed to join us, and they did very well too. The girls played some games among themselves. These included skipping, pallaanguli and a game called paandi, which involved a lot of hopping on one foot. For windy and rainy days Sometimes we played with clockwork toys like a somersaulting motorcycle. Every time there was a heavy rain many ponds formed in our neighbourhood. We used these for sailing our paper boats. My grandfather once bought me a very beautiful clockwork motor boat. Immediately after the rains stopped we took this boat to the ponds. The boat had a propeller and a rudder, and when we plied the boat in the ponds, many local people gathered to watch. We also utilized the rains for `bathing'. We stood under the cascade falling from the roof. My child-like grandmother also romped about with us in the rain watched by her adoring spouse. On windy days it was kite flying. We made our own kites which rarely flew steadily, but that was part of the fun. The indoor games we played included carom, snakes and ladders and a card game called literature, which was meant to improve one's memory and thinking ability. Once when I was about four or five years old my grandfather challenged me to a game of marbles. He couldn't squat like I could, but stood bent double and played. He groaned and grunted, but played on gamely till the end. I won, and thought at that time that I had really won. Later I realized that he must have deliberately lost just to make me feel good. When I think back upon that time, I am struck by the wide variety of games that we played. They were of all types, and tested various skills in us and paved the way for healthy competition and general camaraderie. The only game that we did not play, and never thought of playing was cricket. Well, times certainly seem to have changed! J.VASANTHAN jvasanthan@sancharnet.in Date:10/02/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2007/02/10/stories/2007021000470400.htm

REMEMBERING Dr. T V V

A multifaceted model for youngsters to emulate Sometime in 1986 I was on the lookout for a house on the ground floor, since my physician had advised me to avoid climbing stairs, following a heart problem. I was told that there was a house available for rent owned by Dr.T.V.Venkatesan, and situated just adjacent to the house where he lived. I had heard a lot about Dr.TVV. He was an eminent dermatologist, and a pioneering one in Madurai. He had won many accolades not only in his profession but also in the clubs he belonged to. He was the District Governor of the Lions Club and during his tenure his district stood second in the entire world in membership growth. He was an important member of the Madura College Board. Later, I heard that he had missed the President's Award by a whisker. A quiz contest So I approached him with some awe and trepidation, wondering whether he would give his house to a non-vegetarian. But my fears vanished because of the warmth with which he greeted me. When he heard that I was a professor of English, the conversation took an entirely different turn. " `To be or not to be, that's the question' who said that?" the doctor asked. "Hamlet" I answered. "All the world's a stage"? "Jaques in `As You Like It' " I said. And for the next half an hour the Shakespeare quiz went on. The doctor didn't ask me whether I was a vegetarian or not, whether I belonged to this religion or that. He didn't ask me how many people were there in my family - the usual questions that landlords ask prospective tenants. But with the doctor it was Shakespeare all the way. And thanks to the Bard, I was given the key to the house straightaway. When we moved into the house — No.21, Jawahar Road- Dr.TVV was there to welcome us. And later he periodically visited us for a chat. During one of these visits he showed me a photograph of himself as Mark Antony striking a dramatic pose. He had done this bit of mono-acting, delivering Antony's oration, in club meetings. I was surprised by his zeal in playing these roles - something surprising in a medical practitioner. Later, I heard that in a conversation with someone close to him, he had said, "Whenever I do anything, I totally surrender myself to it. There may be some in the audience who joke and laugh about me later, though they applaud while I perform. But I don't care. They are the Roman mob, more to be pitied than condemned. Medicine is my profession, but all the other things - Lionism, education and acting - are my escapisms." Unfortunately I never had an opportunity of seeing Dr.TVV perform. Folk tales But, I heard him narrating folk tales with great gusto. Those days I used to go for walks in the Race Course. Sometimes Dr.TVV joined me for a short round. On these occasions he told me some tale or the other. The one he seemed to like very much was about a man who had new trousers made, and found that they were three inches too long. He asks his wife to reduce the length by three inches. She excuses herself saying that she is too busy. Next he asks his sister; and she too declines giving some lame excuse. Then he asks his mother, and she too backs off. Later that night when everyone sleeps, the wife feeling bad about dodging the job, takes the trousers and cuts off three inches. After awhile the sister does the same, and then the mother. When the man tries it on the next morning it comes down just to his knees. The doctor called this "operation without cooperation". At home, while at dinner, the doctor regaled his family with witty conversation about sports, education, politics etc. He also organized contests for them and awarded prizes. He joked and laughed and played with his children, grandchildren and other young relatives, thereby giving them a healthy view of life to be lived with joy. The doctor often said that he would like to die with his boots on - right in the midst of working. And so it happened. On 1st December, 1994, he attended on a patient and then was getting ready to go for a Board meeting in a college when he had a seizure and passed away within a couple of hours. He was 78. J.VASANTHAN (jvasanthan@sancharnet.in) Date:24/02/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2007/02/24/stories/2007022400290300.htm