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MY TAMIL NADU CONNECTION AND ADMIRATION FOR PERIYAR

By P.T. Bopanna

I am sure many of those who know me will be surprised to learn that I was born in Tamil Nadu. I was born at Gudlurmalai in Nilgiri district in Tamil Nadu. My mother had gone to her sister’s place (Maneyapanda Ruby Ganapathy) for her delivery.

In 1960s, mostly Tamil language movies were screened in the cinema theatres in Kodagu because Kannada film industry was in its infancy. Though MGR was the darling of Tamil estate workers in Kodagu, I liked Shivaji Ganeshan (Nadigara Tilakam).

Since I went to Madras (Chennai) for college education, my fascination for Tamil culture and Dravidian ideology took deep roots. It was around that time, the Dravidian ideology peaked and DMK swept to power.

I was influenced by the thoughts of Periyar (in picture), architect of Dravidian politics, and champion of self-respect movement. He was a rationalist and fought for equality among marginalised communities.

I was an admirer of C.N. Annadurai, a follower of Periyar and first DMK chief minister of Tamil Nadu. Annadurai was highly qualified and was a down-to-earth person. He was not crafty like his successor M. Karunanidhi.

I am not sure whether I should be mentioning it here. Once a reporter asked Annadurai, regarding rumours of his romantic links with famous film actress Bhanumathi. Annadurai is reported to have replied: “Bhanumathi is not a virgin and I am not a saint.”

Unfortunately, Annadurai’s chief ministership did not last long because he was diagnosed with cancer and passed away soon after as he did not respond to treatment he received in the United States.  

I enjoyed Karunanidhi’s oratory and I even used to try to mimic him, as I had picked up Tamil, and could easily converse in the language.

It will be of interest to note that my mother tongue Kodava Thakk is a Dravidian language which descended from Proto-Dravidian language, which is around 4,500 years old.

Though I am sad that Karunanidhi’s son Stalin lost the recent Tamil Nadu election, he has taken it in stride. Dravidian ideology is strong and it cannot be decimated by the loss of power which is momentary.