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his happened 2 months ago
and I was meaning to write about it since, but procrastination is a habit. It
was a lazy Sunday and I had little to do all day but laundry and taking out the
trash. To top it, I was nursing a sore throat since 2 days and the medicine had
made me groggy and had left me starved. As evening neared I decided to get
something to eat, but just like that ended up in Anna Square, a place far from
where I live. I got off at the Chepauk Station when my eyes caught the sea
while I was on the train. I knew from a previous trip that the rear gate of the
station would lead me to the cricket stadium and I had to walk a bit from there
to get to anywhere, so I left from the front gate and walked past a line of
Government Offices, which I later learned were the offices of the PWD. When I
exited the archway, I once entered the famous Kamarajar Promenade, the road
that runs parallel to the Marina.
I realised that I was
getting hungrier and was in lookout for a hotel as I continued to follow a mob
of people and moved where they were heading. In a distance I happened to notice
a white marble structure of what I know too well to be the symbol of the ruling
party of Tamil Nadu State- the AIADMK’s ‘two leaves’. On nearing it I got a
full view of the ‘two leaves’ and the horse Pegasus. I began to remember that a
colleague of mine had once told me that the resting places of AIADMK’s founder
Dr. M.G. Ramachandran and former chief minister of Tamil Nadu C.N. Annadurai
were around this area. Located on the sea front of the Marina, the breeze hit
my face as I entered the monument. Politics aside, the grandeur of the place
took me by awe. I first entered the MGR Memorial and moved towards the tomb of
MGR. The crowd was enormous that day. I moved around the place appreciating the
architecture of the facade and could not help but glance the sea every now and
then. Next, I went to the museum by the side of the façade where artefacts and
pictures of MGR are on display, with a queue of people viewing them with
interest and what I realised, an unusual reverence. I too moved with the queue
observing quietly. Only later was I told by a friend that the birth anniversary
of Dr. MGR was the day before and that was the actual reason for the large
crowd. A pathway connects the MGR Memorial to the Anna Square, the tomb of C.N
Annadurai. There is much similarity between the structures and a similar museum
is also there by its side. Once again I moved quietly in the line at the
museum, wishing that I had brought a Tamil friend along to translate what was
written.
What amazes me is how the
two historic figures draw people even today. A closer observation of the
pictures on display needs no translation, these men worked for the upliftment
of their people, the hardships they endure and lastly their selflessness and we
can draw strong parallelism of their live’s work with so many others in India.
I think history demands that we learn a bit more about such leaders. These
regional leaders have clearly transcended the boundaries of their state, so
much that even a Kannadiga (that’s me), was appreciative of the place and what
it had to tell. A stone inscription with ‘Duty, Dignity, Discipline’ etched on
it, with Annadurai’s signature below, particularly caught my attention and it
tells how and for what the man lived and worked. People of all kinds were there
that day and I do not know how many really understood what was there in those
museums, but anyway they had come and that says a lot.
Next time I want to take a
Tamil friend with me and I hope he/ she can bear with me and explain what is
written in Tamil. I am just a little curious whether my respect can be
justified or not. I later walked for a while on the Kamarajar Promenade,
passing by the Presidency College which faces the sea. As it was getting dark
and since the weekend crowd was enormous and also since I lacked company I
decided not to go to the beach. I boarded the train again and grabbed some food
at last. I think it was the delirium from all the medicine I was taking that
made me go all the way till the beach that day. It was highly unusual, but
worth it.
