Chapter 3
You may know of ‘Hitler’ Gurusamy. You better say that you do, Or there might be doubts as to your Tamil ancestry! Why is his name prefixed with ‘Hitler’? You may well ask. But you won’t get an answer. No one quite remembers why. It’s futile to ask when even Gurasamy doesn’t know how that prefix came about.
Let’s not list of the services that Gurusamy has rendered to Tamil and Tamil Nadu. If I list those, you may want to erect a statue of him in an unseen corner of town. He has lived a life dedicated to public services. He discovered the delights of the Tamil language when he was two. He made the sacrifice of pulling his finger out of his mouth to utter the sweet Tamil words - ‘Amma’ and ‘Appa’. After a couple of years, he graduated to learning ‘a’ ‘aa’, ‘e’ ‘ee’ etc. He loved these alphabets so much that he spent several years learning them. He also proved his love for Tamil by failing in English for four years in a row in his school final exams.
Upon recommendation from a prominent personality, he got a clerical job in a government office. One day, he overdosed on the sweet nectar of Tamil, and felt a bit drowsy. His eyes closed, and head swayed. The narrow-minded supervisor who came along thought he had fallen asleep, and dismissed him from the job. This was among the many sacrifices Gurusamy made for Tamil.
He toured the Tamil region, looking for work. You can’t travel around Tamil Nadu without visiting its temples. He felt a rage build within him as he traversed these temples. He’d heard the slogan, ‘Tamil Nadu is for Tamils’. By that logic, shouldn’t the temples of Tamil Nadu be for Tamil Gods? Tamil Gods were not to be found in those temples. Shiva is from Mount Kailash, and hence North Indian! His wife Parvathi is no different, being Himavan’s daughter! Lord Ganesh and Muruga are offsprings of the Aryans Gods! Not to mention Perumal - just listen to the name ‘Vishnu!”. Does that sound Tamil? All His incarnations were in the North - Rama, Krishna and Narasimha. There is one Dravida God - Hanuman, but he seems to be the stooge of an Aryan God as well!
‘Isn’t this a disgrace?’, he asked himself. ‘How can the Tamils live this down? The only way to redeem ourselves is to remove all these Aryan Gods from our temples. We should send away all these Gods - Shiva, Parvathi, Vishnu, Bhudevi, Sridevi, Rama, Krishna, Nataraja and Dakshinamurthy and replace them with native Gods - Irulan, Sangili Karuppan, Pethannan, Pavadai Rayan and Vazhi Marichan!’
“But who will bell the cat? The Tamilians won’t do this, or support anyone who attempts this. Spineless cowards! How do I drum up support for this cause? Ah, I got it. Gandhi has shown the way - fasting unto death! That should drive some sense into these insensate masses!”
As soon as this thought occurred to him, he proclaimed via a press release, “I’m going to fast until all Aryan Gods are evicted from our temples. I won’t eat until they apologize for illegally occupying our temples. I swear upon the village Gods Veeran, Irulan and Katteri!”
A few brave people rushed to support him. “Victory to Gurusamy”, they chanted. They rented a multi-story house in Chennai for him to move into. They brainstormed on ways to ensure his success in this critical mission. They decided to start a ‘Hitler Gurusamy Hunger Strike Trust Fund’.
News of Gurusamy’s hunger strike spread like wildfire. It awakened the alert masses. It also lulled the sleepy masses into deeper slumber. It was all the rage among the candidates for that year’s assembly elections.
To fully appreciate how sensational this was, you need to understand the political set up of that time. The Congress Party was ruling the province. It had been four years since Provincial self-rule had come into effect. The next elections were due. All parties in opposition were debating if they should contest against Congress, and if so, under what pretext.
For them, this development came at a good time. All those opponents sent their forces to collect funds for the Hitler Gurusamy Hunger Strike Trust. They also sent people to protect the fundraisers from any interference from the Congressmen.
A week or so after the start of the fast, one of the newspapers supporting the opposition ran the following story.
A son of Tamil Nadu is on hunger strike! He’s been fasting for a week, but his courage hasn’t flagged. His health is still robust. He has retained his body weight. But these Congress ministers are mute witnesses. If Gandhi, Jawaharlal or Subash Bose had undertaken a fast, they would have rushed to respond. What do they care about Gurusamy, the scion of Tamil Nadu! They’re gladly letting him starve!
You insensate Tamil masses, how long are you going to put up with such Aryan domination?
The outcry from the newspaper didn’t go unheard. People assembled around the residences of the provincial ministers and started shouting, “Long Live Hitler Gurusamy!” and “Down with the Aryan Gods!”.
The Gods didn’t budge. Nor did the Congress ministers!
Chapter 4
As Susheela followed Gurusamy’s hunger strike. her admiration for him grew. “What a man! How brave he must be to forsake food! I wonder what he looks like! I wonder if he is eloquent!”, she thought, as she built castles in the air.
Days rolled on. It was twenty days after the start of the hunger strike. Susheela couldn’t bear to stay in Tirunelveli anymore. ‘What is the point of living if I can’t go see this principled man?’, she thought. Gomathiappar, who never saw a revolt that he didn’t like, bade her goodbye, and sent her on her way.
Alas, she reached Chennai without any incidents along the way!
News of her impending arrival had reached Chennai. It caused some anxiety in Hitler Gurusamy’s headquarters. Gurusamy wanted to go to the train station to receive her. His support staff begged him not to do that, and offered to go on his behalf. He reluctantly agreed.
As soon as she stepped inside the house, the words, “Where is he?” rushed out of the depths of her heart. On hearing, "He's upstairs!”, her legs automatically took her to his room upstairs. The eyes met. As a historian, I’m unworthy of describing the scene with adequate impact. It would take a Kamban, or a Kalidas-and-half to do full justice to the scene!
A few members of ‘The Brave Tamil Women’s Society’ heard of Susheela’s arrival and joined her. They took control of Gurusamy’s Hunger strike soon after arrival.
A mischievous Tamil magazine had quipped, “It has been twenty days since the hunger strike began. We hear that Gurusamy has sworn to go on another eighty days with no degradation in his health!”. Susheela had seen the article during her journey. She had a germ of a doubt on seeing the article. As soon as she met Gursuamy, all her misgivings vanished. ‘Just look at his innocent face and the clueless gape! Can such a man indulge in deceptions?’ She asked herself.
In any case, to preempt any future questions, she announced that she was going to weigh Gursamy every day, and display the weight on a black board at the entrance of the house.
After Susheela’s arrival, the headquarters got busier. In addition to the people arriving to meet the revolutionary, there were those arriving to see the brave Tamil woman, Susheela. About thirty people started living in the house. The crowd had all sorts of people - members managing the trust fund, people organizing the protests against the ministers, people who wanted to serve Guruswamy, and the members of the Brave Tamil Women society. They were all served three elaborate meals per day downstairs. Gurswamy could only smell the food from his room upstairs. Mysteriously, he started losing weight.
For the first few days, Gurusamy did not mind this at all. He did not feel hungry. He was immersed in thoughts of Susheela. ‘Hunger is a small price to pay to win the respect of such a woman’, he told himself. The wonder he had felt when he first met the great woman had transformed into love in those few days. ‘How nice will it be to be married to her? Her father is a successful lawyer! She is educated and wealthy. The married life is sure to be blissful!”, he told himself. Occasionally, there was a discordant thought. “Health is wealth! How do you love or marry with failing health? I need to be alive to be able to marry her!”. After four days, he felt faint. He experienced chest pains. He came to a conclusion. He had to keep himself alive for Susheela’s sake. Her love’s sake. He started thinking of ways to avoid causing her a heartbreak.
Chapter 5
Meanwhile, Chennai was witnessing frenzied activity. Several large public meetings were held every day. The leaders who participated gave rousing speeches. ‘After all, the idols in these temples are stones. Must a man give up his life for these lifeless idols? The Congress Government is a mute witness to this travesty!’, they roared.
Five days after Susheela’s arrival in Chennai, a large gathering was being organized on the beach. Luminaries from many parts of the province had arrived to participate. Susheela was advised to participate and speak. After some persuasion, she agreed to go. Considering the importance of the gathering, all the volunteers at the Hunger Strike headquarters decided to go as well.
Susheela spoke first. And how! Despite her inexperience in addressing large gatherings, she gave a stirring speech. Finally, she said, ‘We’re speaking and cheering here, while a brave man’s life is ..’. Words failed her at that point. She had a lump in her throat. Tears blurred her vision. She gave up and sat down at that point. The audience bawled in anguish.
Susheela was indeed shaken. She had a premonition of something terrible happening to Hitler Gurusamy. She wanted to rush to go see him. She whispered a few words to the people on stage, and slipped backstage to make her way back. Some eagle-eyed reporters guessed that she’d received word on some developments regarding Gursamy, so they left the meeting as well.
Susheela reached the headquarters. Her heart hammering hard, she quietly opened the door and went upstairs looking for Gurusamy. She was distraught on finding his room empty. She went to the kitchen, looking for the cook. What she saw there was staggering!! It was as if a bolt of lightning missed her and landed on the ground nearby!
Gurusamy was seated in front of a banana leaf. He was mixing sambar with rice and stuffing his mouth. It was perhaps fortunate that Susheela interrupted him at that point. Who is to say what the shock might have done to his starving body if had eaten everything in front of him!
He gaped dumbly for a while. Then he jumped up, knelt in front of Susheela and said, ‘Forgive me Susheela. Whatever I did, I did for love’. He looked up at her face. That was the last time he saw her face!
It was at that moment that a group of reporters rushed into the room.
(Art by Sujatha Anand)
Continued in part 3.
Kalki's works are in the public domain. Copyright for the translated version is with Anand Kannan.
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