THE CASUAL IYENGAR

 THE CASUAL IYENGAR

What?- A casual Iyengar? How is it? Looks unbelievable; Iyengars are never casual. They are serious all the time. But our man is seriously casual, so- a casual IYENGAR. In view of his exclusivity, the definite article ‘THE’ suits him the most and he is not A casual iyengar since we may not locate another of his kind within a certain range.  Yet, such samples were distributed at least one in a 100 km radius; likely that by some chance you would already have noticed 1 or 2 of them in your early life around late 1950s or early 1960s. Like Dinosaurs in their eras, these men were prominent then; these have disappeared or have been replaced by advanced evolutionary derivatives who have colonized metropolis and are unknown now in native land. So, a detailed narration of their approach to life is all that I can offer to those grand personalities who were no smaller than Dinosaurs if their all round dominance was reckoned.

From the very day we have known him /them, they had just been around with no sign of his /their employment. They were matriculates of their times and so intellectual Dinosaurs then; seldom did the then society ventured into higher education; that was no hindrance to their authentic /authoritative presence in the territory. The village head used to take their counseling to carry out any government order, so as to avoid local conflict and could  sail smooth. Enough if the casual Iyengar visits the few streets in the area, he could make all tow his advice. No need to issue high sounding announcements or warnings through police personnel; our Casual iyengar could ensure implicit observance of the guidelines. The C I was never questioned in the area, for, he was not only authentic but a real patriot socially conscious too that he could ensure smooth, legal activity-- the best for the society.

He was a part of the post office, scribing letters to people who required such help; he was a part of the taluk office making representation to authorities on behalf of the aggrieved.  On afternoons on Saturdays/ Sundays/ Holidays at the common place the ‘chavadi’ he used to be seated under the ‘Peepul tree’ teaching children some lessons. They were children of the village with no money to spend. Yet, THE C I, used to render service by helping them to learn. Rarely did the casual iyengar go home until dusk. All the time, he was in one or another ‘free service’ helpful to his village people.

No one knows the means of his living. He was once a government employee, perhaps drawing a pension of Rs 4 or 5/-. He also owned a piece of cultivable land fetching the needed rice grain. His wife and daughter[s] visited the temple by dawn daily, cleaned the premises and offered some flowers to the deity through the priest. His son was doing higher studies in Chennai staying in some relative’s house. 

None of the ‘pressures’ of educating the son, running the family or doing any service to the local people ever revealed the burden on him. He was absolutely casual. For the festival in the local temple, CI used his good offices with landlords and mustered their support in cash or kind making the whole village happy. The seriously casual attitude of the iyengar of our description bestows on me the freedom to christen him The Casual Iyengar. Where are such men now? Like the Historic Dinosaurs, these casual iyengars too have disappeared.

Prof. K. Raman