ANNAMALAI

 ANNAMALAI

Annamalai –the name raises quite some curiosity , anxiety, anger , hatred and even contempt even as it evokes respect or nostalgia  on the mere utterance of that name. How can several emotions appear at the mere utterance?  The first segment on the name was once the face of some political outfits of TN namely ANNA. For them Anna was a ‘malai’ [mountain]. For those political outfits the name was synonymous  with     “ erudition”. Certainly, the man had a magnetic grip over listeners across the state and curiously he was adept in English as much as he was in Tamil. That made him a good parliamentarian  who could match argument by argument and logic by logic with consummate ease. His grip over the language wove a mesmerizing web that readily trapped listeners on either side- the Treasury and the opposition. His followers were pride-stricken of the man’s lingual prowess; none of his followers has done a thing of matching brilliance  to set foot on National theatre as a’promising’ politician. What little was done by the  followers of Anna was at best ‘political alignment’ with precious little to hold aloft the image of their political mentor- “Anna”.So much for the curiosity component  in the title.

Now on to the ‘Anxiety’ element.

Of late the name readly churns the abdomen of many as to what bombshell the man would throw at those in office by making ‘public’ a certain plan  to be executed by the outfit –putting to jeopardy –the prospect of some hefty ‘kickbacks’that would have silently filled the coffers of a few;with the man throwing up a challenge to disprove the allegation, the wrong doers are more at peace by silence  than with the threat of any dire consequences. This ‘silent mode’ response seems a safer course to pursue than protracting any defensive argument; in such cases any defence advanced lets the person down rather rapidly into a web of irretrievable commitments of confusion. A few such brave displays proved an easy route to attain  crestfallen stupidity; so, the name spells anxiety by the dawn with no assurance of nothing thereafter. Ironically the man calls pressmen “anna” in Tmil though they run for his scalp all day long. He is simply undaunted. 

The ‘Anger’ element from the utterance of the name  is for certain other segments of  politics who throw up tantrums  of  unique heritage  or culture  that would resist any new effort to alter the status quo. Their anger reaches a ‘new high’ as he quotes sections from penal code act under which some of the disruptive attempts can be tried for eternal settlement to curb all such ill-advised efforts of fissiparous  verbosities. They try spreading stories of misdeeds by the man ; the man invites evidence for such contention ; needless to mention that so far nothing tangible has been placed to try the man under the provisions of law.

The hatred element for the name has its roots in the fact that he readily bursts any bubble of claim by politicians for their being the guardians of social equality by citing instances of historic occurrence and the weak-kneed claims/claimants are unable to push beyond a point .

Hatred element towards the name is by an all-out effort of the electronic media of the vernacular,  most of which survive on the purported blessings of some ideology which finds their edifice crumbling helplessly despite all scaffolding and high decibel trumpeting.

Contempt towards the person is a natural corollary to the series of  distress points generated by a single man who succeeds by the sheer strength of truth  and does not seem to wield any monetary power or status in any officialdom or judiciary. But he is quite judicious.

As for the ‘Respect’ element Annamalai is synonymous with                       ‘Thiruvannaamalai’ – the place for Saints and Sages and not to forget that LORD ANNAAMALAIYAR held in great reverence by devotees.

 Coming to the element of Nostalgia- Annaamalai right away means the Annamalai University – a place that had some excellent academicians , a large number of Alumni spread over the globe  and their hostels had the most delicious food and a variety of items to the palate of one and all.  So, Annamalai has several connotations rich in weight and value.

Prof. K.Raman