|
|
Sunday,
July 29, 2001
|
 |
VIP
Toon Tales |
 |
|
Ranga
 SON
of a coconut shopkeeper, who abandoned his studies at the age of 12,
when the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in Punjab, Kamaraj rose
to great heights by becoming the President of the Congress and the
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Son of the soil, Kamaraj hardly spoke in
English but acquired knowledge of the language through conversation.
When he was in Delhi , I visited him with his sketch. He was not aware
that the purpose of my visit was only to take his signature on his
sketch. He had kept ready a Tamil cook who knew good English and
Hindi. Often the cook acted as the interpreter when people from the
North visited Kamaraj. He took special interest in me by requesting
Kamaraj to sign on the picture in English. He smiled and asked, ‘‘Why
not in Tamil?’’ The cook immediately answered, "English is a
universal language, so please place your autograph in English."
Kamaraj readily obliged and asked the cook to serve me with hot south
Indian coffee.
|
