Neyyappam Tinnaal Rendundu Kaaryam

Is the time standing still?

“Neyyappam Thinnaal Rendundu Kaaryam” is a much hackneyed, clichéd phrase known to us. So it needs no explanation. Its nearest yet poor equivalent in English is the saying; ‘To kill two birds with one stone.’ Taking this statement further, it could even be applied to munching ‘Masaala Tengaa-Maangaai Sundal’ from a conical paper wrapper. How come?
Well, I almost always indulged in this favourite pastime of mine while traveling in trains viz. attacking with gusto the “Time-Pass Sundal”. First, I would enjoy the Masaala Sundal ever wondering as to how the hawker was able to extract that magical last drop of the citric juice from the out of shape lemon; and secondly, at the end of it all before I complete the paper action of wiping my fingers clean I would unfurl the conical wrapping paper and read all that is printed or written on it. Some time it may be a challenging algebra problem of a Xth standard student or a cross-word puzzle/ Su do Ku which will keep me busy for some time or at other times it might be a rare page from a Sanskrit Slokamaala having found its way from Kabaadiwala to the hawker. Lastly, of course you could (however reluctantly) be kanjoosi and pretend to offer the Sundal to your co passenger before you strike a ‘Time pass’ conversation beginning with weather.
It always helped me to go back to my mental attic where I have stored away for keeps the memories of a fairly long and eventful life. Turning them over as one would the leaves of an old album I would wonder what of all my experiences was most widely significant. I normally do get an honest answer because it is all to myself and then I would unfurl the paper to read seriously. During one such recent journey, the yellow turmeric-smudged Sundal wrapper had these two contrasting tales to offer; contrasting in time period and typical in the justice meted out!!! Read this:
“Power corrupts and absolute power absolutely- not at all in the case of Perumkarunai, the Panchayat chairperson of Thellaru,(hope I got the name correct because here the yellow turmeric had left an indelible mark) a village near Kanchipuram in Tamilnadu centuries back. A case came up before her one day. Women of the village complained to her that a man tried to misbehave with them on their way to the river to take bath. The culprit was summoned. Perumkarunai pronounced a punishment on him; everyday, starting the following day, he will have to sweep the entrance of the village Shiva temple clean and sprinkle water there for forty days. The next day dawned. To the utter surprise of the villagers their first lady was seen in front of the temple, broomstick and water pot in hand, busy cleaning the entrance in lieu of the culprit. She explained her action thus: “yesterday I had to punish the culprit, which I did as a chairperson. As you all know he is my husband and to share his hardship, I decided as his wife to undergo the punishment myself”
No wonder the villagers honoured her with the title ‘Kudikkurai theertha naachiyaar’ (now this is mine- meaning ‘the lady who remedied people’s woes’) and got it inscribed at the entrance of the Shiva temple.

The other side of the wrapping paper carried this:

“Bharat’s struggle for freedom from the British rule had a lofty unstated purpose. It was a fight to uphold values. See, for example, what THE HINDU on February 9, 1894, reported; ‘A poor native heroically resists them (the British soldiers) with a stick in hand and is shot down dead.’ It happened like this: A group of British soldiers, on their way from Nilgiris to Secunderabad were waiting at Guntakkal railway station. They spotted two women on their way to their village and chased them with a mischievous intention. The two ran to protect their honour and rushed into the Gatekeeper’s cabin. To save them the Gatekeeper Hampanna locked the cabin and kept the keys with him. The soldiers told him to open the cabin. Hampanna refused. A fisticuff followed. One of the soldiers shot Hampanna, who collapsed and died later. People gathered and caught the culprits. But justice was not meted out. Hampanna’s killer Corporal Ashford was later acquitted by an English magistrate. THE HINDU published the names of donors who contributed towards erecting a memorial for Hampanna. With the money received from readers, a granite tablet was prepared in Poonamalee near Chennai and sent to Guntakkal. The tablet says: Here lie the remains of Goolapalien Hampanna, the Gatekeeper, who while defending two Hindu women against a party of European soldiers near the Guntakkal rest camp was shot by one of them on October 4, 1893. He died here on October5.
Raised by European and Indian admirers”

Epilogue
Not a day passes even these days without the print and the electronic media splashing some news or the other on harassment meted out to women. We are not alone. Our Paki friends across the border are champions too. The story of the illiterate Pakistani woman whose gang rape triggered an international outcry took her case to the U S Congress, saying she feared for her life. Mai, who was gang-raped on the orders of a tribal council in 2002 as punishment for her brother's alleged love affair with a woman from another tribe was then forced to walk home naked in front of a crowd of onlookers. The case and the 33-year-old Mai's high-profile quest to bring her rapists to justice garnered extensive international attention, much to the embarrassment of the Pakistani President himself. T Kumar, Amnesty International's advocacy director in Washington, had this to say, “Mai was not only expressing her grief but that of thousands of women around the world who are suffering in silence today. Her case and the way in which the Pakistan government shamelessly acted by putting her under house arrest has woken up the world and the U S". Pakistan's Supreme Court later ordered the re-arrest of 13 men linked to her case and suspended their acquittals by lower courts.
Is the time standing still? Well……..?

Perhaps he was voicing the sentiments of millions when honourable Sree V R Krishna Iyer said on a similar issue, “ We feel convinced that a socially sensitized judge is a better sanctuary armour against gender outrage than long clauses of a complex section with all the protection writ into it”.

Rgds
V V R
28th Apr 06.