So many Chief Ministers on the same Dias -

My father V.P.Raman speaks - from left to right MGR ,
Mathiazhagan, Anna , Rajaji and Mu.Karunanidhi


That's Me - next to my dad....Rajaji lends a sympathetic ear to Anna.


In January 1968 - My father, Mr.V.P.Raman , organised a function to mark the 10th Death Anniversary of my grandfather Mr.A.V.Raman. This was a superbly organised , terrific function, I guess any son should be proud of doing this for his Parents. The memorable thing about this fuction was the presence of 4 Chief Ministers of Madras/Tamil Nadu. Present were C.Rajagopalachari -Rajaji , C.N.Annadurai ( Anna) the Chief Minister , Kalaignar Karunanidhi ( the CM after that and Today) and M.G.R ( the CM after Kalaignar). It must be noted that my father had left the Party and Politics at least a decade before - in Paper , for he continued to represent MGR,Kalaignar and even Bhaktavatsalam and Rajaji. There is one Photograph that I have not posted in Picasa or in this Blog - A lovely snap of me, my dad, Anna , kalaignar, MGR and Rajaji - that I have promised to a weekly magazine. Will post that after it has been published ( If). On the dias were also Sri Ananthanarayanan , Chief justice of madras and Sri "Chithra" Narayanaswami.

Just looking at these photographs makes me go back to those times ..... even the venue , Abbotsbury is no more there - however in the audience was Tarapore , who owned the property. I could also recognise Mr.K.Rajaram and Mr.Loganatha Mudaliar.

In fact when my grandfather passed away - My father who at that time was in the DMK Party refused to let any "orthodox" religious rituals be performed. My grandmother it is said went and cried to Rajaji , who in turn spoke to Anna - and Anna is reported to have told my dad , that he must not hurt his mother and yet do as his conscience commanded him to. Kamaraj , the CM then , is also said to have put pressure on my father - My grandmom must have really raised a hue and cry. To my knowledge my father did not budge.....
Funnily , he gave me specific instructions that nothing must be done for him when his time came. He told me - "I know , you have faith and belief in all this - dont do anything until you immerse my ashes - after that you are the head of the family , do as you please....I carried out his wishes to the T.....and continue to perform the rituals for him and my grandfather and my great grand father etc every Amavasya as well as the "thithi" - death anniversary as per the South Indian Calendar. Well , faith , is hard to shake....
My father stood firm on this much after he left the party - My wife ( ours was not an arranged marriage - but what is commonly called "Love Marriage"), wanted a traditional wedding with the whole works - my father refused to participate in the rituals and sat in the first row, waiting for us to finish with the rituals and then bless us.My mother's brother stood in for him and performed all the rituals. My father was very firm about his beliefs but never prevented others from following their's .He was NOT an atheist - but just against organised religion - especially the "money making" ritualistic part. He often said - I do not need a mediator between me and my God. He did go to Tirupathi , a trip that made him give up his extreme stand on God ( deserves a blog by itself - will post it soon ) and then later even to Puttaparthy.



I HAVE POSTED SOME MORE SNAPS HERE.....CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW


http://picasaweb.google.com/mohanraman/AVRamanFunctionJanuary1968#

Dad ,Kalaignar ,E.V.K.Sampath

I found an old Photograph - mid -late 1950s of my father , Mr.V.P.Raman , Dr.Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi , CM of TN , Mr.E.V.K.Sampath and Mr.N.V.Natarajan ( I think) . This was during the time my father was an active party member - he quit and never got involved in active politics , though he remained connected with Leaders from all parties.

He left the Party and so too did Sivaji Ganesan , E.V.K.Sampath , Kannadasan probably not in that order.

He seemed to have a knack of attracting Politically sensitive cases for all politicians. He was MGR's advocate when he also used to advise Dr.Kalaignar , and some Congressmen , such was the faith they had in his integrity and of course his legal acumen. I remember his filing a case for Sri "Pollachi" N.Mahalingam against the Congress chief for criticising Sri NM throwing a dinner for "Anna" on his victory. This led to the first fissures in the congress and thereafter the split came as Indra congress and old congress nationally.

In fact it was well known that he along with Era Sezhiyan and Sampath drafted the final Constitution of the DMK. The AIADMK Constitution was based entirely on that ( those days - do not know its position now) except part president was replaced by General Seceretary. Knowing this , K.Rajaram , Nedunchezhiyan , Panrutti S.Ramachandran and Thirunavukkarasu came home after MGR's Death and wanted him to advice them against Rm.V and V.N.Janaki. They had decided to prop up J.Jayalalithaa. It was my father who adviced them upto the point of freezing the two Leaves symbol and they fighting under the Dove and Cock symbols. In retrospect Kalaignar must have felt so happy about his "old" friend totally bringing the AIADMK to a standstill. For a few months including JJ's maiden political speech ( post MGR) , the storming of the "thalamai seyalagam " in Lloyds Road - now avvai shanmugam salai , the petitions before the Election commission , parallel General Council meetings , were all under his advice.....when most people who had come to him initially left her , Panrutti, Navalar, Thirunavukkarasar,KKSSR , to name a few , my father too quietly moved away as by then she had her own set of advisors. It was during this period that I was closely involved in all the Political machinations. Spent several months steeped in it , including the electioneering etc.

We even went to New delhi to talk to Dorab Sopariwala and Prannoy Roy. They came down to start their work - but then i think madam had other ideas.......

He also fought the University Syndicate appointments of Durai Murugan and a few others who were "removed" by the MGR Government. Remember he was 'close' to MGR....despite that Kalaignar wanted him to fight the case. I guess he never had to do any balancing act for two especial reasons - Highest possible levels of Professional Integrity and Extreme Professional Competence. What a reputation ? Tough act to follow.