Makkal Thilagam MGR Part -19

[Richardsof]

MGR Remembered
by Sachi Sri Kantha,
Now, let me return to MGR’s visit to Ceylon in October 1965. I was then a 12 year old boy, studying at Colombo Hindu College, Ratmalana. I provide excerpts from my remembrance of this visit of MGR with his then co-star B. Saroja Devi, as I had recorded in my 2004 autobiography, ‘Tears and Cheers’.

“Our school being located adjacent to the Colombo (Ratmalana) airport provided good opportunities for us to welcome the visiting dignitaries from other countries. When the dignitary was a political giant [like India’s primeminister Jawaharlal Nehru or China’s prime minister Chou-en Lai] we ‘semi-officially received ‘half a day holiday’ to go to the airport. In 1965, there happed a humorous extension to this accepted routine. In October of that year, the then Tamil move idol M.G. Ramachandran [MGR] visited Ceylon with his co-star B. Saroja Devi. Though he was a celebrity, he had not entered (active) politics at that time. Thus, he was not on par with the prime ministers of India or China. The day prior to his arrival in Ratmalana airport, senior batch students had approached our dear ‘suruttu Kanagar’ – the indefatigable eccentric teacher T. Kanagaratnam – and had expressed their wish to welcome MGR the following day after servicing the teacher with his daily quota of arrack liquor.

The very next day, when the school session was about to begin, there came ‘suruttu Kanagar’ with his cane in hand and chased all the boys in the class to ‘Go to the airport to welcome MGR. What have you to study here today?’ This was against the protocol, and I wonder how the principal would have reacted to ‘suruttu Kanagar’s command. And how the eccentric Kanagar would have faced the principal. But for us, it was the thrill of seeing MGR in person which dominated our mood. And MGR and his then co-star B. Saroja Devi were given a rousing welcome by the Colombo Hindu College boys at the airport on that October day in 1965. We all admired our Kanagar’s unorthodox command on that day. It was also a practical lesson by our beloved teacher that for exceptional occasions (and seeing the legendary MGR in person was no doubt an exceptional occasion!), even routine protocols and rules need be abandoned, if one is strong-willed and willing to accept the consequences.”