The year was 1938. A young boy entered the room of Kasturi Iyengar, the headmaster of a high school in Tiruvarur, ignoring the peon at the doorstep.
The surprised headmaster asked the boy: “What do you want?” What followed was a long argument, with the boy insisting that he be admitted to the school and Kasturi Iyengar saying ‘No’. But not the one to give up so easily, the boy, with tears welling up in his eyes, sealed the conversation saying: “Then I will jump into the temple tank and commit suicide.”
The headmaster could visualise the situation as lot of people had drowned in Kamalalayam, the temple tank of the Tiruvarur Thiyagarajaswamy temple. The boy was admitted in the fifth standard.
The incident offers some insight into the personality of DMK leader M. Karunanidhi, who turned 95 on Sunday.
Though his 94th birthday was a low-key affair, Mr. Karunanidhi defied his health condition and turned his 95th birthday a memorable event as he appeared before scores of party cadre and leaders, who had assembled at his Gopalapuram residence with a smiling face.
He cut a cake with family members and senior leaders even as party cadres celebrated the occasion across the State. National leaders too greeted him.
What keeps the nonagenarian still in the limelight while his contemporaries in Indian politics, including former Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee, have faded into oblivion?
‘Always a student’
“He always draws inspiration from what is happening around him. Only his health condition remains a constraint. He watched, from the beginning till the end, the public meeting organised at his home town Tiruvarur in connection with his birthday,” said former Minister Thangam Thennarasu.
He has traits that are rarely found in other political leaders. A fast reader capable of correcting proofs in a flash, he made it a point to write keeping the general public in mind and not just the party cadres.
“Once he told me that he always wanted to remain a student,” said K. Thirunavukkarasu, a historian of the Dravidian Movement, while narrating an incident.
“I saw him reading a book by late Tamil scholar A.K. Paranthamanar on the rules for writing good Tamil. I wondered whether he had to read such books to improve his writing. He replied that once you become a writer, you have to be a student and read constantly,” said Mr. Thirunavukkarasu.
“He himself declared in the Assembly that he wanted to live long. The mindset makes him strong. A relentless worker, he makes it a point to remain fresh,” the historian added.