J Jayalalitha

J Jayalalitha – a powerful name not just in Tamil nadu but throughout the nation. Her demise no doubt created a huge vacuum in Tamil nadu politics. I remember when I was in my childwood appa used to pay a price just to have the letter ‘J’ in the car number plate. Like title value the letter ‘J’ demanded letter value and whenever people hear anyone with ‘Maha’ nakshathiram first thing people quote is it is the nakshathiram of Jayalalitha. Her audacity, perseverance and Intelligence are her trademarks and her oratory skills (Tamil/English) is simply outstanding. Whenever she addresses national media with eloquent English I always felt proud.

    These days’ people grumble for petty things like – gas has gone high by 10 cents, iphone glass broken, visa fees increased etc., but here is a woman where ‘struggle’ was part and parcel of her life. With her dad passing away early in her life she was brought up by her mom, a single parent, she also spent lot of time away from mom since she moved to Bangalore for some time, her brother passed away and she was forced to enter cine industry which she was not interested in first place. When it comes to career, it is very difficult to pursue a career which you don’t relish. Then from one glamorous field to another she had to foray into politics which again was not her natural choice. She could not attest her relationship legally with a leader and hence had to live with a name tag which no woman likes to have. Then after the demise of the leader she had to undergo some nasty experience during funeral, an absolute disgusting experience in Tamil nadu assembly in 1989 where she promised she would enter the place only as a chief minister. In 1991 she became the chief minister of the state and from then on it was a roller coaster ride. She faced many ups and downs and all her hardships packaged her into a person of who she is as a person. Though people talk of gender equality it is not easy for woman to prove her mettle in the male dominated society.

    Just imagine whether we can have woman freely go to ration shop or a middle class cinema theater in India, often there is mad rush and men make use of the situation and nasty incidents are either reported or go unnoticed due to privacy issues. A lady and a fair skinned person coming from cinema industry to fight the system with so much grit shows her caliber. Every national leader attended the funeral or at least expressed their condolence message to the iron lady of India.

   Jayalalitha has been a huge inspiration for woman; To run a leading party of the state and win elections for the party with so much conviction talks a lot about her talent. I liked many of her initiatives and there was a saying that when she rules the money rotation is more in the state. She was steadfast on her thoughts and she will not bend down rules or policies to attract alliances during election. One thing she does often within her ministers is to fire people if she feels they are not fit for the position. She reaches out to Central for funds but never have them dominate when she and her party are ruling the state. I am pointing out this because in politics when money comes in people tend to relax everything including self-esteem. Her nomination list, her allocation of portfolios, allocation of seats to alliances all are admired by political circle. I loved the way she addressed the issue during Visvaroopam release when actor Kamal haasan was going over the roof by quoting how he had to sell the house for the making of the movie. She said if Kamalhaasan is over 60 and had to sell the house for a movie then she or her government cannot be accounted for since she is more responsible for providing law and order to the state and not just one movie and one person.

   Her final days was not pleasant at all. Spending 75 days in a hospital campus without seeing the outside world is no good. She couldn’t meet her beloved people of Tamil nadu in her last phase of life. But who would have imagined that when you get admitted to a hospital you will be there forever, and eventually end your life? She had so much command over her ministers but in the end, she had to be put on life support. Life at times sounds harsh but reality is always a bitter sweet. She got full state honors and Chennai came to a standstill to pay respects to a politician who stood apart from her counterparts. I will personally miss her speech like "J Jayalalitha enum naan", "Seiveergala".  I am not sure how long should we wait to witness another lady politician like J Jayalalitha but we all should be happy that we were part of her era. Rest in peace mam …