Benevolent yet fierce

Thomas Heywood while writing his blank verse "A Woman Killed with Kindness" would never have had Selvi Jayalalithaa in his mind way back in 1603. Of course, she was to take birth much later. But what he wrote then perhaps, is more applicable to her life and times. "For more than this I know, and have recorded/Within the red-leaved table of my heart/Fair, and of all beloved, I was not fearful/Bluntly to give my life into your hand...”That is Jayalalithaa precisely. She never allowed anyone to take control of her life and never submitted to anyone without her will and permission. No one could turn her off because, she felt, she would be undone and she cared not. She preferred to take the general name of villain through the career if needed, only because, she cared not.

If she were a dictator, a traitor, a terminator..call her whatever you feel like, because of your own compunctions and dispositions, she never cared. A real care-free attitude, she had, which none could possess. Her approach to HER life was different from the others'. She took her believers into her fold and she placed her enemies at a distance. As Heywood say, she preferred to stay what she is "..I care not, beggary, shame, death, scandal, and reproach, for you I will hazard all: why, who care I? For you I will live, and in your love I will die".

That was and is Amma. And that is why we see the thousands and millions mourning crying frantically, chest beating and being the unpaid Rudalis' at the ruler's state now. And for millions, her goodly eyes shine brightly like sapphires and her forehead is always, white, her cheeks like apples which the sun hath rudden and her snowy neck like a marble tower.

Well, harsh words are always used by writers to convey their own understanding of the persons and their persona. How much of it would be the truth is not known? In case of Jayalalithaa too this would apply. Her stressed and unstressed syllables, now rising and now falling, would always be with the downtrodden. She has not been a doctor but she knew the pulse of the people. Let us remember that sense and sound are inseparable, in case of politicians. Not in case of Jayalalithaa! She sensed the plight of the people right and sounded in consonance with their hearts.

One might be tempted to compare her with the other politicians who preferred the embrace of populism. For Jaya, populism is the last consideration. It is, for her, her own 'peopleism'. She believed in people and their travails and tried her best to address their problems. Whatever one might say about her welfare measures, it should be noted that she did what is required. She did not limit the number of beneficiaries or the period of the benefits to be passed. She trusted them and implemented what is good for them. That was why millions cried their heart out and prayed for her recovery. She tamed the winds of adversity silently bleeding inwards and, yet, lived for her people.