It was during my college days in Chennai that the corruption case filed by Subrahmanian Swamy against Jayalalitha became a major topic of discussion. I was interested in debates and politics, and I lived on Cathedral Road, very close to the residences of both the ruling party and the opposition. I had the opportunity to witness political drama from close quarters. Yet, I never paid much attention to Tamil Nadu politics because I felt it was too dramatic to be analysed objectively.
However, this particular case had become a matter of national interest, and I decided to look a little deeper.
One day, I spoke to a police friend about an article my colleague in the media had written about Puratchi Thalaivi. He gave me a very different perspective and spoke about her personality, her relationship with material comforts and her strong desire for power. That was perhaps the first time I really started listening to what people in Tamil Nadu had to say about their Chief Minister.
Later, when my mother happened to mention Jayalalitha, I decided to share my criticism of her. Until then, I had mostly been a listener. My mother patiently heard me and then said just one thing.
"Please read about her past and the path she had to travel to reach where she is now before you comment on her."
She then quietly hung up the phone.
At that time, I had a fairly negative opinion of Jayalalitha. Perhaps some of it came from what I saw every day. She would leave her residence with a large convoy, and the SUV in which she travelled would have men holding on to the sides while hailing her. I thought it was excessive and felt uncomfortable watching such displays.
There were also plenty of stories about her luxurious lifestyle, including stories about saffron milk, rose milk baths and many other details that were discussed as fact or gossip. Her chair, which she carried with her wherever she went, was initially a source of amusement for me. I also heard stories about how people were expected to behave around her, including the way some men would bow before her or avoid looking directly at her while speaking to her.
At one point, I had formed a very harsh impression of her.
All of that changed when I began to learn more about her life.
I became a great admirer of Madam Jayalalitha Jayaram. I have never called her Amma. I have always called her Jayalalitha because I have never considered myself a blind follower. I am simply an ordinary woman who admired her abilities while also recognising and criticising her faults.
The first interview of Jayalalitha that I watched was Rendezvous with Simi Garewal. (To watch the interview click here). What stayed with me was the transformation of a deeply emotional young woman into one of India's most powerful and influential women.
"It has been a tempestuous life," Jayalalitha said of her own journey.
Her journey from being a film star to becoming Chief Minister is certainly worth reading about. To my knowledge, only one detailed biography of Jayalalitha is available online. (Click here)
The second interview I watched, among the relatively few she gave, was with Karan Thapar. (To watch the interview click here). I remember being impressed by the way she handled his difficult and often sarcastic questions. She remained composed and responded with confidence.
That interview made me appreciate her ability to handle pressure and defend her position.
Jayalalitha was undoubtedly a remarkable and complex person. She rarely allowed her emotions to overwhelm her in public, even during some of the most difficult moments of her political career. One of the most disturbing incidents she faced was the violence and humiliation she experienced in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, including an incident in which her clothing was reportedly pulled and she was subjected to deeply disrespectful behaviour.
Yet she continued her political journey.
She was a charming and multifaceted actor who was trained in several forms of dance. Less obviously, she was also well read, witty and intellectually confident. She was comfortable speaking in English and Hindi and could hold her own in serious discussions.
Her entry into politics cannot simply be explained through her association with MGR. She had her own abilities, particularly her command of language, her intelligence and her capacity to communicate.
Two months ago, while returning from New Delhi, I happened to get into a discussion with a fellow traveler who used a rather disrespectful term while referring to Jayalalitha. I found it difficult to accept, especially because his view seemed to be based largely on the corruption case in which she had been convicted by a trial court at that time.
He spoke very strongly against her.
I acknowledged that Jayalalitha had a well known fondness for luxury and that there were serious questions surrounding her political career. But I also felt that those issues should not completely overshadow an assessment of her administration and her contribution to Tamil Nadu.
What matters to me is the impact a government has on ordinary people. Whatever one's opinion of Jayalalitha as a person or politician, it is difficult to deny that she built a strong administrative and political presence in Tamil Nadu and introduced or supported several welfare measures that reached large sections of the population.
Since my fellow traveler and I were both from Kerala, I asked him about our own state government and the benefits he had personally experienced. That conversation made me reflect on the differences between the two states.
Coming from a middle class family, I had often felt that the government existed mainly in newspapers and television news. When I moved to Chennai, I began to understand how visible and effective a state government could be in the daily lives of ordinary people.
I simply asked him to name five positive or negative things Jayalalitha had done for Tamil Nadu before criticising her. He struggled to answer.
That stayed with me.
I felt that it was unfair to judge a politician only by the number of silk sarees she owned, the controversies surrounding her or the corruption allegations against her without knowing anything about her administration or her contributions to the state.
I believe a reasonable approach to criticism is to understand both sides before forming an opinion. Politicians deserve scrutiny, but they also deserve to be judged by their complete record. This is particularly important when discussing a woman who held enormous political power in a largely male dominated political environment.
My views about Jayalalitha changed because I took the time to understand her journey rather than relying only on the stories and impressions that surrounded her.
She was far from perfect. Neither was she a figure beyond criticism. But she was undoubtedly a woman of extraordinary determination, intelligence and political ability who broke several barriers in her time.
I conclude by paying my respects to Jayalalitha Jayaram, a politician who left an indelible mark on Tamil Nadu and on Indian politics.
RIP Jayalalitha Jayaram.