You thought Madras was conservative, behind the times and its women confined to the four walls? Sriram V. and Anita Ratnam’s session on ‘Women who mapped the change’ broke this stereotypical image of the city with their eye-opening and awe-inspiring account of “feisty doctors, passionate anti-nautch crusaders and pioneering accountants”.
They threw light on six women who were born at the turn of the 20th Century, whose work had a resonating influence and a ripple effect for many decades.
If Anita proved to be a lively and articulate anchor, Sriram (‘historian thalaivar’ as she referred to him) enlivened the session with his wit, seamless narration and gripping anecdotes. Not even for a moment did he allow it to sound like a staid and tedious talk on woman power.
He began with the stories of Muthulakshmi Reddy, anti-nautch campaigner and Sister Subbalakshmi, for the non-performing space, predominant names in the social reform movement.
“Muthulakshmi came from the courtesan community. The Maharaja of Pudukottai had to pass a legislation for her to study in the men’s college, since parents of boys were against the daughter of a devadasi being allowed into the educational institution. She then joined the Madras Medical College and went back to Pudukottai to practise. When her mother insisted she get married, Muthulakshmi made it clear that it would be only to a man ready to settle in Pudukottai. And that man was Dr. Sundara Reddy, who willingly gave up the comforts of the big city to go to Pudukottai. Her diary entry on the day of the wedding says, ‘he agreed to abide by all my wishes and never cross my path’,” recounted Sriram.
“This was in the 1920s,” pointed out Anita. “I can imagine the social climate of the time. But much later in the 1960s, when I performed my arangetram, my grandfather came backstage and told my mother that I should stop dancing. I remember being angry and hurt as a nine-year-old.”
Though terms such as education, emancipation and equal rights were unheard of as far as women were concerned, there were quite a few who dared to break convention, think independently and follow their own course. “In her biography Naan Kanda Bharatham, Ambujammal has only contempt for her husband’s family. She belonged to an affluent Madras-based family (granddaughter of Sir V. Bhashyam Aiyangar, the first Indian Advocate-General of the Madras Presidency), married an advocate from Kumbakonam, fought repressive social mores, leflt her husband’s house, came back to Madras and wanted to go to prison in support of Mahatma Gandhi. Her father initially refused, but when she threatened to go on a fast unto death, he relented. She was finally arrested along with her aunt Jannammal, who had also left her husband years ago, and was taken to Vellore jail. When the warden came to put the jail badge around their necks, Jannammal told him, ‘We have had enough trouble with the mangalsutra around our neck, now you don’t tie this one’. They then pinned it on their blouses,” recalled Sriram, to loud applause from the women in the audience. He continued, “Coming out of prison, they continued wearing the badge with pride. All along, they knew they were cut out for much bigger things. That was the goal. Ambujammal went on to become the vice-president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee and the Chairman of the State Social Welfare Board.”
Many such inspiring stories kept the audience engrossed till the last word.
