நண்பரின் உருக்கமான கடிதம் super Farewell to Farewell, my friend Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan (Drawn by Ms.Adhishree Manokaran, Advocate) Farewell to Farewells. Justice V Parthiban is not the first of Justices to bid farewell to farewell. And quietly walking away, on attaining all of sixty two years. And hopefully, may not be the last. A

Farewell to Farewell, my friend

Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan

(Drawn by Ms.Adhishree Manokaran, Advocate)

 

Farewell to Farewells. Justice V Parthiban is not the first of Justices to bid farewell to farewell. And quietly walking away, on attaining all of sixty two years. And hopefully, may not be the last. A senior advocate said, “Madras High Court is one of the three Chartered High Courts of rare vintage. The others being Bombay and Calcutta. Ideally, he could have respected the tradition of availing a farewell than dispensing with it”.

A millennial practitioner just out of GenZ, responded with gusto, “Sir, I bow to this judge. It is silly to see and keep the judge sitting and squirming in his seat, as he gets told – he was born on, brought up in, sworn in as, delivered epochal verdicts (whether they were anywhere close or not) and was retiring and I wonder how they sit through these inane, dull, drab and dreary events. In fact, some of us feel that even swearing in could be a simple affair. Oath taken. Bench assumed. Hearings began”. Why not?

When my friend Parthiban was sounded out to the position, I was one of those who dissuaded him from accepting the offer. I knew he was a brilliant lawyer. Had a lot to contribute. And had but just seven years to superannuation. And never suffered fools. He may need to now, all the time. Before he could settle in, he may need to quit. Hell, he proved me wrong. He was a revelation.

He took to the seat as a simple attorney who made good. He removed any semblance of a crown on his cranium. He was grounded. Even more, now. He was honest. Displayed impeccable integrity. His judicial discipline and courteous manner endeared him to the Bar. He was quick on the uptake. Just the right Synopsis would suffice to his sharp intellect. He took up multiple causes from diverse portfolios. His first principles were sound. He was commonsensical, which is what law has always been, as he used to say. He brought to the bench respect. No cringing advocacy for him. Be you a rookie or a veteran, you could stand up and argue. Take him on. Tangle on the cerebral plane. Not the mundane and cussed. He mocked anger when submissions bordered on the puerile. But he was actually anguished, as Eardley Norton wrote to Varadachari, “Varada, what a pity we have fallen in standards. We no longer have the likes of Muthusamy Iyer. But have to make only those with lesser or no mettle” (1920).

Times they are a changing. More they change, more they remain the same. He never assumed ‘airs’ as one of the very few (very, very few) who got to sit where he sat. He let the seat rise in stature. Not let the seat dictate to him. He ‘happened to be a Justice’ as Justice V R Krishna Iyer always reminded himself. Like Iyer, as Fali S Nariman said, “His verdicts were not imbued with purple prose in patches. They were purple itself, start to finish”.

Parthiban brought to bear his literary skills from university days and made them readable. Not verbose. He added to literary history not statistical numbers. He left the latter to lesser mortals. He did not care that his verdicts were ‘reported’ or not. Picked up by media, be it electronic, print or social. He loved it only when he was criticised. He did not take them in his stride. He took them seriously as if addressed to him in person.

When he wrote, he had chiseled them as if from marble. He saw the judgments quite early. Then cut out the clutter to reveal the David. His chamber was ever open. He did not hesitate to meet with friends from the Bar. Not for him the ivory tower and becoming a recluse. He always felt that his judgments must speak for themselves. Whether he played favourites or not?

Even in the corridors, one could see him not stop,stand and stare from a distance. But stop, stand and exchange notes. It is a pity that there is dearth of this genre. And when sixty now is yesterday’s forty, his retirement at forty two is surely too early. As Arthur C Brooks, the Harvard Professor says, “When you age from fluid intelligence, you get into the wisdom of crystallised intelligence- a second curve in your career in his “From Strength to Strength”.

Just as Justice V Parthiban was poised into crystallised intelligence, he has to bid farewell.

He has done it with typical grace. Not pomp and honour for him. Justice Vasudevan Parthiban did Justice. To his time. To his passion. To his job. To his position. To the institution. But shorn of the tag of Mr. JUSTICE and strutting about, as if one grew taller just by being seated there. He remained Pats @ Parthiban. That was who he was and he was not and shall always be.

 

(Author is practising advocate in the Madras High Court)

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