Musings on the Life & Times of Chinnaswamy Subramania Bharathi                 Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan

 

Musings on the Life & Times of Chinnaswamy Subramania Bharathi

Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan

42

 

 

 

 

 

And then Bharathi innocently asked, “ Alright, even if I agree with your well meaning suggestion that I should avoid getting arrested, where to I stay in Madras Presidency, without getting arrested. If not today or tomorrow, it could happen the day after. I am being bombarded with information that the Britishers are keen and eager to lay hands on me”. Friends, “ Yes, we concede they fact. We have already explored and feel satisfied that there are  some willing  and able hosts across the border in Pondicherry. As on date, the French are not co operating with the British and it would make sense therefore for you to be quietly moved there. It may be -in exile- from our motherland. Running away like a refugee. But what choice do we have, if we need to have your mighty pen have the continuing flow of ink and the printing  presses at work as well. That is an activity we need to assure you ourselves. So, we would like you to consent to move to Pondicherry, for now please”.

 

We had already seen how Bharathi moved to Pondicherry and came to be hosted by a scared Kuppuswamy Ayyangar. But a little bit of elaboration from the Sambandam source seems interesting. Bharathi was advised not to go to Pondicherry through Egmore. It was a very prominent junction and too many policemen were around. And Bharathi could be identified. So Bharathi went to Saidapet railway station. Parked himself on the platform in a dark zone. And on the look out for any policemen. Just as the train moved in, Bharathi briskly got in and found a virtually empty carriage, available all for himself as if a coupe. He could peacefully sleep through the journey but in the mental condition he was  with a pregnant Chellamma being ferried to Kadayam contemporaneously by her brother Appadurai, Bharathi spent the night deeply worried, as the train rolled into Pondicherry in the wee hours.

 

Throughout the night he was awake as every train stop and a passenger entering meant a policeman in mufti may be looking fit Bharathi. He cursed himself as a coward. Here, I am scared stiff, seeking to go in exile. And I was supposed to be the brave one willing to get arrested. Ashamed, Bharathi told Chellamma, that he kept spitting outside symbolically at himself. Spending a couple of hours at the station itself, Bharathi was his brisk self in search of Perumal Koil Street.

 

As events turned out, it was not as if the Britishers were oblivious of Bharathi’s entry into Pondicherry. They got wind of it. But with a sedition case in court, they wanted the ‘escape’ to be kept under wraps. They felt that other Swadeshis on the run may get ideas to follow his example. But, Bharathi was not an unknown entity. News travelled faster than it could be kept a secret as India, the country, not the magazine, became aware of Bharathi going exile.

 

Kuppuswamy Ayyangar who chose to host Bharathi was seriously disturbed when police came visiting him. He did not even know who Bharathi was. He had merely obliged a friend. Bharathi got the body language and verbal too  within a short time. Bharathi was sitting on the outside, a worried man, when Kuvalai Kannan met him. Bharathi, “ Kuvalai, are there any subscribers  of ‘India’ in Pondicherry? If there were, they may appreciate and understand my predicament and provide me space. Why bother and trouble this innocent Kuppuswamy Ayyangar?”. Kuvalai took Bharathi to Sundaresa Iyer, ‘India’ subscriber with a Swadeshi streak. A perfect host in time of distress.

 

Sundaresa Iyer took Bharathi under his wing and immediately located an independent house for him. That is how Bharathi came to reside in the blue famed Eswaran Dharmaraja Koil Street. The house where he lived long enough to produce his masterpieces. And the temple where the idols he showed including of Panchali to his  younger daughter Sakuntaka, inspired him to pen his magnum opus, the iconic Panchali Sabatham.

 

Sundaresa Iyer and Kuvalai Kannan were possibly the only ‘friends’ in Pondicherry. The expression ‘Swadeshi’ became a pejorative in Pondicherry as others refrained from meeting Bharathi. He was known as a brilliant poet. But a man who was a ‘runaway accused’ or a ‘proclaimed offender’, in the eyes of a commoner. Kuvalai met Bharathi only off and on and not regularly. And Bharathi was not too keen to go visiting Sundaresa Iyer to avoid prejudicing his family for ‘association with a Swadeshi’.

 

Bharathi was left with little options to spend seconds which turned minutes which morphed into hours and the days became longer and longer. So, his solitary place to spend time was the splendid Pondicherry beach. He spent long hours sitting  on the natural rock formations. That is where ‘he may have been thinking and writing verses’. And, of course, nights refused to pass. Sleep deserted him. Initially, Bharathi was not worried as he concluded that ‘ it was Parasakthi’s ways to give him more waking hours to keep writing’. But sleeplessness and loneliness took its toll. Bharathi got addicted not merely to tobacco with betel leaves but got into opium too. His times change for Bharathi! While his exile in Pondicherry was fruitful to let him pen many a work, it also devastated him health  and mind wise.

 

It was then that Mandapam Srinivasachariar moved in to Pondicherry. He met Bharathi. Concerned with Bharathi’s physical and mental state, it was decided that ‘India’ could be published from French Indian territory. It was no easy task. The printing press had  to be moved lock,stock and barrel. And then they had  to identify some one who was born  in French India as publisher. Search hit upon S Lakshmi Narayana Iyer and the press was set up in No.50, Ethranshare Street, in the name and style of Saraswathi Press.On 20th Pct,1908, the Pondicherry edition of ‘India’ rolled out to the delight of Bharathi, who was back to doing what he was best at.

 

Bharathi was no cook. He ate out. He had to as he was parked alone. The building and outlet owned by Swaminathan Iyer came in handy to feed him. And there was a hut built on the roof, which was a cool and windy place, which Bharathi found enticing to sit and write his pieces for ‘India’. Harihara Sharma, P P Subbiah and Nellai Nagaswamy and a few others joined in to run ‘India’. They is why many ‘sishyas’ started staying with Bharathi in his Eswaran Dharmaraja street residence. It is recalled that Bharathi was an early riser. And he exercised a bit, as found good. No guru to follow. His own style and timing as he chose. And then he drew water from a well. Had a cold water bath even as he continuously recited , ‘Om Shakthi, On Shakthi, Shakthi’ all the time.

 

Interestingly, half the ‘Bharathi Pattam’ accompanied him to ‘India’ office. The rest stayed back at home to cook for everyone. Almost all of them sans Bharathi became expert cooks. Come afternoon, the office returning brigade will share  lunch together with all. And as if on cue, the group that stayed back in the forenoon session, would now move to the ‘India’ office. The morning batch stayed back. For what? To cook the dinner for all of them. It was ‘as if a military regimen of the disciplined kind which was running for some time with clock work precision’ as a commentator put it, and it seemed as if there was  a contrived calm coming into Bharathi’s life.

 

( Author is practising advocate in the Madras High Court)