Tributes Paid to Late. Selvi J. Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu CM, by MTS, BKM, and TNF

By Vivek Natarajan

PEARLAND: The Indian state of Tamil Nadu lost its incumbent Chief minister, Selvi J. Jayalalithaa a week back. Many Houston Tamil people personally felt the loss and organized a community wide tribute to Amma as Late. Selvi J. Jayalalithaa was known. The event was organized by Bharathi Kalai Manram (BKM), Sri Meenakshi Temple Society (MTS) and the Tamil Nadu Foundation (TNF Houston Chapter) and was held on December 11, in the visitor’s center of Sri Meenakshi Temple.

The event started with a minute of silence. Vice consul, Indian Consulate of Houston, Devendar Kumar spoke and paid tributes to Amma. Then community leaders S. Narayanan (MTS), Tupil Narasiman (MTS and BKM), Govindan Somaskanthan (TNF), Dr. Thiruvengadam Arumugam (BKM), Dr. Padmini Ranganathan (MTS), Anantha Aiyer (Tamil Stage creations), Dr. Kas Saranathan (Meenakshi Theatres and BKM), Sam Kannappan (MTS and GOPIO), and Srikanth Venugopalan (MTS and TNF) spoke. All the speeches were tinged with emotion and sense of personal connect with the departed leader. The overarching theme was the achievement of Selvi JJ as a leader in a typical male dominated society, her fierce determination, her sense of compassion for the poor, her welfare legacy in the form of pro poor schemes, and her many talents.

Later, the Bharathi Kalai Manram had its Annual general meeting in the same venue. The meeting paid tributes to great Tamil artistes who had passed away recently.

The first was Sri M. Balamurali Krishna, a renowned musician, composer, creator of ragas, playback singer, viola player, music director: in short, a multifaceted genius. His trademark voice, innovative spirit, clear diction were remembered as was his trademark song Oru Naal Poduma from the block buster Tamil movie Thiruvilayadal.

The second was Sri Cho Ramaswamy, a renowned lawyer, playwright, dramatist, actor, and journalist, a man of many talents who wore many hats. His trademark wit, honesty, candidness, and clarity of thought along with his plays, and his magazine were remembered by the audience as was the fact that his contrarian but sincere views elicited respect and following in not only in Tamil Nadu but across the whole of India.