My life as a medical student--Anti Hindi agitation

I am always anti political. I have very slight interest in politics even now. My student life was quite  busy with studying continuously, attending ward postings, night clinics, grand rounds etc. I had no time or inclination for a “ boyfriend”. It was an interesting fact  that all the students in my batch were interested only in studying and so much so there were no Love marriages among our classmates unlike the other batches-both senior and junior;

Hence it was surprising that I took part in the anti Hindi agitation which was rocking Tamilnadu in 1965. I was in my prefinal year. Actually I had no intention of joining it though  some of my classmates and other girls in our ladies hostel were busily organizing it. I remember vaguely that it was a holiday and after breakfast I just went to the front portico as these girls were seriously discussing it. There is a saying  “ curiosity kills a cat”. I was dragged by my seniors and classmate Viji into the process. I refused first but they succeeded in coaxing me. They said that it was a hunger strike lasting for 8 hours only. We were allowed to have breakfast but no lunch or tea/snacks in the evening. We could have dinner in the night.

My friend Hamsa did not like my joining it. She said that this was nothing but waste of time. Also I was not personally against the language as I had already passed Madhyama in Hindi from the Hindi Prachar Sabha thanks to my mother who had passed Rashtrabasha from the same sabha.I used to like the Hindi movies like Jab pyar kisse se hotha hai and I always used to hum the songs.I cursed my fate but I could not go against my classmate, Viji and my seniors. Two of my seniors , Manimegalai and Sarojini were in charge of the unnaviratham ( Hunger strike). Some press people were sent by the boys and they took some pictures. I was in the picture, with my hands akimbo. Actually I was watching the others , not intending to take part in the strike.

It started at 11 a.m. and we sat as a group in the adjacent garden and started shouting, Hindi! Down down! And Don’t force us to learn Hindi! And some other related slogans! Because of the shouting our throats were dry but we were not allowed to go  inside and drink water. Our leaders said that we might be allowed to go to the restroom that too not more than twice! Well, I could not do anything  but to sit there. We were sitting in front of our hostel exit gate which used to be locked always but outsiders could see us. The news spread that the girl medical students were doing hunger strike and more media persons were sent to take our pictures. Our leaders gave fire sparkling statements against the imposition of Hindi on innocent Tamilians!

By lunch time I was completely out. I was underweight and because of eating small portions at every meal I used to get hypoglycemia if I did not eat at the regular hours. I had severe headache due to hypoglycemia and I did not have the courage to leave the strike in the middle  and eat the lunch. In fact, one junior girl , went away breaking her promise to continue. She was excused because she was from Srilanka and our leaders didn’t mind her going away. Poor me, from Madras was suffering. The sun was beating mercilessly and I was cursing myself many times. Viji was a juvenile diabetic but she was very adamant not to have some food, and was feeling drowsy due to hypoglycemia.

This further deterred me from breaking. Then I saw my roommate Thulasi, calling me from a window nearby. I took the permission of the leader and went near her. She whispered that she would bring tea in a glass to our room during tea time and told me to come there in the guise of going to the bathroom. I was happy and nodded my approval. I went back and joined the slogan shouting a little bit more vigorously as now I was sure of at least some tea. I took my leaders’ permission around the tea time for going to the rest room and went to my room upstairs. There Tulasi had the tea in a tumbler and I drank it quickly and thanked her. I kept a tired face and went again to continue our agitation. Nobody suspected me. Atlast the strike ended and all of us sang  the Tamil anthem, Vazhiya senthamizh , vazhiya thamizhar, and went to the mess.

Viji met there and told me to stay put in the hostel from the next day onwards. The hostel warden had asked all the students to vacate the hostel for a week as the college was also closed for a week. The anti Hindi agitation took a serious turn with a lot of people dying and all. I said yes and concentrated on eating my dinner. I didn’t pay any attention to the serious consequences of staying in the hostel, defying the order of the warden.

Next morning I was surprised to see my brother in the waiting room. He hardly used to come there as my home was in the same city and I used to there on many weekends to meet him and my father. My mother had passed away a few years earlier.
Even before I could greet him, he almost commanded me to get ready and go with him to our house. He never minces the words and always comes to the point directly, so that no time is wasted. I was very reluctant to go, as I wanted to stay in the hostel and watch what happened. But he said that our father was unhappy about my taking part in the agitation and they have seen the photo and the warden’s decision to close the hostel in the news papers.

Well, when I returned after all the agitations were over, I heard about the ugly incidents that happened. Almost all the girls left the hostel going to their friends or relatives’ houses but Viji and Manimegalai defied the orders and stayed there. The police got their names and were searching for them to arrest them. I think that Sarojini left for her native place. These  two girls were informed by some source about the police coming to the hostel and the housekeeper hid them in her bathroom till the police came and searched all the rooms and went away. Must have been a smelly affair!

I thanked my stars, my father and brother and of course God for saving me from this disgrace. But the unexpected result was that the boys started paying more attention to me and even asked me totake part in some more student unrest. I had a tough time explaining about the real reason for my getting involved in the agitation. My father was quite unhappy and he said that one has to be made of different material to take part in politically oriemnted things and I had a tough educational course to tackle with.So no wasting of my time like this. I realized that I had to control my sense of curiosity and keep it to myself.