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Professor Ganapathy was waiting for Maya on the same bench he had left her the previous day. He was in a bad mood. Throughout his career, he had laid emphasis on punctuality, reminding his students that it shows respect for other people and their time, and expected others to return the courtesy.
An unexpected traffic jam had caught Naga unawares, and it took an hour to cross the last milestone. As soon as his car screeched to a halt, Maya jumped out and ran towards the university gates. Naga had switched on her pen-recorder and put it in her purse. ‘Don't forget to leave your purse slightly open, and speak loudly,’ he reminded her.
Approaching the bench, she noticed Ganapathy scowling.
‘I am extremely sorry sir, I had gone to Corea Town and got caught in a traffic jam on the way back.’
‘That is no excuse young lady. An appointment is an appointment, this is the last time I will tolerate it.’
‘I understand, although it was not my fault it will not be repeated again.’
‘How did you find Corea Town? Reminded you of home?’
‘Made me a little homesick. I could speak Corean after a long time and finally taste kimchi here.’
‘Kimchi…yes I remember. I developed a taste for it during my time in Seoul. As Subbaiah used to say, it is like a magnet, that zaps you and holds on.’
‘Did you enjoy your time in Seoul.’
‘I had only three problems; weather, language and identifying people.’
‘What do you mean identifying people?’ Maya asked puzzled.
‘I got very easily confused between the Chinese, Coreans and Japanese.’
‘I too cannot differentiate between Dravidians, Hindustanis and Pakistanis. I get confused.’
‘I guess you are right. That is because we are the same race. Seriously, how do you identify if the person is Chinese or Japanese?’
‘There are no fixed rules; we just see people and we can tell them apart. Most Chinese have rounder faces, and Japanese have angular faces, while Coreans have a mix of the two, we are also taller,’ she said. ‘Sir, can you tell me about your time in Seoul?’
‘Oh yes, I taught there for a year in 1975. I was invited as an exchange professor to teach economics at Seoul National University. You may not have been born then.’
‘I take that as a compliment. I am much older than you think.’
‘I won’t ask you your age. As they say, never ask a woman her age and a man his salary.’
‘Where did you stay? On campus?’
‘No, I stayed with a friend near the university?’
‘A Corean friend?’
‘No, a Dravidian friend, he was my colleague in Madras University and he too had come on an exchange program to teach in Seoul,’ he said staring at the clouds.
‘What was his name?’
Ganapathy looked straight in her eyes and said ‘Venkat, his full name was Venkataramaiah.’
‘I would like to meet him also sir. His experience in Seoul may help my research. Can you give me his contact information?’
‘That will be of no use, he passed away last year.’
‘Oh, I am sorry.’
‘How did you find the Corean students?’ she continued trying to deviate his attention.
‘Very intelligent, although they had difficulty in following my accent, and were very hardworking.’
‘My father had the same problem when he came to study here, but he often tells me that it was one of the best periods of his student life.’
‘Your father studied in Madras University? What did he study? When was it?’
‘He came here in 1965 to study economics, but the civil war started and he had to leave in a few months time. Luckily, he could transfer to an exchange program in Kyoto University, so he could complete the course.’
‘Are you Moon's daughter?’ Ganapathy screamed.
‘Yes sir, my father's name is Choi Moon-kyu.’
‘Wow! What a small world, Moon's daughter. I knew you looked familiar, fantastic, great. How is he doing?’
‘Did you know him?’
‘Of course I did. He was my student and stayed in Subbaiah's house during the riots. The young man asked too many questions, just like you.’
‘I hear Subbaiah fought in the civil war.’
‘Call him Professor Subbaiah young lady. Yes, he was one of the front leaders and organized all the students, not just in Madras but also in Andhra. You didn't tell me, what is Moon doing now?’
‘He teaches at Pyongyang Institute of Development Studies. My mother is also a professor in the same institute.’
‘So love marriage, eh?’
‘Yes, they met while doing their Ph.D in Kyoto University.’
‘Is she Japanese by any chance?’
‘Yes sir, she is from Osaka.’
‘What an irony, he hated Japanese and Chinese here at the University, and never mixed with them. Anyway, that explains your looks. You have sharp features, more like Japanese, but unlike them you are also tall. I heard that Korean women are beautiful and the Japanese men handsome. Is it true?’
‘That is what they say,’ she replied. ‘Can you tell a little more of Professor Subbaiah?’
‘Why do you want to know?’
‘I just wanted to know how my father spent his time in Madras during the agitation.’
‘He was mostly indoors, and alone in Subbaiah's house eating his noodle soup and reading Discovery of India, that he never completed. Subbaiah was underground, as there was an arrest warrant for him, and his wife was away in Hyderabad. Poor Moon used to come to our home for breakfast everyday, and I am sure that is the only good meal he had. We told him to have lunch and dinner, but he would not listen, so my wife used to make extra breakfast and pack the rest for him to take home. Later of course he had all his meals at our place.’
‘Didn't you join the agitation?’
‘I do not believe in violence. I initially feared that they were not just against Hindi but also against Brahmins.’
‘Was it true? Were the Brahmins targeted?’
‘Not physically, only verbally during the first phase of the war, later, we had no problems. Anna and our first President MGR ensured that the Brahmins were treated equally. If that fellow Karunanidhi had become President, one never knows what would have happened.’
‘Isn't Anna the father of your nation?’
‘Yes he is, great man, very compassionate towards everyone. From the beginning, he was against violence, but his deputy Karunanidhi pushed for violence.’
‘Why didn't Anna become the first President?’
‘He was against power, just like Mahatma Gandhi. Also he died of a heart attack soon after independence. Karunanidhi was our President for the interim, after the war.’
‘I thought MGR was your first President.’
‘He was the first elected President. After independence, an interim government was in charge till our constitution was drafted. Our first elections were held in November 1970, and the elected President took office in January 1971.’
‘What happened to Karunanidhi? Why didn't he become President?’
‘He lost to MGR in the primaries. We decided to follow the American electoral model, but with direct elections without electoral colleges. Every party has primaries to select their candidate. Karunanidhi stood against MGR and lost.’
‘What is he doing now?’
‘How can you keep asking so many questions? Does it run in your entire family?’
‘Sorry sir, it will help me understand the country and aid in my research.’
‘OK then. Karunanidhi retired from politics after his defeat, to concentrate on writing movie scripts and books. He is very old now, but still remains an influential man, and everyone from the party consults with him before taking any decision.’
‘Sir, did Professor Subbaiah play an important role in the government?’
‘He would have been Dravida's first Finance Minister, but they did not al
low him?’
‘Who did not allow him?’
‘The MGR faction in the party was against him. Subbaiah was a Karunanidhi supporter after the war, and was even member of the constitution drafting committee.’
‘You mean Naga's dad drafted your constitution?’
‘Who is Naga?’ Ganapathy asked, raising his eyebrow.
‘My friend, who met you in the library?’
‘Nagabhushan, that Hindu reporter is Subbaiah's son? Why didn't you say so?’
‘Nagarjuna sir, you told me not to get him to our meeting,’ she reminded him.
‘That's because he is a reporter and asked too many questions, I didn't know he is my best friend's son. I saw him when he was a baby.’
‘Sir, he is very curious to find out about his father's whereabouts. He does not believe that Professor Subbaiah defected to Hindustan.’
‘That is a long story.’
‘Do you know what happened to him?’
‘Forty years ago...times have changed. I would like to meet Subbaiah's son tomorrow. Can you get him here, same time?’ Ganapathy asked, ‘I hope his mother is doing well, she made excellent sambar!’
‘I will ask him, actually he will come to pick me up, and he may already be at the entrance, you can meet him now.’
‘No, no, not today, I have another appointment and have to leave now.’
‘Thank you sir, I will meet you with Naga tomorrow.’
Gananpathy got up without saying a word and walked away at a brisk pace, tapping his walking stick on the pavement with force.
Maya picked up her bag, switched off the pen-recorder and walked towards the University entrance gates.
Naga will be pleased. I have so much information.
As she approached the gates, she saw his car and ran towards it. He was busy nodding his head to some music playing on the stereo.
Opening the car door, she slid next to him in the front, and placed a wet passionate kiss on his lips.
He was slightly taken aback, and afraid that someone would notice. Public display of affection was something that he avoided.
‘You seem to be very happy.’
‘Of course,’ she replied placing her hand on his lap. ‘You have no idea what information I have got for you.’
‘You mean about my father?’
‘Yes, you should listen to the recording. Professor Ganapathy wants to met you tomorrow and give you more information.’
‘He knows about me?’
‘I told him. He also gave me some information about my father when he came here on the exchange program.’
‘Wow, that is some great detective work.’
‘You know how to repay me,’ she winked.
‘I hope you recorded the whole conversation, let us go home and listen to it,’ Naga replied blushing.