Sukumar Azhikode:

A Student’s Tribute to His Teacher

By M.P. Prabhakaran

New York, January 24, 2012: As usual, I was casually browsing the online editions of Indian newspapers this morning, when I hit upon the headline: “Sukumar Azhikode Passes Away.” I stopped my browsing and fell into a meditative mood. I mentally paid my last respects to this great soul. Sukumar Azhikode died half the world away, in Thrissur, a city in the southern Indian state of Kerala. He was 86. The cause of death was cancer.

            To those of my readers who are from Kerala, my home state in India, whatever I write about Sukumar Azhikode will be superfluous. He had been a household name in that state for over five decades. He was a literary critic and academic par excellence, a recipient of several prestigious literary awards and a spellbinding orator. He dominated Kerala's cultural scene, which he entered in the 1950s when he was barely in his twenties.

Those from outside Kerala, but within India, may have heard the name Sukumar Azhikode, but without being able to appreciate the scholar and orator in him. Though he was deeply knowledgeable in Malayalam, English and Sanskrit literatures, he wrote and spoke mostly in Malayalam.

Those from outside India, regrettably, haven’t heard his name. But then, that is the case with many intellectual giants in the world, who thought, wrote and spoke only in their native languages. Unless their works have been translated into other languages, the rest of the world wouldn’t know that such giants even existed. Sukumar Azhikode was one of them. His name may not mean much to non-Malayalees. But to me, it means a lot.

I am one of the thousands who are now scattered around the world who had the privilege of being his students. Though I had that privilege only for a year, the memorable impression he created in me as a teacher has lasted to this day, even after the passage of over four decades.

The news of his death took me back to my undergraduate days in Kerala. Sukumar Azhikode was a lecturer in Malayalam literature at St. Joseph’s (Devagiri) College, Kozhikode, when I studied there. Though he taught Malayalam literature, hardly was there a session when he confined his discussion only to Malayalam. For examples and thoughts comparable to those of the Malayalam poets and writers he was discussing, he would frequently foray into English and Sanskrit literatures. It was from him that I heard, for the first time, the name Bertrand Russell. If Russell’s writings and philosophy greatly influenced me later, the credit goes to Sukumar Azhikode.

In those days, college classes in Kerala used to be of one-hour duration. In the case of classes conducted by most other lecturers and professors, we couldn’t wait for the hour to be over, and we greeted the class-ending bell with joy. Blame it on our age: almost all of us were teenagers. But Sukumar Azhikode’s class was different. By the time the class ended, he would have brought us to such an intellectual high that we greeted the bell with disappointment.

Decades later, when I taught at the City University of New York, as an adjunct professor of political science, and when I saw my students springing to their feet at the first stroke of the class-ending bell, I used to say to myself: “Didn’t I behave the same way when I was their age?” And then add: “If only I could make my class half as interesting as that of Sukumar Azhikode!”

Sukumar Azhikode's body being taken out of hospital. (This picture and the one above are

reproduced by courtesy of The Hindu, one of India's leading English dailies.)

Thank you for this well-written piece. You have put the whole thing in perspective – personal, national and international. I didn't know you were a student of St. Joseph’s College before you landed at Guruvayurappan College.

Dr. T.M. Sarvothaman Nedungadi, Kozhikode, Kerala State, India

January 26, 2012

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Hillary Rodham Clinton:

U.S. Vice President 2013 – 2016;

President 2017 – 2020. And We All

Sing 'Happy Days Are Here Again'

By M.P. Prabhakaran

Barack Obama as president and Hillary Clinton as vice president from 2013 t0 2016. And Hillary Clinton as president and another stalwart Democrat as vice president from 2017 to 2020. All Americans, except a few pathological naysayers, find themselves singing “Happy Days Are Here Again.”

The foregoing scenario, envisaged by Bill Keller in “Just the Ticket,” his January 9, 2012, Op-Ed piece in The New York Times, is actually the dream which millions of people like me have been nurturing for some time now. We are grateful to Mr. Keller for helping us put it out there through a prestigious newspaper like The Times. We are also grateful to The Times for retaining Mr. Keller as an Op-Ed page columnist, after his recent retirement from the paper as its executive editor. Thanks to the paper’s wise decision, we can happily look forward to continuing reading Mr. Keller’s brilliant social and political analyses, interspersed with advice and admonition for those in power. His January 9 column strengthens that hope.

It is a thoughtful analysis of the political scene that is currently unfolding in the U.S. And the marvelous piece of advice contained in it, for the Democratic Party, President Obama and the Obama inner circle, is something they will ignore only at their own peril.

The Obama inner circle, euphoric over the internecine battle that is going on among the Republican presidential aspirants, may not be all that enthusiastic about persuading Hillary Clinton to be Obama’s running mate in this year’s election. The euphoria is premature. True, as Mr. Keller says, “the Republican field looks like a bug-spattered windshield and the most likely nominee strikes many in his own party as an empty suit.” But the empty suit, also known as Mitt Romney, has already demonstrated his ability to destroy his opponents. In the world of politics, it is immaterial that that ability is a combination of cunningness and resourcefulness. Apart from these two, Mr. Romney also has material resources. Mr. Keller cites how, using all three, he brought down Newt Gingrich, who had emerged as a formidable challenger to him in the Iowa Caucuses nominating process. A repeat performance, vis-à-vis Barack Obama in the presidential race, cannot be ruled out.

Even if the ultimate Republican nominee that challenges Obama is someone else, the party’s resourcefulness to bring down its opponent by any means should not be underestimated. Who can forget the way George W. Bush, with questionable assistance from the Supreme Court, emerged victorious against Al Gore, in 2000? The Supreme Court was Republican-leaning then. And it is more so now.

The Obama inner circle should not ignore, either, another possible outcome of Ms. Clinton’s not being on the ticket: Her being drafted as a candidate for president by her supporters. The blogosphere in the country is rife with rumors about that possibility. Some of her supporters are already talking and writing about it. If they are determined to follow through, there is no stopping of them. Remember what the late Senator Edward Kennedy’s supporters did to President Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party in 1980?

A Secretary of State Par Excellence

There is reason to hope that such a thing won’t happen this time. Ms. Clinton is a disciplined team-player. She would be the last person to turn against the one who brought her into the team and provided an arena for her to prove to the world what she is capable of doing. In a matter of three years, she has proved to be a secretary of state par excellence. Though it is highly unlikely that she would leave the team, there is a clear case for the captain of the team to assign her another position in it.

Ms. Clinton’s being on the ticket will be an asset to the Obama campaign. Mr. Keller sums up her stellar qualities thus: She has “a Calvinist work ethic, the stamina of an Olympian, an E.Q. to match her I.Q., and the political instincts of a Clinton. She has an impressive empathic ability — invaluable in politics or statecraft — to imagine how the world looks to an ally or adversary. She listens, and she learns from her mistakes. She was a perfectly plausible president four years ago, and that was before she demonstrated her gifts as a diplomatic snake-charmer…; her approval rating of 64 percent is the highest of any political figure in the country.” Mr. Keller gives Obama loyalists one more persuasive reason to make Ms. Clinton the vice presidential candidate: an Obama-Clinton ticket “does more to guarantee Obama’s re-election than anything else the Democrats can do.”

“Moreover,” adds Mr. Keller, “even if Obama can win without Hillary, there’s a lot to be said for running up the score. If she can do in 2012 what Obama did in 2008 — animate that feeling of historic possibility — the pair can lift some House and Senate candidates along with them. One reason Republicans did so well in the 2010 Congressional elections is that they overcame the gender gap and carried women voters 51 to 49. Those voters will flock back to Hillary, the more so if the Republican ticket is locked into a culture-war agenda. So, by the way, will Hispanic voters, securing such endangered states as Florida, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado.”

If elected, Ms. Clinton would be the first woman vice president in the history of the country and a logical choice as Democratic candidate for president in the 2016 election. If she gets elected as president 2016, like Obama’s election in 2008, it will be a historic first for America. That prospect alone will prompt those who are apolitical to vote Democratic. Obama loyalists who are wavering on enlisting Clinton as Obama’s running mate may want to mull over it.

What to Do With Joe Biden?

Once that issue is resolved, the Democratic Party will be left with the embarrassing question of what to do with the present vice president, Joe Biden. After all, he has been “a loyal and accomplished public servant,” as Mr. Keller accurately assesses, and he “deserves to be treated with honor.” How to make his replacement with Ms. Clinton more appealing to both? Here again, Mr. Keller offers the Democrats a helping hand:

“A political scientist I know proposes the following choreography: In the late winter or early spring, Hillary steps down as secretary of state to rest and write that book [another volume of her memoirs]. The president assigns Biden — the former chairman of Senate Foreign Relations — to add State to his portfolio, making him the most powerful vice president in history. Come the party convention in September, Obama swallows his considerable pride and invites a refreshed Hillary to join the ticket. Biden keeps State. The musicians play ‘Happy Days Are Here Again’ as if they really mean it.”

And the whole world would sing along. I, certainly, will.

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Letters on India The New York Times Did Not Publish

By M.P. Prabhakaran

Letters on India The New York Times Did Not Publish (see the front cover, left), my latest book, came out a few months ago. It is a collection of letters I sent to The Times over a period of three decades.

I have been reading this prestigious newspaper since the time it was sold for a dime. (Now it costs $2, Monday through Saturday, and the Sunday edition costs $5.) In fact, the first reading material I bought, after coming to the U.S. three decades ago, was a copy of The Times. It didn't take long for me to get addicted to it. My friends from Bombay (now Mumbai), who had preceded me to the U.S. and provided me shelter in my early New York days, would teasingly ask me in those days, “Did you get your Bible today?” As years went by, my addiction to the paper grew stronger. Now, I wouldn’t consider my day in New York complete until I have read the day’s Times.

I know you want me to stop boring you and to come to the point. The point is: If the title of my book has an accusatory tone, it is unintentional. I am not bringing out the book because of any grudge for The Times. I have been in journalism long enough to know that no newspaper can be expected to publish all the letters it receives from its readers. And in the case of an internationally renowned paper like The Times, the letters it receives every day could be several hundred, if not a few thousand.

I sent letters to The Times whenever I spotted errors – factual or judgmental – in its news articles, editorials or opinion pieces. As that clichéd expression in journalism goes, facts are sacred and comments are free. In fairness to the paper, I should acknowledge that it did publish five of my letters. All of them pointed out some factual errors.

However, the sad truth is that very often, personal opinions expressed by editorial writers, columnists and commentators – and even reporters – get accepted as facts, especially by readers who have only a smattering of the subjects opined upon. Readers get proper perspectives on those subjects only when they are provided with contrary or variant opinions. As we all know, every issue has more than one side and every subject can be, and should be, discussed from more than one perspective. Hence the importance given by newspapers to publishing letters from readers, reflecting different viewpoints.

All the letters I wrote pointed out errors or erroneous slants in what I read. My purpose in writing them was to share with other readers what I noticed. Those who were under the impression that what they read was absolutely true would have had a chance to revise that impression, if my letters were published. Many of them might have died by now, carrying with them the wrong impression. Others get a chance to revise it, with the release of this book.

It is my regret that I have not been able to include in the book all the unpublished letters I sent to The Times. Before the era of online communications, writing a letter to a newspaper and dispatching it was a time-consuming process. If one was not careful enough to keep a copy of it for future reference, the letter would be lost forever. That was the case with me: I didn’t bother to keep copies of many letters I wrote in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Even of those I kept, many were lost during my moves from apartment to apartment. In my early New York days, such moves were frequent.

Keeping copies of letters became easy with the advent of Internet and e-mail. Recently, I happened to browse through some of them. That’s when I realized that some of the issues discussed in those letters are still relevant and still remain unresolved. This book is an effort on my part to keep those issues alive until resolved. I leave it to the readers of the book to decide whether it serves any useful purpose.

The book can be ordered from

RoseDog Books

701 Smithfield Street, Third Floor

Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Call 1-800-834-1803

RoseDogBookstore.com

It is also available at www.amazon.com

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