Muscovite impresses with his mastery of Tamil

Alexander M. Dubianskiy

His chaste Tamil surprises you. Alexander M.Dubianskiy hails from Moscow. He and his Tamil language students were in Chennai recently.
He met music director Ilaiyaraaja, Gangai Ameran and writer Jayakanthan. He is particular that his studentsfollow him in speaking the language with the correct pronunciation.
Dr. Dubianskiy spoke to S.R.Ashok Kumar about his passion for the Tamil Language.
Alexander M.Dubianskiy holds a doctorate in Tamil Language and literature and works in the Department of Indian philology, Institute of Asian and African studies, Moscow State University.
He visits Tamil Nadu every second year. This time, four of his students accompanied him and they all went round Tamil Nadu.
"When I wanted to go for higher studies, a friend who studied in the oriental language department in the University of Moscow wanted me to pursue the same courses he was studying — Hindi and Sanskrit. That year, in 1965, a new group of students started studying Tamil. I joined them. Today, I am happy that I have learnt a new and rich language.
"That was the first group that studied the language. The university did not have a full-fledged Tamil scholar at that time.
"Students and people from Tamil Nadu helped the lecturers. Tamil fascinated me very much due to its rich literature and poetry.
"After finishing my course I decided to pursue a postgraduate course in Tamil mainly to learn more about the language."
Dr. Dubianskiy soon started teaching Tamil literature. "But that was when it was called the Soviet Union. Now there are practically no jobs for people studying Tamil in Russia. I hope something will be done soon ... "
He feels it is his duty to sustain the study of Tamil because he considers Tamil and Tamil culture an important part of Indian culture.
Although, he completed his doctorate in 1974, the academic came to India only in 1978-79.
"I studied in the University of Madras under the guidance of some very knowledgeable people such as Professor N. Sanjeevi. I was very friendly with my teacher Prof. Pon Kothandaraman (Porko)."
His research thesis was on Sangam poetry — an area on which he has guided other students too, as also the poems of Subramania Bharathi.
Dr. Dubianskiy says has learnt something from every visit. This is his 12th visit to the State.
His one great wish: "I want somebody to take my place and spread the Tamil language. I also want more students to learn it."

Iron Lady of a lost cause

Irom Sharmila Chanu's story is magnetic in its moral force, yet not violent or binding. It's heroic, yet rooted. It's self-sacrificing. Irom's struggle talks about human life when it's robbed one of its most essential commodity -dignity.

Irom hasn't eaten a morsel of food or taken a drop of water for the past six years.

Synonymous with the agitation against the Armed Forced Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Irom Sharmila demands that the draconian act 'must go' to restore peace in the state.

"I can't tolerate the atrocities on my contemporaries and on my people. This is God's will and I will carry on. It's intolerable," she says.

Today, she weighs just 37 kgs and most of her body organs are wasted. For the past six years, the Indian state has kept her alive on a cocktail of vitamins and nutrients and she is forcibly fed twice a day through her nose.

Charged with attempt to suicide, Sharmila has been in the custody of the Delhi Police for the past one year and five police personnel guard her round the clock.

Irom Sharmila, a poet, a Gandhian on a modern-day satygraha, is today a high security prisoner.

Those who come to visit her at Room No 8 in the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in the Capital—where is is currently lodged—are searched, their gifts opened, and conversations overheard.

In a nation that reveres the principles of Ahimsa and Satyagraha one of Gandhi's greatest followers has been forgotten.