A simple, unassuming girl from rural Tamil Nadu, all of 16 years old, suddenly found herself caught in the whirlwind of a major political turmoil. Five months after her marriage into Tamil Nadu’s most noteworthy political family, Durga’s husband was thrown into prison.
The Emergency experience turned out to be M.K. Stalin’s rite of political passage. Some 40 years later, Durga Stalin notes, Stalin, then a reluctant politician, remains a family man. Her book, Avarum Naanum , which will be released on February 27, is a chronicle of her relationship with the present working president of the DMK.
Emergency days
“If you go through the book you will find that Mr. Stalin and his wife faced all the problems that a typical middle class couple would encounter. She has written in detail the struggles they faced together, the Emergency, political defeats and victories,” said Manushyaputhiran, publisher of Uyirmai that has brought out the book. The content was serialised in the Tamil magazine Snehithi between 2011 and 2015 under the title Thalapathiyum Naanum.
“The Gopalapuram residence used to be like a house in mourning during the Emergency. The doors were always open, and the family members of partymen, who were arrested, would visit us regularly. Whey they cried, my mother-in-law would tell them that they should take heart from me. I had just been married five months ago. She consoled the family members of former Mayor Chittibabu by telling them that when Kalaignar was lodged in Palayamkottai jail, her son, my husband, was just a child,” Ms. Stalin has recalled in the book. “Even the cook Thayamma quit the job out of fear. My mother-in-law would say that the Emergency taught us who our real friends were,” she added.
Ms. Durga has recorded that during her travails during the Emergency era she used to cry a lot at night. Religious and devoted to her husband, she wrote out her prayers through the words, ‘Rama Jayam’ on a notebook. She would regularly visit Kapaleeswarar temple too.
Family life
Mr. Manushyaputhiran said that initially Mr. Stalin did not get the headstart that one would expect for the son of a major political leader. He tried his hand at many jobs, including running a printing press. “The book will give the reader a glimpse into the life of a political family,” he said.