For the entire state, she was the Iron Lady, their Amma. But for Shantha Ashok Kumar, she was Jaya. The fair, good looking, well-built little girl.
Shantha and Jayalalithaa were classmates in Bishop Cotton Girls’ School, Bengaluru for two years. Later, while the latter went to Church Park, Chennai, the former joined Paradise Convent, Chennai. But it was only a few years ago when an old school photograph of Jayalalithaa was circulated in the media did Shantha realise that the Chief Minister was none other than ‘Jaya’, her classmate from Bishop Cotton.
“I still remember Jaya sitting in a corner in the class. Her face cut hasn’t changed much. She was very quiet, but was determined,” recalls Shantha.
Shantha was a sports enthusiast in school. Jayalalithaa, on the other hand was drawn more to dance. “She used to look at the sports teams admiringly,” she says.
Shantha also recollects how Jayalalithaa missed her father. “My father would drop and pick me up from school and I’ve seen Jaya looking at us. Once she asked me if that was my father and I said ‘yes’. She told me then that she misses her father. I didn’t know of Jaya losing her father until then,” she recalls of an instance about a long-lost friend who was always a loner in school.
While Jayalalithaa went on to act in films after school, Shantha got married at 18 and moved to Jamshedpur and later became an academician. She currently resides in Bengaluru and was undergoing an ayurvedic treatment at Mysuru when she heard of the ex-CM’s demise. The two childhood friends had no occasion to meet ever since they parted ways at school. She wrote a few emails but there was no reply. She also tried meeting her in Chennai, but that never worked out. “I know that she was very busy. I don’t think those emails ever reached her,” says Shantha.
This old friend also had a message for Amma. “No doubt she was a good leader. She did a lot of good things. But I feel she had more potential. She could have made Tamil Nadu a better place,” she says. She adds that while Jayalalithaa’s followers flattered her with praises, she could have given her an objective view on things as an outsider.