Youngsters in black clothes, red dupattas tied to their waists march in from all directions, their voices booming with strength and conviction. Through chants of ‘Mitti. Bhoomi. Mannu’ that reverberate in the very bones of those in the room, a multi-lingual story takes shape – of the struggle for land between those indigenous to it and those who see it as a resource waiting to be extracted for profit. Some shift uncomfortably in their seats, some watch rapt with attention and others faces have shaped into a question – regardless, Mannina Makkalu, a street play by the students of RBANM’s First Grade College left an impression at the 199th Founder’s Day celebration held on May 14 at Sabha Blr, on ‘Dharmarathnakara’ Rai Bahadur Arcot Narrainsawmy Mudaliar’s birth anniversary.
This was perhaps a fitting beginning for a man who, as advocate and RBANM’s secretary, Arvind Narrain noted in his address, spent his life in the pursuit of social justice through institutions. “He established a school for girls in the 1880s and the Thirukulathar school [for Dalit students]. Archival documentation indicates that the founder wrote to the British asking ‘Why don’t you establish a school for the Dalit community?’ The British refused, so he established the school himself. He took the idea that you must give back to society seriously. But what is inspiring is that he did so with a progressive vision. I see him as embodying the fundamental duty of all citizens to cultivate a spirit of critical inquiry, a scientific temper and spirit of reform,” he said.
History writer Aliyeh Rizvi took the stage, after a brief address by Dr Nandakumar Jairam, President of RBANM’s Trust, to share her research into the founder’s life. She describes the Ulsoor of the time as a ‘place that had both the large mansions of rich merchants and [low-income] migrants from across Madras presidency’. Opening schools, she noted, was motivated by the social inequalities he witnessed growing up in Blackpally (Shivajinagar area) as a 10-year-old helming the family business after his father’s death. His life’s work though, had far reaching consequences, as Rizvi noted, “His institutions offered access to English education previously limited to privileged Indians and opened up pathways for a meaningful future to nonelite Indian groups. They prepared students for clinical, commercial and administrative roles in the colonial bureaucracy.”
With both the performance and presentation, the intention was to set the stage for next year’s bicentennial celebration says Sahana Das, director of RBANM’s First Grade College. “The idea was to make a beginning that would run to the 200th year which we want to celebrate in a big way. What emerged organically was to show the vision of a man who lived so long ago which is so modern that it continues to resonate today. It is extremely relevant today – the idea that a country cannot progress unless we progress together and that progress must come through education.”