Advocate Ansari : Professor! The mildest term that I could command, to depict your behaviour at that lunch, is barbaric. I was simply astounded.... You who used always to respect the feelings of others.... the moment my chief guest entered and saluted all of us..... dashed out of the parlour.... It was an insult .... none would have expected it from men of your stature .... and....

Prof. Pandu : Apart from this outburst, Mr.Ansari, did you ponder at all over the possible reasons for my behaviour that day. I admit that to dash away from a company is disgusting... yes, an insult. But why did I do it ... Sir! Why...?

Doctor Damu : I know this much Professor! Only the strongest of reasons ought to have prompted you to act in that unusual way....

Prof. Pandu : Let us cater the word that would please our friend, Mr.Ansari ... my attitude was barbaric... I do not deny that ... but should we not find out why one known for his civility, gentility and sobriety, suddenly becomes savage....

Advocate Ansari : It is for you to explain, Professor! I know that you are capable of explaining away anything ... an adept I should say....

Prof. Pandu : Sir! That chief guest of yours is a turn-coat... one without stable views ... unprincipled ... unreliable.... and above all, Sir! he has expressed contemptuous opinion about our club itself.... I did not want to be in his company .... for getting the insults he heaped upon our club itself.

Doctor Damu : But professor! To leave the lunch table.... that is too much, is it not....

Prof. Pandu : No, Sir! No! There are historical precedents for that. When one finds anybody become insulting, one has got a moral right to walkout, in protest. When at a banquet President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia had said some rude words about the British attitude in Rhodesia, the British embassy official walked out in protest. Our own embassy official, on finding Chou-en-lai pouring forth vituperation on our leaders, had to walk out in protest. Many such instances go to show, that walkout under such circumstances is the most normal, legitimate and Parliamentary form of protest. Sir! What I did the other day was not only justifiable but it was a moral right.

Advocate Ansari : Anything can be justified, Professor, by subtle arguments .... enticing explanations....

Prof. Pandu : Sir! I did what my conscience dictated me to do....

Doctor Damu : Leaving that aside, Professor, may I ask you to state, what did this particular gentleman, do?

Prof. Pandu : That is an intelligent interrogation Doctor! And I am glad that instead of fretting and foaming, you are raising up a pertinent question. This man.... I hesitate to term his as a gentleman since made insulting references about our club... He Sir, termed us as cronies, who meet every week to wobble nonsense.

Doctor Damu : Did he say so.... about us ....? Cronies... is an ugly word .... it is clearly an insult....

Prof. Pandu : And I wanted him to realise that we will not take and munch his insults. I wanted to register my protest ... hence the walkout.... It was neither born out of barbarity nor was it meaningless. It was done with a purpose deliberately... and what is more he realised it ... the signinficance of my walkout.

Advocate Ansari : Your explanation, Professor? is not to be treated lightly. But you could have advised me and prevented the lunch arrangement itself.

Prof. Pandu : Sir! I realise that it is my duty to guide you when you make a mess of things.... but unfortunately I was not at all aware of your grandiose plan of a lunch .... I do not still know what prompted you to arrange for this lunch....

Advocate Ansari : Professor! He was introduced to me by some prominent men as an advocate of human rights.... a president or secretary of some International organisation...

Doctor Damu : And you thought that by arranging a lunch, you will get a pass-port for some of the International Conferences... a trip to Ottawa or Toronto, Brussells or Bonu...

Advocate Ansari : No, Doctor, certainly not. It was not because of any such idea that I arranged that lunch.... through I remember right now, that man did make a mention about a Seminar to be held at Geneva or some other place ... I do realise Professor, that I was wrong.

Doctor Damu : We should be beware of talks about International Seminars or Organisations....

Prof. pandu : But, not about genuine attempts Doctor. We should not ignore internationalism. Can't afford to ... But the most common attitude towards international affairs is apathy when the machine works and a sort of political dyspepsia when it does not.

Advocate Ansari : That is of course true ... one should study the problems of various countries, their history and the like...

Prof. Pandu : The object is good, desirable, necessary.... but Mr.Ansari we should realise that International politics is not the study of many seperate countries, but the study of the relations between them.

Advocate Ansari : But Professor! One country will respect another country only when that particular country contributes something substantial for the common good of the world as a whole...

Prof. Pandu : I understand what you are hinting at ... somebody said that a country with the begging bowl in its hand cannot command the respect of others... true. But the time has come when affluent nations should realise that their duty is to share their prosperity with others; not to dominate over others. The days of building up domains are gone - gone for ever. This is an age when only the kingdom of goodwill will be lasting - not any other form of kingdom.

Advocate Ansari : Emperors and Military Commanders have no place in the present set up...They had had their day .... ages ago, not now.

Prof. Pandu : Even at that age, Mr.Advocate, all was not rosy for these mighty monarchs, If you go through an admirable book entitled "Power and morality", written by Sorokin and Lunden you will get a correct picture about these monarchs.

Doctor Damu : Did not the masses believe in the theory of the Divine Right of kings - for a long long time ....

Prof. Pandu : They did. The monarchs themselves had immense confidence in that theory. As a matter of fact the Stuart Kings, especially Chares I of England went to the scaffold to maintain his conviction about this Divine Right.

Advocate Ansari : It is amazing to find people really believing that kings were the representatives of God....

Prof. Pandu : Not only the representatives of God, but as God himself... Why there are enough evidence in history to show that. And this belief was cultivated and maintained very studiously and I may say, cunningly. In past empires - the Egyptian, Babylonic, Sumeric, Iranic, Hittite, early Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arabic, and others, the might of the monarchies were based upon the ignorance of the people who believed that these monarch had super-human powers. They were deified - and worshipped by narrating to the people a hundred stories poems and epics. Songs and hymns, operas and festivals were there in plenty to strengthen this belief.

Doctor Damu : The accepted term was that the king can do no wrong. It is stated that Jesus Christ himself asked the people, to "Pay unto Ceasar what is Ceasar's and pay unto God what is God's.

Prof. Pandu : The idea of Divine Right of kings was first pressed into service by these Monarchs. And when they found bolder spirits questioning the logic of the idea, these monarchs ruthlessly annihilated all such thoughts. Brute force was let loose.

Advocate Ansari : True. It was a period when the people were not aware of their of their inherent rights....! They were not bold and courageous enough to stand up and demand their basic rights.

Prof. Pandu : How could they, Sir, when the rulers stirred up terror in the minds of the people, by their very Titles, coat of arms and the like? Do you remember the meaning of some of the titles these monarchs had..... lion, tiger, eagle, cobra, vulture, wolf, crocodile, fox, hawk and the like.....

Doctor Damu : We have had our Nara Simhas, Puli Kesis, Naga Nandas and the like...

Prof. Pandu : The Doctor is right... We too had them in plenty. Some of the surnames attached to these mighty men will show clearly, why the people were terribly afraid of the rulers. Chengiskhan was known through his sur-name as the Mighty Killer! Attilla was called the Terror of the World. Examples there are in abundance.

Doctor Damu : But fortunately those days are gone - never again to return.

Prof. Pandu : I beg to differ from you, Doctor! The trend has not completely died down. Attempts are being made from time to time to deify the ruler. Today, reports we get about China makes one think that there Mao is being transformed into a God. His books have become the scriptures for the Chinese - and in all activities his blessing is sought for.

Advocate Ansari : That is fanatiasin of the worst form...

Prof. Pandu : And that is made possible in this age of enlightenment and rationalism. In an age when space is being conquered, this fanaticism is allowed to flourish.

Doctor Damu : But we are more fortunate. Through we too had this hero-worship, the personality cult, we never allowed this to become a fanatic theory...

Prof. Pandu : Not only that!.... We have shown to the world that any attempt by a party to be in perpetual power will be thwarted. There was a time when it was thought that the Congress party will not be unseated at all. But today the people have shown that they are the real rulers. The Congress party was dethroned in a large portion of India...

Advocate Ansari : But it is the Congress which still controls the Central Government. The Government of India is run by the Congress party.

Prof. Pandu : Yes! And that would make the unlettered to say, that India is still under the control of the Congress. But the fact is entirely different. West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab, Bihar and Orissa, Tamilnad and Kerala are today not under the Congress regime...

Doctor Damu : But the Central Government is under the control of the Congress...

Prof. Pandu : But keen political observers know, that the claim of the Congress in that respect is hollow, unjust...

Advocate Ansari : But that is a legal and Constitutional fact...

Prof. Pandu : Legal, may be.... Constitutional to- .... I do not deny. But has the Congress the moral right to say, that India is under that party? No Sir! None would present that tall claim. And the more realistic of the Congress party do realise that their position is weak, unstable, and even illogical. And it is our duty, as members of a first-rate association, to educate the people about this. We should also feel the Congress to become humble and give up its haughtiness...

Advocate Ansari : The front rank Congressmen, I am sure do realise this truth...

Prof. Pandu : But the 'lessor ones' even today thunder forth about the might of the Congress... they are saying that the Non-Congress Governments will be toppled down. Trial of strength are made from time to time.

Doctor Damu : Which means that the political stability is being disturbed by the Congress party.

Prof. Pandu : And the Congress is planning to come back to power, through a Mid-term election.

Doctor Damu : Talking about elections, may I ask, when are we going to have the bye-election for the South Madras constituency.

Prof. Pandu : Perhaps in a month or two.

Advocate Ansari : And when an election is arranged, Professor, what party will get the tremendous benefit of your service.....

Prof. Pandu : Need I tell you? The haste shown, the anxiety exhibited by the Congress party bear ample testimony to their "thirst for power". I will be on the side of Democracy, certainly.

Advocate Ansari : It seems that there is going to be a bye-election soon for the Council seat....?

Prof. Pandu : Yes! And Mr.Arivazhagan is contesting.... He is an young man who deserves a seat in the Council. His knowledge about the educational problems has given him a right to seek entrance into the Council....

Advocate Ansari : Professor! You are already canvassing .....

Prof. Pandu : Why not...? It is the duty of a democrat. I have arranged for a compact body for this purpose and I am meeting some of the teachers in my zone....

Advocate Ansari : And over a cup of tea, you are going to canvass for the DMK candidate ....

Doctor Damu : How is it Professor? You have not commanded us to work along with you.....

Prof. Pandu : That is the highest of compliments and I am thankful to you for the same. And may I suggest, that we disperse now, and ...

Doctor Damu : ..... and do some real canvassing while we take the scroll .....

Prof. Pandu : I am immensely pleased Sir, for this kind offer. Let us start right now and do our duty, however small our stature.

(Home Rule - 30-7-1967)