‘Save me from my friends’ – this should be how Mr. Rajagopalachari is thinking now. That the enthusiasm shown by his friends in justifying Mr. Achari making obscene gestures at womenfolk to their chagrin from the terrace of the girls’ school building in the southern street, as though he had no other way to watch the procession conducted in connection with the Jubilee celebrations, is quite intriguing. Another class of Mr. Achari’s relations derive satisfaction from casting aspersions on those who criticise his dissoluteness by calling them names such as ‘watchmen’ etc. They are idiots sans reason who think that they can establish their point by abusing the defending lawyer.

Now there is another class of people. The justification put forward by them is as follows: Heeding the order given by the Dewan through the Director of Education, the headmaster had vacated the school for him to watch the procession. At the concession of the headmaster, others were also allowed to enter the school. The Dewan used a portion of it only. Some other officials were also there with him. This is how they justify his presence at the school. If that be the case, did the Dewan reprimand the headmaster for permitting the womenfolk into the school premises in violation of his orders? If so, why did director Dr. Mitchell eagerly make an attempt to screen the suggestive gestures from view? It is true that two or three officials had accompanied the Dewan to the school. Two of them were subordinate officers at the beck and call of the Dewan. The other person was chief justice Mr. Krishnan Nair. This man is never known to have frequented the place before; the people who had assembled there know too well that he had taken his wife and children there and was waiting at a convenient spot to watch the procession leaving his wards at another point, when, having been invited by the Dewan, he happened to go with him. If Mr. Nair had had any hint of how wicked Mr. Achari was, it is doubtful if he would have accepted the invitation. Wasn’t it with the intention of partially shielding his wickedness that Mr. Achari was so eager to take these gentlemen also with him? This apprehension is not groundless. The less said about this incident, the better- this is how we feel about it at the moment.

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It is reported that the author of ‘Kuruppillakkalari’ Mr. C.V. Raman Pillai B.A. in his speech delivered at Jubilee Town Hall in the evening last Friday, while presiding over a meeting under the auspices of the College Malayalam Association, had opined that ‘whatever may be the opinion held by others, I assert that it is from Sanskrit that Malayalam language originated.’ If this news is true, we are sure that Mr. Pillai’s reasoning will mislead people into making umpteen blunders. His reasoning is that since there is a plethora of Sanskrit words in Malayalam, it can be concluded that it is from Sanskrit that Malayalam language took its origin. Going by that reasoning, it may be argued that in future some people might venture to assert that since the blood of certain human races is mixed with the blood belonging to yet another human race, it goes without saying that the latter human race originated from the former. If it is because of his compulsive use of too much Sanskrit words in his novel Marthandavarma that drove him mad to theorise on the origin of Malayalam, we would like to advise him to take adequate doses of the language used by authors living in the north of Kerala in novels like Indulekha so that his madness can be subdued to some extent.

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A saddening news story about some people being forcefully evicted from their huts built at the back of the girls’ college at Palayam after mercilessly demolishing them has been dispatched to us. It is to build a separate building for the convenience and leisure of Mr. Velayudhan Thampi, a son born to the King out of his conjugal relationship with his Nair woman, that the huts of the poor people have been razed to ground. The tenants, who have been thrown into the street, have been living there for more than 30 years, paying building tax. The action of the Tahsildar aided by the police in demolishing and levelling their huts to ground was against their will, they plead in their petition. It is said that it was Mr. Brendan who helped these uprooted people by paying for their food for the time being. They have sent their petitions to the palace and the secretariat apart from the others in authority. Will anybody listen to their plaint? Should this be the jubilee memorial that His Highness the King has on his mind?