No Country for Graduated Men

Recently, I happened to glimpse Manohar Devadoss’s work on Madurai, “Multiple Facets of Madurai” (review). He is an expert in “Line Art” and effectively uses the method to illustrate the life in Madurai during his early years. Each Chapter with its illustration, is a story in itself. Terse and Slick. Compared to the early days, I sometimes wonder where have all these brilliant chaps gone?

The T.V.S. Lakshmi Matriculation Higher Secondary School et al. are notorious in a way. They are known for their produce of competitive and promising Students. Where are they? Did they eventually graduate out of the top public schools and head towards a City or Country where they could find opportunities? The migration of youth belonging to the middle-class income group has created a painful void in the City.

Madurai, these days, looks like a ghost town with a promising generation lost to major Cities or developed Nations. This is not to undermine the ones that are left in the town. The ones that are left in the town represent the evolving breed of Maduraiites or in typical sense, Maduraikaaranga.

As a new wave of immigrants flock the major Cities, Madurai also has its share of new arrivals from the neighbouring villages and towns. This is noticeable through superficial degradation in the quality of drivers with increase in the volume of traffic and the subtle change in the dynamics of living. Prices might have increased a bit to adjust with the raising inflation. In all, a City that has its own way of interpreting outcomes and determining events, exhibits a character unique to itself!

No matter what changes around, Madurai is contented to be dubbed “a sleeping Giant” with its chaotic mix of characters. There are talks that major Indian IT Giants are planning to open up IT Services in the suburbs of Madurai. Will Madurai lose its old charm or will it adapt gracefully to the modern day demands in its own way? I guess, we have to wait and see!

To me, my home town ain’t the same old Romantic City* (as described by Manohar Devadoss) for graduated men! People have moved on to greener pastures.

*Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.