THAMBI KADAMBAVANAM

He was a jolly good fellow





I had seen a few English plays performed in Madras in which Thambi Kadambavanam played key roles. He had made quite a reputation for himself as a major theatre personality at that time. A number of English plays used to be put up those days, and hard ly any without Thambi Kadambavanam.

I used to put up a couple of plays every year. I believe he had seen some of these. But somehow we never got to meet each other while we were in Madras. And then I moved to Madurai. I did put up a few plays in Madras even after that. But Madurai was our main performing area. Meanwhile Thambi (he insisted on being called that) acted in many more plays and also in an English language film made by V.V.Giri’s son and featuring Jayalalitha as the heroine. Thambi played her father. The film was not particularly good, but it had the value of novelty.

Thambi in Madurai


One day after a performance of a play, Thambi appeared backstage and congratulated me and the actors, and engaged us in pleasant conversation. I had recognized him the moment I saw him. The bulbous nose, the heavy jowls and the unwieldy body stood out like trade marks. “How is it you are in Madurai?” I asked him. “That’s a long story” he said. “I’ll tell you about it another day”. And then he asked for my address and directions to reach my house.

The next evening he called at my house, and from then on he was a frequent visitor. And gradually I came to know more about him.

He was fanatically keen on using a heavy British accent on stage, but was not particular about any other stage aspect. He pronounced some words with excessive exaggeration, and scoffed at those who didn’t follow this style.

The lonely entertainer


Thambi had come to Madurai to be in an old people’s home where his sister was also a resident. As I talked with him, I realized that though he was a witty character who made others laugh, he was a lonesome and sad individual craving for love and affection and not getting any.

My daughter was a student of Lady Doak College at that time, and she used to bring a lot of friends to the house. Thambi had them screaming with laughter. These girls kept coming frequently in order to be entertained by Thambi, and he never disappointed them.

Thambi once asked me to draw his portrait. I told him that since I was essentially a cartoonist, the portrait would be more like a caricature. “The funnier the better” said Thambi, and sat uncharacteristically motionless until I finished the drawing.

One day Thambi excitedly told me that he was going to Madras to stay with some relatives. They kept him for ten days and then asked him to leave. He came back to Madurai , feeling sad and unwanted. Though he tried to joke and laugh, the underlying sadness was apparent.

One day I was summoned to the old age home and was told that Thambi was seriously ill. He was rushed to a hospital and admitted. About six days later he was discharged. I took him back to the home for the aged, where he passed away a couple of days later. His sister sat alone near his body.

There were just a handful of people at the funeral.

SPOONERISMS

Slips of the tongue, slops of the ting or tips of the slung






I had a colleague in college who was always in a hurry when he spoke, and so often bungled his speech. We were talking about some persons who lived in the same area. My friend wished to say “Avanga ellorum oray area”. But it came out as & #8220;Avanga ellorum array orea”.

The tasted worms


A well known radio announcer, Harry Von Zell, once referred to “The President of the United States, Hoobert Heever”. (Herbert Hoover). Someone else referring to a youngster said: “He really has mad banners”. (Bad manners)

Such interchange of the initial sounds of two words is known as ‘spoonerism’.The Rev. Dr. William Archibald Spooner was a professor and later the head of the New College, Oxford from 1862 to 1924. He is supposed to have told a student “Young man, you have hissed my mystery lectures, and you have tasted two worms” (Wasted two terms)

A large number of such slips were attributed to Dr. Spooner. While officiating at a wedding, after he pronounced them man and wife, he is supposed to have said, “It is kisstamory to cuss the bride” (Customary to kiss the bride).

When we were students in college we used to make up such spoonerisms and attribute them to some of our professors. Perhaps this is what happened in Spooner’s case too.

There were also oxymorons, two words of opposite meaning put together like “genuine imitation”, “almost exactly”, “found missing”, “tight slacks”, “pretty ugly” and so on. Of course many of these have passed into regular usage.

Going back to Dr. Spooner, he is said to have exhorted a group of students to welcome the troops returning from abroad after an engagement. “When our boys come home, we will have the hags flung out”. And on another occasion, toasting the queen he said: “Let us drink to the queer old dean” (Dear old queen).

Here are a few more spoonerisms. “Right fascism” for “Fight racism, a blushing crow (Crushing blow), sparking pace (parking space) and drain bamage (brain damage), cattle ships and bruisers (battle ships and cruisers).

Iron backsides


At a formal dinner party at Oxford a lady with the imposing name, Ironside-Bax, saw Dr. Spooner, whom she knew, in conversation with a professor whom she wished to meet. She accordingly approached Spooner and asked to be introduced. “Certainly, dear lady” said Spooner. “Professor, I should like you to meet a friend of mine, Mrs.Iron Backside.” That must have been a bard hottom.

He is said to have urged his neighbour at lunch to try “some of the stink puff” pointing to a dish of pink jelly. In chapel he is said to have announced the well known hymn, “From Greenland’s icy mountains” as “From Iceland’s greasy mountains”.

Once during my boyhood I attended the marriage ceremony of my teacher in a local church. The pastor announced the wedding hymn “Yedhenil aadhi manam” (referring to the Garden of Eden) as “Aadhenil Yedhi manam”. Of course I had not heard of Dr.Spooner those days, but my friends and I giggled at the pastor’s error until we were admonished by the elders sitting near us.

It is now said that Dr. Spooner never uttered any spoonerisms. They were all made up by mischievous undergraduates, and grew in volume in the course of years. This was done just for fun, and not in malice, for Spooner was a kindly man who was well liked by his students and colleagues. He did a lot to build up New College and make it a premier institution in Oxford.

It is pity he is now remembered only for the gaffes, mostly foisted on him.

Sow had ! Or rather how sad!