THROUGH COURTSHIP TO THE COURTROOM

Love beckoned him to the legal profession

A young man named J.D.Abraham (JDA) joined the St.John's College in Palayamkottai as a lecturer after completing his B.A. at Madras Christian College. This was in the early days of the 20th Century. The MCC was near the court building in GeorgeTown, not in Tambaram. The next year he moved to Srivilliputtur as a teacher in the CMS High School.

There he became friendly with the headmaster's son, a tall, gangling young man who was studying Law in Madras. The two friends strolled about in the evenings taking in the sights and sounds of the small town. Among the sights that appealed most to JDA were the young girls returning home after a bath in a nearby tank. They carried a lot of wet clothes they had washed, and chatted and giggled as they made their way home. One girl in particular, a fair and rather buxom character took the fancy of the young teacher.

Brothers in law

Every time they saw the young girls JDA became tongue-tied, and gawked at the passing vision. His friend who had observed this, asked him one day what ailed him. "That girl... that girl in the green saree... " JDA muttered. "The plump one ?" asked his friend. JDA nodded dumbly. "Are you interested in her?" Another nod. "You want to marry her?" JDA nodded again. "I can arrange it," said his friend. "She is my sister". JDA gaped at his friend in grateful wonder. "But there is one condition" said the brother of the girl. "You must become a lawyer. Only then will you earn enough money to keep her in style." JDA nodded again.

JDA was passionately interested in English literature and had always wanted to be a professor of English. But love pushed him into the legal profession. The marriage was fixed in no time, and after the marriage JDA went to Madras to study law. He kept making frequent trips to Srivilliputtur, unable to stay away from his young wife. No wonder he failed a couple of times before getting his B.L. degree.

His brother-in-law then asked him to start practicing in Kovilpatti since it was a fertile ground for criminal cases. The brother-in-law himself became a well known lawyer in Madurai. His name was Edwin Periyanayakam.

Danger Zone

A few days after he had moved to Kovilpatti, JDA was coming out of his house when he noticed a man with a muffler round his neck sitting near a low wall with his hand on his moustache. When he returned after about an hour the man was still there. "What are you doing here?" JDA asked him. But there was no reply. The man just sat there and stared. So the lawyer tapped him on the shoulder, whereupon the man's head rolled off and fell to the ground. Someone had murdered him and left him like that. JDA knew he had come to the right place for a career as a criminal lawyer. Murder cases kept turning up almost every day. Soon JDA had built himself a huge house for the princely sum of Rs 3000/-. That was in the year 1917. The noted brigand, Jambulingam was one of his clients, and the patriot V.O.Chidambaram Pillai was his colleague.

JDA ordered his life well. He was in court in the mornings and in the tennis court in the evenings. At 6 pm he went to the Literary Association or the Thinkers' Club. After dinner he read his favourite authors like Dickens and Mark Twain. Magazines like `Titbits' and `The Strand' came to him directly from London. When the Kovilpatti Sports Club was started in order to promote hockey, he became its first secretary. He was an avid amateur photographer. Since there was no electricity those days he had to use natural light for taking the photographs and sunlight for printing. He won several prizes in the national level for his photos. The composition of these was near perfect.

Many young boys and girls were inspired and guided by him in literature and photography. I was one of them.

J.VASANTHAN

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