There is a story about a banquet given by the respected king of Kollencode at Madras some time ago. Apart from the natives and the Europeans invited to the banquet, the native women who were invited to it were seated in an enclosure made especially for them. Europeans were gathered in the main pandal [pavilion], whereas the native women were seated in the special enclosure for them. As arrangements for the banquet were thus progressing, the master of the ceremony took interest in taking a prominent European, a high court judge, his wife, and some others to the enclosure for the native women and introduced to them the costumes and ornaments of the women. Just then, when a European woman in the team, out of curiosity, tried to lift up a Brahmin woman’s ornaments to have a closer look at them, her hand was swatted away by the concerned Brahmin woman. The English woman in no time left the venue in her car without staying on for the party. The Brahmin woman did make bold to say to the others thatshe had not been invited to the banquet to be insulted in this manner, and that if the organisers failed to meet the purpose of seating the native women separately, all the invited guests could have been seated together so that any such faux pas could have been averted. This quick-witted woman is a prominent member of the Madras Women’s Association and is also the wife of an advocate of the high court, who is a free thinker.

This incident, which disrupted the peaceful social atmosphere, had further incensed the native heavyweights of Madras. The aforementioned story is a good lesson about how deplorable the state of some chicken-hearted men can be and how courageous the Hindu women can be when it comes to standing up for their honour in the event of the people of other communities behaving impudently towards them, disregarding the standards of social etiquette. Further, this incident also tells us about the demeaning character of certain people who would not hesitate to do anything to win the favour of men with power and position. It can be seen that even in this land too, there are a large number of people who are very particular that our womenfolk are treated with respect in social forums.

Then there are also such people who are all too willing to cater to the whims and fancies of superior officers belonging to a different race in order to get a promotion, a pay hike, or a job for a relative etc. Some time ago there was an outcry against the head of a family who blatantly permitted one of his invited guests, a foreign high ranking official, to go to watch the native women having the marriage feast sitting in lines. We do not swear by the veracity of this story; we do not dispute the possibility of such an incident happening either. Stories about this foreign top official and some low ranking local officials entertaining him in their homes are heard on the grapevine in the city. Tales about some low ranking officials, who refuse to cater to the whims and fancies of their superiors, being subject to hardships are also making their rounds. We do not think that the high ranking officials looking down upon moral values will augur well for the country. In an editorial some time ago we had emphasised, with emulative examples of noted personalities like William Ewart Gladstone and Lord Salisbury, how important it was for ministers and other administrators of a country to keep true to the moral values and truth. We believe that all those who want the fame of their country to remain unblemished will detest the enthusiasm of some low ranking officials who hasten to mislead the high officials to vices. It would be better if the Dewan Mr. Rajagopalachary remembered this and acted accordingly.