The Independent
Mrs Subramanium
At eighty-three, Mrs Subramanium continues to work as the personal assistant to the head of Uthayan, one of Jaffna’s most widely read newspapers. While her sisters emigrated to London and Canada as conflict intensified, she chose to remain. Despite constant invitations to join her family abroad, she refuses to leave Jaffna, her work, or the life she has shaped around what she calls simplicity.
When I arrived at the Uthayan office, the final pages of the day’s edition were going to print. The machines rattled loudly as sheets rolled through. Mrs Subramanium moved between desk and telephone with brisk efficiency, typing letters and fielding calls. Her sari was neatly starched; her manner precise.
She has worked there for seventeen years and does not intend to retire.
Born and educated in Jaffna, she attended Chundikuli Girls’ School. Over the decades many families left the north as the war intensified. Several of her own sisters settled in London and Canada. They continue to urge her to join them.
She declines.
London, she says, would require adjustment — dress, behaviour, expectations. “Simplicity is the mark of genius,” she told me. She prefers the life she has chosen: work, routine, independence. After her husband’s death she removed her ornaments and did not replace them, despite family objections. She lives without apology.
In a town marked by departure, her refusal to leave is deliberate.
Jaffna
October 25, 2010
Transcript and translations
Language
Subjects discussed
Simplicity is the mark of genius
“I have three sisters. Two sisters are in London. That is one of the main motives why I didn’t go! (Laughter). One is in Canada. My nieces all are in London. They are harassing me even now that I should join them. Yeah, yeah, all are harassing. My niece in Australia, she says you must join us. Both my sisters in London they want me to join, leaving out the other nieces.
You know, their pattern of life is different from mine. I always believed in simplicity. Simplicity is the mark of genius. So I never wanted to be stylish or uppish. Or anything. My motive was always that. My husband…we have no children. So we brought up a daughter. My sister’s daughter. Then finally she also married in London and she went. She always harasses me to come and stay with her. But I don’t go, you know why? If I go there, for two days they’ll say okay, we allow you to be simple, you do as you wish… but the third day they will say, no! You must also fall in line with us. Then what happens to me? Where do I stand? I won’t fall into their ways. Then I will feel very hurt and I’ll be hurting them also by saying I’m not going to wear that, I’m not going to… To some extent they are sort of uppish. Uppish in the sense they want to be stylish and all. Perhaps that is because of London they have to keep up to that life.”
“You know on the 31st day of my husband’s death I removed all the ornaments other than this ear stud. So they were harassing me saying that I was being very adamant. Because people will say I am not wearing anything and that’s a bad reflection on them. I said then take it for granted. You tell all those people that I am not your sister. If you say that then things are okay for you, no? Then don’t bother about me. You say I am not your sister. That’s all. In two words the thing is over. Yeah, I’m happy with them. No problem, whatsoever. Both of us are happy. She gives me a call, I also give. We talk. And we’re happy now.”
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