Originally Posted by
mahendra raj
Towards the end of February 2013 I had a chance meeting with Iseri Ganesh, the son of late Iseri Velan, at his sprawling bungalow in ECR, Chennai. It was a private meeting and after the usual preliminaries he took us to his private room and in the altar was a portrait of MGR along with other deities. He explained that MGR is his God which did not stir us much as his father was an ardent devotee of the former and it is not surprising that his son too followed suit. But what he told thereafter was news to us which I would like to share with all of you.
It seems when his father, Iseri Velan, died suddenly of heart attack the family became destitute. At that time Iseri Ganesh was in the college and the family struggled to stay afloat without any income since his late father was the only breadwinner. Penniless, he went up to the Secretariat Building to seek an appointment with MGR. The inner staff informed MGR and he was called in. The CM could not speak much due to his health issues but asked him questions through hand gestures and a few mumbled words. Iseri Ganesh told him of the family's predicament and MGR initially refused to believe him as he was under the impression that the late Iseri Velan was financially sound. He stared hard at Iseri Ganesh with disbelief that his one-time trusted comrade's family was undergoing hardship.
However, he told him to go back home after getting the house address and await his instructions. When he reached home his mother told him that some officers from the CM's office had come personally to verify and assess the family's situation. The following day he was called to the CM's office where he was given an undisclosed amount of money in a bag. MGR told him to take care of the family's needs and further inquire whether he was interested to work for him after completing his exams that year. Iseri Ganesh was too happy at this offer and readily agreed to see him after the exam results.
Unfortunately, before the examination results were announced MGR breathed his last on 24.12.1987 and he lost the golden opportunity to serve the great charismatic leader. With that money he got from MGR he invested in some business and today he is a successful corporate figure helming a private college even. He reiterated that without MGR's timely assistance he would not have been what he is today.
Just as we were about to take leave, he opened his private cupboard and took out a special polished wooden box and he asked us to one it. When my brother opened it we were shocked to see a vintage revolver in its pristine form. Iseri Ganesh explained that just before Janagi Ammal demised she disposed off certain artificats belonging to Ramavaram household and this revolver found its way into the Moor market. When word got around that MGR's prized possession was up for sale there Iseri Ganesh quickly went up and bid an undisclosed amount of cash and retrieved it. However, he was not sure whether this was the revolver implicated in the MGR/MR Radha shooting incident in January 14, 1967 at Ramavaram.
We were all given the privilege to hold the gun which was quite heavy and still serviceable. We all took photos posing individually with that MGR-held weapon proudly. At the main gate when he was sending us off I just remembered to ask him one nagging question to which he obligingly answered. Why was his father known as 'Iseri' Velan and he himself as 'Iseri' Ganesh? Was it a family surname and if so it sounds too alien for the Tamil language!
It seems in the late sixties MGR felicitated a drama acted by Iseri Velan who was hitherto unknown to him personally. In that drama Velan was fond of using the word 'Athu sari' (that's ok) and this comedic role must have had MGR in stitches. So when he referred to Velan's character he unwittingly used it as 'Iseri'! Remember, it was after the surgery to his throat when his sexy and husky voice morphed into a hoarse one sometimes hard to decipher the words? So from that day, Velan was known as Iseri Velan who became a trusted associate of MGR and who made him an MLA. Now it has become a family name for the Velan clan. So, MGR still lives, albeit through an unintentional christening of a now popular nomenclature!
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