The ‘Tiruchengodu CR'

At a little-noticed event in Chennai last month commemorating Kalki R. Krishnamurti, Tamilaruvi Maniam spoke eloquently and insightfully about Kalki's political lodestar, C. Rajagopalachari. Maniam made the significant observation that even those who disagreed with CR — and there always were many such — never failed to acknowledge the shining veracity of Gandhi's ‘Southern warrior' and the stark simplicity of his lifestyle. Maniam said no one who visits the Gandhi Ashram at Tiruchengodu, Pudupalayam which CR founded and where he was based in the 1920s, can fail to be moved by the severe austerity of the place, its almost desolate character, and the extreme adversities under which the once-prosperous Salem lawyer opted to live.

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