BY(E) GEORGE

Inspiring a tiny tot of less than four feet high and age in single digits to follow the current affairs is not a mean task. This was the ability of the man who signed as George Fernandes. Etched in memory is the lithe figure running up the stairs to mount a commercial building to address a crowd gathered and on finishing the address gliding away into the safety of the mob. Newspaper reading of the printed matter with gaping blank spaces and darkened sentences became a habit.

The historic strike era of the seventies wherein the siblings struck a chord with the labour forces is legendary as they became the darling of the masses. His brother Michael was famous amongst the PSU workers while the other Lawrence lived out the word of loyalty which is popularly filmed in British era movies. 

It is said the first impression is the best impression. This was probably the reason the later controversies surrounding him did not deter yours truly from admiring this man. As the offspring of a PSU worker the passions of the strikes and the poverty associated with it was experienced first hand but one must give it to these brothers in arms that they delivered what probably no other union leader delivered. The symphony of these brothers ended with the liberalisation era and one had to exclaim " How George morphed!"

Whether it was Samata or Jaya or any other controversy who can forget the galling decision of booting the multinationals out or embracing them in a latter version did not matter to the mind that was impressed at an impressionable age. The Alzheimer's disease or the unionists steering clear of him did not matter. The railwaymen forgetting the man who got them justice or the mute reaction of an administration which benefitted from his vision also was brushed aside as yours truly rose to say "By(e) George"