The word "politician” immediately brings certain adjectives to the minds of people- corrupt, ruthless, untrustworthy etc.- but cooperative, patriotic, and selfless are some very few would pick. Here is an exemplary story from the impeccable political life of the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee or Atalji- probably the best prime minster India has ever had, and sometimes would ever have. This is a story of a conspiracy by the top leaders of opposing political parties, “conspiring" to cover up a controversy for the cause of national insterest- a cause very rare to be heard of in these days of filthy political blame games.

In 1996, when Narasimha Rao government was approaching the final days, a probable defence scam was brought to surface through a story by the Indian Express. It was the Sukhoi fighter jet deal with the Russians. As with any large scale defence deals, much like the Rafael jet controversy doing its rounds now, the opposition- BJP- was quick to take up the controversy and protests started errupting. The deal was perceived as a probable fund-raiser for the upcoming election campaign of Narasimha Rao. Else why was there a hurry to sign such a significant deal, which otherwise would have taken a sweet amount of time?

There are many heroes, their stories unsung, their legends forgotten. Neither do they hold place in text books, nor much in the popular culture. One such true legend was Vaikom Padmanabhan Pillai, an elite soldier of Tranvancore empire (parts of current state of Kerala and Kanyakumari) who is credited with defeating the extravagant army of Tipu Sultan twice in battle, and later attained martyrdom in fight against the British.

Vaikom Padmanabhan Pillai was the kochasan (similar to a teacher or a trainer) in the Nandyat Kalari of the Vadakkumkoor state of the Travancore empire. Kalaries are local training centres wherein warriors were trained in the legendary martial art of Kalari. The kingdom of Travancore maintained an army modest in number, and in case of any confrontation, an army of fighters are summoned from such Kalaries merging together with the standing army to form the glorious Travancore army. It was one such instance that kick-started the legend of Vaikom Padmanabhan Pillai- when he and others from local Kalaries were summoned to fight against an invading Mysore army, led by the Mysore Tiger - Tipu Sultan.