OMG! The Sheriff...😊
#memoriesfromdiaries #newspaperinlearning
This day, 32 years ago, from my personal diary entry
28 January 1994
The following news headlines donned the day’s newspapers in English.
Two union ministers among 33 elected to RS. [Rajya Sabha]
13 kids, 7 teachers hurt in rocket attack.
Seshan indicts Arunachal CM.
PM to visit Punjab in April.
Protest march to US embassy foiled.
Jaya skips sheriff swearing-in.
Human rights: Chavan decries Pak campaign.
Cryogenetic Engine deal Talks with Russia still on.
Well, we shall take up just newsworthy items for analysis today.
Firstly,
T.N. Seshan, an MCC-ian, and the then Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, “indicted” (strongly criticised or formally accused of violating rules) the Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Gegong Apang, for violating the Model Code of Conduct during the election period.
This particular year (1994) saw T.N. Seshan get into action full throttle to clean up the Indian electoral system. He was quite strict when it came to enforcing the Model Code of Conduct, which forbids ministers from using official government machinery (like helicopters, cars, or government guest houses) for political campaigning.
Popularly known as the “watchdog of democracy,” he is credited with transforming the Election Commission into a powerful, independent body.
Gegong Apang (who just turned 79 in January 2026) is known as the longest-serving Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, and the fourth longest-serving Chief Minister in India.
Secondly, the news headline titled, Cryogenetic Engine deal Talks with Russia still on.
This news headline connotes to a critical turning point in the history of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and its GSLV programmes.
In 1991, ISRO signed a major agreement with the Russian space agency (Glavkosmos) to buy Cryogenic Engines - highly complex rocket engines needed to launch heavy satellites into high orbits. Crucially, the deal included the Transfer of Technology from Russia, which would then teach India how to build these engines independently.
However, Big Brother - the United States (under the Clinton administration) strongly objected to this deal. They cited the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), claiming that this technology could be used by India to build intercontinental ballistic missiles. The US imposed sanctions on ISRO and Glavkosmos and pressured Russia to cancel the deal.
By mid-1993, Russia had succumbed to US pressure to cancel the technology transfer part of the deal.
This moment in 1994 is historically significant because the denial of this technology had indirectly inspired India to build its own technology.
In April 1994, an inspired and motivated ISRO formally launched the Indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage Project, which took 20 years of struggle but eventually resulted in India mastering the technology on its own (successfully flown in the GSLV Mk III / LVM3 today).
It’s a sheer poetic coincidence that my diary entry from exactly 32 years ago (28 January 1994) mentioned the struggle to get this technology, while today ISRO is preparing to use its own indigenous version to eventually send Indians into space.
The next launch involving a cryogenic engine - is currently scheduled for March 2026.
Coming to the third news item on Ms. Jayalalithaa, the Chief Minister of TN, boycotting the Swearing-in of the Sheriff
Jayalalithaa had skipped the Sheriff’s swearing-in ceremony as a deliberate act of protest against the then-Governor of Tamil Nadu, M. Channa Reddy, accusing him of being an agent of the Congress party (her arch rival) and interfering in state administration.
The Sheriff of Madras is a ceremonial post for a duration of one year, ranking just below the post of the Mayor, and the swearing-in is traditionally administered by the Governor at the Raj Bhavan.
The post was largely occupied by prominent citizens, and it was abolished in the year 1998 in Chennai. The ceremony had originally come into force from 17 August 1727).
Some of the famous Sheriffs in Madras were –
• 1964 T.S. Narayanaswami, industrialist
•
1967-1968 Maruthai Pillai, industrialist
•
1969-70 Anantharamakrishnan Sivasailam, industrialist
•
1973-74 A.M. Buhari, restaurateur
•
1974-75 Rangaswami Ramakrishnan
•
1978 A.B. Ananthakrishnan
•
1980-81 Dr.P.M.Rex Pinheiro.
•
1983 Sarojini Varadappan, social worker
•
1984-85 Nawab Muhammed Abdul Ali
•
1985-87 M. Saravanan (producer)
•
1988 Nawab Muhammed Abdul Ali
Although Chennai had abolished the post, Mumbai and Kolkatta continued to maintain the post of Sheriff for long! However, the past few years have not seen any fresh nominations to the post in Mumbai and Kolkatta.
It’s quite interesting to observe that, back then, “skipping” the ceremony in Chennai was a major political headline, but today, the post has almost become obsolete!
Even in Kolkata, and in Mumbai the post has been lying dormant for so many years, without much public discussion on it. 😊
This tempts me to highlight a recurring theme in literature: the transience of human institutions.
What was once dubbed a “political firestorm” way back in 1994 has become a “thing of the past” today!
Reminds us of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ozymandias”, wherein the poem deals with the total collapse of an empire!
The “dormant” and non-existent post of the Sheriff today, represents the same fact!
“Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
bespeaking to the sordid fact that, the power and social weight of the Sheriff has been quietly devoured by the “sands” of time.
As for the theoretical paradigm, Arjun Appadurai’s seminal text titled, The Social Life of Things (1986), foregrounds a very interesting postulate.
Appadurai argues that objects (and by extension, titles and offices) have “biographies” of their own.
So in the 19th century, the post of the Sheriff was that of a “youthful” one!
In the year 1994, the post was in its “mid-life,” but still was capable of causing a political scandal 😊
And post 2015, it is retired, quiet, and largely forgotten by the city and its people. Three cities rather! 😊
Kinda institutional aging - where the body of the office remains, but the “spirit” or the function has moved on to other structures.
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