What Women Can Learn From The Enigma That Was Jayalalithaa

Whether you loved her, hated her or didn’t really care much about her, the truth is that you may never come across a woman like Jayalalithaa again in your life.

Most of us were either too young or not even born in the years when the dramatic incidents from Jayalalithaa’s life created headlines. But her death on December 5th has brought stories from her life back into the limelight, and one can’t help but feel overawed by her.

And one wonders whether ordinary women can relate to Amma’s a larger-than-life persona and learn anything from her life? Here’s a list of some instances when you can could look up to her for inspiration:

If looking for a career change

Jayalalithaa switched careers at the age of 34. From a thriving career as a leading actress in Tamil cinema she moved into active politics (when pushed by her mentor M.G. Ramachandran). And she achieved equal acclaim in both her avatars, even though it required a complete shift from a hypersexualised persona (in her vamp-like roles) to a totally desexualised form to become Puratchi Thalaivi (revolutionary leader).

If you want to “live for yourself”

In a 1999 interview on the show Randezvous with Simi Garewal, Jayalalithaa confessed that for two-thirds of her life she had been entirely dominated by her mother and then by Mr MGR. Now, in the last one-third phase of her life, she is living for herself. Perhaps this can be an explanation why she possessed 750 pairs of shoes, 10,500 sarees, 91 watches and other valuables! Definitely a sign of a woman living for herself!

If you need to bounce back after life has been cruel

The death of her mentor MGR was a traumatic time for Jayalalithaa. MGR’s wife and family totally shunned her, even abused her publicly and pushed her off his funeral carriage. She was left in the lurch because until then, she had been completely under MGR’s guidance. However, Amma won back the support of her party members and the golden period of her career actually started after MGR’s death

If you need to find will power and courage to face adversities

Jayalalithaa was pretty unpopular with the media. She had many adversaries in the political system and there was even an attempt to disrobe her sari in the Parliament. She faced many charges of corruption and was in and out of jail a few times. Yet, Amma showed tremendous grit and will power to face all odds and became CM of Tamil Nadu 6 times. She won unconditional support and loyalty of her party members and people of Tamil Nadu loved her for her generosity and kindness.

These are just a few facets of her charismatic personality we could learn from. End of the day, she was a politician and may have done wrong on many occasions. But one just cannot ignore the virtues of Jayalalithaa who will stand out for her intelligence, courage, exceptional will power and never-give-up attitude towards life.

To know more about her, one could watch the two most iconic interviews of her life – one with Simi Garewal and one with Karan Thapar.
 

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