alice in wonderland thats how we felt my sisters and i completely dwarfed by the floortoceiling array of books and a very tall step ladder with a perch on top standing against one shelfwall i heard my oldest sibling whisper to my dad are these real books i tugged at his sleeve appa please may i climb the ladder and sit on top jayalalithaa then perhaps in her twenties had ushered us into her brand new home at poes gardens and she was showing us aroundmy father tamil film actor gemini ganesan had asked if he could show the place to his girls especially the library that she had apparently described to him with great passionthe books were indeed real and she had an amazing collection of english classics shakespeare dickens kingsley hardy tennyson bronte wilde and more the dickens collection among a few others was leatherbound embossed with gold letterswhich is why i smiled as i watched jennifer aruls interview with jayalalithaa on ndtv retelecast after ammas death in which the former cm said my dream is to retire to my farm surround myself with books and read them listen to music with my dogs and perhaps do some agriculturefar from the madding crowd it wasnt said for effect she really meant it and she had read thomas hardy jayalalithaa was not always amma she was called ammu dearest one at home and her mom sent her to the best schools available then both in bangalore bishop cottton and madras presentation convent church park where i was in junior school when jayalalithaa was in her final year matriculationher long straight hair that she wore in a single loose plait would gently swing like a pendulum well below her hips as she walked across the school grounds the sun catching the largish golden hoops she wore in her earswith her porcelain skin impeccable manners and dignified gait jayalalithaa stole many a heart but the teachers in school loved her for something else she was their star pupildo you think you are jayalalithaa that you can read comics in my class under the desk and still stand first so saying miss edwards the geography teacher snatched my comic and threw it asidethat was the kind of reputation tamil nadus amma had at school a brilliant student who could walk away effortlessly with flying colours its common knowledge now that jayalalithaa never wanted to become an actress she never wished to enter politics yet she made a big name for herself in bothshe once mentioned that she was very keen to study english literature others say she wanted to become a lawyerwhatever might have been her choice of career there can be no doubt that she would have stood head and shoulders above others perhaps far exceeding her performances in both films and politicsthe writer was in junior school in presentation convent then madras when j jayalalithaa was in final year