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Mylapore - once the bastion of South Indian Brahmin lawyers and advocates who carved their
names in the archives of the Madras High Court, Sri Krishnaswamy Iyer was one of them. A
leading lawyer, who became a Judge of the Madras High Court, he went on to become a member
of the Governor's Executive Council. Smitten by the clarion call of Swaraj, he was
associated with the early days of the Indian national Congress.  His son
Balasubramania Iyer was the member of the Legislative Council. Into this illustrious
lineage was born Prabha. Her father Mr.Venkataramani was in the railways and was being
transferred to various places. So Prabha grew up in a joint family. "It was a house
full of children and it was fun growing up together," reminiscences Prabha. She
schooled at the Rosary Matric and later went to Stella Maris College to graduate in
English Literature. Like all conventional South Indian Brahmin girls Prabha got married as
soon as she finished her graduation in 1969 to Sridevan, an outstanding lawyer. Her
father-in-law was a leading lawyer in Mayavaram.
After marriage Prabha settled into the
routine life of a housewife. With so much of influence of law did she not want to study
law? "No", smiles Prabha. She was more interested in the English language and
even did a correspondence course in journalism. She loves writing short stories and
contributed regularly to magazines. "I will never forget the joy I had when I won a
Femina short story competition and the news came the same day my son was born in the
hospital," she says smiling. With the birth of her two sons her time was fully
occupied in looking after the children and home. As they grew up she found time hanging on
her hands. The dormant genes were suddenly kindled and she contemplated taking a degree in
law. After a gap of thirteen years in 1980 she went back to college - the Madras Law
College. " Though I was older than most of the students I thoroughly enjoyed my stint
in the Law College," again that unaffected smile. In 1983 she enrolled in the bar.
She started helping her husband. She took to the profession very gradually, as she did not
want her "children to feel that amma has no time." It was possible as her
husband was the boss.
In 1988 Sridevan was designated as Senior
Counsel. Since he could not meet clients directly she took charge. In 1989 Sridevan was
made Government Pleader which left him with less time for private matters. Children were
also grown up. So Prabha Sridevan now plunged into the profession full time. She assisted
her husband on civil matters. Then fate played truant and in 1993 at the young age of 53
years Sridevan passed away.  Though his untimely death left her shattered, she was no weeping willow and
went back to her work on the 17th day. Did the clients move away after her husband's
death? " Some did as they felt she did not have as much experience as her husband.
But the immense faith the people had in me, and stood by me egged me on." Her office
handles all civil matters, consumer matters and family matters. Gender bias? " It is
tough going for a young lawyer to make his or her mark and all the more difficult for a
woman. But today more and more women are taking to this profession. If the clients know
the merits of the lawyer and the sincerity to the cases dealt, then they come back to
you," feels Prabha. As a woman advocate empathising with the issues faced by women
she took up divorce cases which her husband never did. She believes that legal and
consumer awareness programmes are very essential for women in urban and rural areas.
"Legal awareness must come in. Otherwise one gets caught in unnecessary problems
which have to be sorted out by lawyers. Educating women on such matters is very
vital," feels Prabha.
She remembers a case where two brothers
fought over the settlement of the family property. Things got to such a level that one of
the brothers got the other brother and his family murdered. One child survived and
identified the killer. The brother was sentenced for life. One member in his family became
insane. After all this the two families came to an understanding. "What pained me was
the thought that if only they had come to an understanding earlier, so many lives could
have been saved. Was this bloodshed really necessary?" Prabha's elder son is an
Engineer and her second son Srinath follows in the tradition of his great-great grand
father, grandfather, father and mother and is specialising in Commercial and Arbitration
Law. Her hobbies? She loves writing and theatre. She has acted in the English plays by the
Madras Players and also in Tamil plays. She writes Tamil short stories also. She has
written on legal concepts for children in the Hindu and a column on women's rights in the
Indian Express. She remembers a play by Maria Fornes where she acted the part of a
housemaid. " While I had to be on my toes for nearly two to three hours during the
rehearsals as I was a maid, the one who acted as the mistress had only to sit. That was an
eye opener. Made me feel what a maid would have felt!" says she laughing.
 Just prior to the International Women's day, she
was called upon to occupy the prestigious seat of the judge of the Madras High Court. She
is the fifth woman judge of the Madras High Court and with this another name will be added
to the august list of the " Mylapore lawyers". With this appointment another
chapter opens in her life. " I will have to re-orientate my perspectives," says
Prabha. "When a woman achieves something it sends positive feelings among other women
egging them on to follow suit," she feels. Patient hearing, wise consideration,
courtesy and impartial decision-making are the four features of a good judge, all this
Prabha has. As the mantle of the judge settles on her gentle shoulders and as the
accolades and bouquets are showered she goes down memory lane to give a thought to her
great grandfather. He too like her was not interested in a career-in-law at first.
Graduating in Philosophy and Sanskrit he was persuaded to study law by S.Srinivas Raghava
Iyengar and went on to become a legendary figure. Simple, with a ready smile, Prabha I am
sure will follow in the footsteps of her illustrious forefathers to open a new chapter in
the annals of Women judges of the Madras High Court!
Rani Ananth
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