Thursday, April 28, 2005

"All my characters are manifestations of myself"

"I did not go to school after 5th standard. At that time (pre independence days) the graduates were burning their certificates in protest against the British, so I thought why struggle to get a degree and end up burning it? At the age of 20 when everybody becomes a communist, I quit the communist party. I joined them earlier and quit them when I was 20. While quitting I told them I am quitting so I can be a true communist. As they say, once a communist, always a communist. I became a communist on reading the works of Barathi, and quit them again due to Barathi. Where there is no freedom of the individual, I can't be there.

This price is an endorsement of my standing in Tamil literature. If even today I am being considered as a force in Tamil Literature, it is because my writings disturb Tamils; question them; tease them. When I told my communist comrades that I want to write in the party magazine, I was laughed at. "You don't know Tamil" they said. I replied, "I may not know Tamil, but Tamil will know me soon". Though I replied bravely, I understood the truth in their laughter and learnt Tamil from a pandit. But I refused to write the exam and was saved, otherwise I would have become a Tamil Teacher.

All my characters are manifestations of me. I try to think like them and become like them, sometimes I end up being better than them. Isn't that what happens in real life too? I am writing means things are being written through me. I am a product of this scoiety, the society writes through me.

At one point of time, I felt that I had no equals as a writer. So I stopped writing, to see whether new writers arrive on the scene. They did, and this is how the society progresses. I cannot say the glory of Tamil literature ends with me, because it is stupid. The language will live without you and me, no body can kill this language. So stop trying to save the language, come out of the parochial mindset. Enjoy all the languages of the world.

You want to know how to win the Jnanpith award? Simple, stop writing. Let your work speak instead of you. If your works are discussed even after you stopped writing, the awards will follow."

Snippets from the stirring talk by Jeyakanthan in the Madras book club's function felicitating him for winning the Jnanpith award. This is the first time I am seeing him in person and listening to him. He justifies all the hyperbole. His usage of Tamil is exemplary, I hope I have been able to capture the essence of it in my translation.

A double bonus was the introduction by Asokamithran, himself a great short story writer. I have attended a couple of meetings where Asokamithran spoke, but never have I seen him praising anybody so much.

Thanks Ramnath for the invite.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

To Kill A Mocking Bird

It has been a long time since I wrote about a book. Main reason was that I was reading in Tamil much more than English. The English novels I read were not worth writing about. So I tried reading the classics and failed badly there too. Finished half of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostyovesky and the first 100 pages of Anna Karenina. Slowly I was losing my interest in English novels. It was at this juncture I picked up To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee.

What can I say about a book that I started to read at the end of a tiring day at 10.30 PM and kept reading through the night till I finished it at 03.00 AM. No adjectives can do justice to the book. The storyline is simple - An upright white lawyer, Atticus Finch in small town Alabama fighting for a black man, Tom Robinson accused of raping a white woman. The story is said through the viewpoint of the lawyer's 9 year old daughter, Scout. Lee sets it up nicely, taking you through the idyllic pranks of Scout and her elder brother Jem Finch. Through their school days she paints the picture of a self sustained small town in Alabama. The case starts interfering into the children's lives and how Atticus Finch deals with the issues forms the crux of the story.

Lee has succeeded in seeing the world through the eyes of a child. You feel the trauma of Jem when he hears the jury says Guilty to an obivously false case; the anger of Scout when she hears her father being branded nigger lover; her confusion on hearing the townspeople say "The court appointed Finch as the defendant's lawyer, but we never thought that he would actually try to defend a nigger". I can go on and on about this.

And what to say about Atticus Finch, he is upthere with my heroes Howard Roark and Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Nothing more to say.

Lee has written mastefully about the court sequence but the best sequence for me was the confrontation between Finch and others who want to kill Robinson in the prison. The way an 8 year old girl is able to make people see sense is heartening.

An intriguing thought, if the novel had ended with the death of Tom Robinson while trying to escape, it might have been an angry novel. But the real action takes place after that, the conscience of the town is disturbed, knowing well that they hung a man on false charges just because he was black. The sheriff declaring that Bob Ewell, who accused Robinson, died by falling on his own knife and was not murdered is an act of the town trying to pay for its misdeeds.

Highly recommended.

Thursday, April 21, 2005

A few snaps

Just returned from a 5 day trip to my native village, Konapet in South Tamilnadu. A few snaps of the village.

Thirumayam Railway Station

A view of the village drinking water tank

The Village Scool

Our House

Rear view of the house, from the garden

View from the central courtyard

A Peacock in our courtyard

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

MLM Recruitment - an experience

The call was unexpected. "Hello, This is ..., a colleague of your uncle. He had told me that you are looking out for a business proposal, can I come and meet you?". At the outset, he sounded like someone I must avoid. I have been invited to a few MLM meetings and I have always refused. But having just read about the MLM guys in Lazy Geek's blog, I decided to go ahead and see how the process worked.

So the two guys landed up at my place on a Sunday evening. One who had spoken to me was a little bit nervous, probably his first call. The other guy had a vacant look, the kind that people who talk without bothering about the listeners have. He started off with the regular question of asking about my profile, how much time I spend at work, etc. Then he said "Imagine you had Rs. 50,000.00 deposited at your bank every month without you having to work for it, how would you feel?". I smiled at him and said "I will feel nice". He pressed on, "What would you do with it?". I actually wanted to say "I would buy lots of books", but simply said "I would relax a bit at work". That answer didn't satisfy him, "What would you do with the money?". He was trying to get me greedy, and I was not falling for it and he lost the plot. He went through the works, how much you get for buying our product, how much money you get by getting your friends to buy our products, you can become a emerald, diamond, blah blah blah.

Once he finished the first guy started. "Along with the products, you can buy our marketing tools. These will help you be a better salesman. Without this you will be like a doctor without a stethoscopr". They both smiled at their analogy. Band analogy mate. These are like medical books, not stethoscope. I didn't know at that time, but I was being sold a pyramid scheme and a shadow pyramid scheme at one shot. I was getting value for money :-). I kept nodding at them and politely led them out of the door. For me it was just fun, getting to know how these people worked. Yeah, I am weird sometimes.

I was still thinking that all this is harmless nuisance as I googled about the schemes. Only after reading through them did I get to understand that these guys are nothing short of predators. There are lots of horror stories out there in the web.

What's wrong with MLM?
Shaking the Money Tree
The MLM File

In India, MLM is still new, and the horrors are yet to be felt. So in case you know any one who is into MLM, get them read these articles and decide for themselves.

One unexpected side benefit I got while googling was to learn about Robert Kiyosaki. His book "Rich Dad Poor Dad" was a fad few seasons back, and I used to think that his ideas were great. After reading through this detailed analysis I learnt what a gullible fool I had been. If you too have read his book, this is a compulsory read to detox yourself.

Saturday, April 09, 2005

An interesting blog

I visited Ammani's blog initially because of the name. Ammani is one of the most powerful character's ever in Tamil Novels, she is the heroine of Thi. Jaanaki Raman's "Marap Pasu" novel. I don't know whether the blogger too was impressed by the character and chose the name. But she has been writing a series of short fictions (just a paragraph or so) or quick tales as she calls it. Struggles of a married woman is the recurring theme of these tales and they are written with a rare sensitivity.

Quick tale 9
Quick tale 8
Quick tale 7
Quick tale 6
Quick tale 5
Quick tale 3

Check them out for a great reading experience.

Monday, April 04, 2005

Saturday Night

- No plans for the evening till the call from college friends at 07.00 PM

- Meeting at the friend's apartment with a view of Thiruvanmiyur Beach, just 500 mtrs away

- Drinking session starting at 11.00 PM that went on till 02.30 AM

- Jamming session with the lead guitarist and drummer from college and two hopeless singers (one was me)

- Strumming Ilayaraja's melodies from the 80s

- Finishing a quarter of vodka

- Taking a barefoot walk in the beach at 03.00 AM

- Playing songs for the early morning walkers at 04.00 AM

- Steaming hot rice dinner at 05.00 AM

It was a truly great Saturday night.