Nanjil Nadan gets Sahitya Akademi award

I was glad to hear that Nanjil Nadan is the Sahitya Akademi award winner in Tamil this year. As with any award given by the Government there have been some strange choices over the years. This year however the Akademi has chosen the right person.

Nanjil's short stories are the product of his land. Not for him the magical realism wave that swept Tamil literature in the 80s or the post modernism of 90s. He is like the village story teller, recounting tales of his travel. His stories are based on simple day to day events, but his writing is like alchemy that transforms these plain events into universal truths.

Of all the serious writers in Tamil today, he is the one of the easiest to read. (Asokamithran is the other name that comes to mind). Nanjil's forte is short story. His novels read like an extension of his stories. Reading his short story collection is like reading his biography - starting from Nagercoil, working as a travelling sales man in Mumbai and then the move to Coimbatore to settle down.

A real tribute to him would be to get more readers to read him. So if any Tamil reader of this blog is interested, I can lend my copy of Nanjil's short story collection for a week.

My previous posts on Nanjil Nadan

Manakkavalam Pillaiyum Vegetable Briyanium

Nanjil Nadan is one of my favorite writers in Tamil. I haven't read his novels which are supposed to be his best works. I have read and re read his short stories many times. He was born in Kanyakumari district, started his career in Bombay and later settled in Coimbatore. Reading his collection of short stories is almost like reading his autobiography.

His portrayal of his native Kanyakumari district is on par with R.K. Narayan's Malgudi. He sticks to what he knows, observes and feels and doesn't stray into derived literature fads. His take on Post Modernist writing in Tamil - “… பக்கத்து எலையிலேருந்து ரசம் ஓடி நம்ம எலைக்கு வாறதுல்லா அது? செரி போட்டுன்னு வக்கலாம்னா நாம சாப்பிடுகது பாயசம் பாத்துக்கிடுங்க…..” Food is a common motif in his works. His description of food will transport you to the kalyana pandhi itself.
Of late I travel often through Nagercoil and have a chance to see the places I have read in his short stories. I consider his short story Edalakkudi Rasa as one of his best, so felt a sense of thrill when I first saw the sign board in Nagercoil. This happens to many a reader - the sense of elation on identifying a locale of a favorite story.

This post has been a long delayed one. The immediate trigger was my lunch yesterday. I was eating Vegetable Briyani in a road side hotel near Tirunelveli when I saw the name board of the hotel. What are the chances that I would eat Vegetable Briyani in Manakkavalam Pillai nagar? For those who haven't read the short story Manakkavalam Pillaiyum Vegetable Briyaniyum (which I assume is a large part of those who read this blog) it won't make sense. Unlike the protagonist of that short story, I lived to write this post.

Jeyamohan's 5 part article on Nanjil Nadan

Tamil writers and Spirits

The idea for this post came to me when tasting Glen Fiddich for the first time. It felt profound, as does any thought while under the influence of alcohol.

First come the Beer writers - with lots of fizz, bubbly and gregarious. They are fun to have on a hot summer afternoon and don't tax you much. Kalki is the doyen of this kind of writers, like Kingfisher (I am sticking only to Indian beers). Then there are Rajeshkumars of the world, godawful but they sell a lot. Like Haywards 5000.

The IMFL (Indian made Foreigh Liquors) writers - pretending to be the real stuff, falling short and found out after repeated tasting. I put Balakumaran, Stella Bruce and others in this category.

The Toddy writers - Nanjil Nadan and Ki Rajaranayanan are my choices. They are honest and their earthly flavor leaves you wanting more.

The Blended Scotch whiskey writers - they are influenced and inspired by a variety of sources, but the final mix has their indelible stamp. Sujata makes this category his own.

The Single Malt writers - each one has a unique taste, and they aren't easy to like. They require the consumer to put in efforts to appreciate their quality. They are to be taken in small sips. Let their taste linger and engulf your being and they will take you to another level. I will put Pudumai Pithan, Thi Ja, La Sa Ra, Sundara Ramaswamy (his two novels and poems alone), Jeyamohan, Pa Singaram (he wrote one and a half novels, but that was enough for him to top this category).

Where does that leave my favorite writer Asoka Mithran? He is like the finest of vodkas, colorless, odorless, transparent but he pulls you into his orbit without you even recognising it. You start noticing the black humor, the irony, the satire - all done without any dazzle.

P.S. - I haven't included Charu Nivedita, S Ramakrishnan and many others as I haven't read much of their fiction. This is a list of those writers whom I have read.

Chennai Book Fair - 1

Made the first trip to Chennai Book Fair. The crowd was good, but not yet suffocating as it is during the last day. One thing I noted was the Godmen Book stalls (Nithyananda, Jaggi Vasudev, et al) seem to have vanised this year. Good development.

Could see the decline of old publishers (Meyyappan, Manivasagam, Palaniappa, Manimegalai to name a few) and the rise of new ones (Kizhakku, Tamizhini, Uyirmmai). The noticeable difference between the two is the quality of books. The publishing quality of Kizhakku, Uyirmmai publishers are of truly global standards. They also spoil the reader, who expects the same from other publishers :-).

Kizhakku Pathipagam is a natural hub for Tamil Bloggers. Saw Paa. Raghavan, Meenaks, Dondhu Raghavan along with Badri. Could also overhear conversations like "I found who is the anonymous spamming my comment box".

The books I bought were - Moonru Viral (novel by Era. Murukan), Thanneer, Karaindha Nizhalgal (novels by Asoka Mithran) and Collection of Short Stories by Nanjil Nadan.

A literary meeting

Warning: A long post on a Tamil Literary meeting. If you aren't aware of what a Tamil Literary meeting is, you can safely skip this post.

Attended the "S. Ramakrishnan Kathaigal - Vimarsana arangu" meeting organised by Kizhakku Padhippagaam on 20th August. The meeting report is here by Badri. I have read S. Ramakrishnan's non fictional writing, but have no idea about his short stories, so I can't say whether all the praise heaped upon him that day was justified.

N. Muthusamy of Koothu-p-Pattarai spoke eloquently about the experiences that transcend the meaning of the words in the stories. Nanjil Nadan spoke about the growth of Ramakrishnan's stories from realism to Magical Realism to Post Modernism back to realism. (Believe me I too don't know what is Post modernism). S. Devadoss who spoke last, read an essay and effectively killed the audience's interest.

Then Badri announced a question answer session, but no questions came. So S.R. started talking about what are the questions that are generally asked of him, and went into what made him write stories different from those existing in Tamil. He mentioned Dostoyevsky atleast 50 times, Borges 20 times, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez got 5 minutes. Having read only Marquez amongst the three, I could relate when S.R. spoke about One Hundred Years of Solitude.

One suggestion to Badri - while arranging for a review / critique, please avoid placing a lectern / podium. Once the speaker gets behind the lectern it ceases to be a discussion, it turns into a speech.

Saw famous Tamil bloggers Icarus Prakash and Meenaks. I was suddenly bit by the anonymity bug, so didn't introduce myself.