Manjolai incident retold by Nellai author

By N Vinoth Kumar

Published: 08th May 2013

The infamous Manjolai incident, in which 17 persons succumbed in police brutality on July 23, 1999, has been brought out as an autobiographical short story.

The incident happened during a procession in support of the Manjolai estate labourers’ struggle for wages on the banks of Thamirabarani in Tirunelveli. The story is one among the 21 short stories penned by Mari Selvaraj, which has been brought out as a collection, Thamirabharaniyil Kollappadaathavargal, by Vamsi Books.

Probably, Mari Selvaraj is the first writer from Tirunelveli to document the incident through a short story and his short story collection has gained momentum in literary circles now.

Born in Puliyankulam of Thoothukudi district, Mari Selvaraj is the fifth son to his parents, who are agricultural labourers. “The freedom that poverty offered me has given me rich experiences and I have many stories to share,” says the author.

Speaking to City Express, Selvaraj shares about  his journey as a writer to an assistant director in Kollywood. “My entire schooling was in my village. It was when I stepped into the law college, I first came to a town. But college life was not a good experience. The first question I faced was about my caste. Since I was considered as an insubordinate student, whatever I did went wrong. At one point of time, a police case was registered against me and that was when I discontinued my studies and ran away from home,” says Selvaraj.

Selvaraj came to Chennai with Rs 1400 and took up jobs in places like petrol bunks while simultaneously searching for a better job.

“My search ended when I joined as an office boy in the office of film director Ram,” he says.

Ram was making Katradhu Thamizh then, which had actor Jiiva in the lead role. “The film developed my interest in cinema. After the film, Ram had a break for three years. That’s when we came close by getting to know each other well. Ram gave me books and films, and guided me well. He also started a blog named Kaatchi for me so that I could convey my thoughts through writing. The stories of Thamirabharaniyil Kollappadaathavargal were first published in this blog. Later, I became an assistant director to Ram and it’s been seven years of my association with him.”

The stories in this collection travel in diverse platforms and are mostly about either politics or relationships.

“Party leaders see politics as business. Mine was ‘frustrated politics’ because whatever I lost in it during my early life have not been compensated till now. Tamil Nadu is in a state of ‘sexual poverty’. Having a woman’s friendship is considered a fantasy. At this juncture, understanding either sex becomes critical. I think my stories reflect that criticality.”

Inspired by writers G Nagarajan and Saadat Hasan Manto, Selvaraj wants to direct a film as well.

“Though I keep writing, my ultimate aim is to direct a film which brings reputation to whatever I learnt from Ram. I believe that will be the true respect to my mentor,” he concludes.

Courtesy: The New Indian Express

‘Pottekkatt was a born writer’

N Vinoth Kumar

Published Date: Apr 8, 2013

As the birth centenary celebrations of famous Malayalam writer S K Pottekkatt take off, City Express catches up with translator Su Ra, who made most of his works available to Tamil readers.

When the literary world is celebrating the 100th birth anniversary of famous Malayalam writer S K Pottekkatt, it should be remembered that most of his works have been translated into Tamil and the credit for that goes to translator Su Ra. These books have a large readership in the State and have even been mistaken by many to be the writer’s own work in Tamil.

Sankaran Kutty Pottekkatt, born in Kerala on March 14, 1913, made his entry into the literary world through short stories and poems. He has written 10 novels, 24 collections of short stories, three collections of poems, 18 travelogues, four plays and a couple of essay collections. His novels Oru Theruvinte Katha (The story of a street) and Oru Desathinte Katha (The story of a locale) fetched him the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award and Jnanpith Award respectively. It should be noted that his home town, Kozhikode, is the focus in both the novels.

Many of his stories revolve around love and most of his characters are wrought by fate. His narrations have descriptions of nature without any decorative words and many of his stories reflect magical realism. He made the writing of travelogues a literature form.

Subbiah Rajasekar, popularly known as Su Ra, is a noted translator who has translated about 50 of Pottekkatt’s books into Tamil. These include popular novels such as Naadan Premam as Gramathu Kaadhal, Vallikadevi as eponymous title and Prema Shiksha as Oru Kaadhal Kathai. Born in Munnar, he developed an interest to Malayalam literature through the Tamil translation of works such as Paathummaayude Aadu and Baalyakaala Sakhi, both penned by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer. That led him to learn Malayam in order to read Malayalam literature directly.

In 2002 he started translating world literature into Tamil and published it in Iniya Udhayam, a monthly magazine entirely dedicated to publishing translated works. The contribution of Iniya Udhayam to the world of translated literature is very significant and it is the only monthly magazine in Tamil Nadu of its kind. Till date, Su Ra has translated over 115 works of world literature into Tamil through that magazine.

Speaking to City Express, Su Ra reminisces about his efforts to translate Malayalam literature into Tamil.

“My debut translation was Basheer’s Mathilukal and it got published in Manjari magazine. Publishing the translation of a whole novel in a magazine surprised many back then, but Basheer’s novels were of only 50 to 60 pages. Later the style came to be known as the Basheerian type of novel in Malayalam literature. Till 2000 the Tamil publishing industry was a little hesitant to publish translated literatures. It was Pudhumaippithan Pathippagam, later renamed Sandhiya Pathippagam that brought out my translation work for the first time in book form. Now most Tamil publishers are bringing out many translated works, not just from Malayalam but from other languages as well,” he said.

Asked about his views on the writings of Pottekkatt, he said, “There is a statue of Pottekkatt on S M Street in Kozhikode and this is enough for us to know his literary elegance. He made travelling monologue into travelling literature. Till date, no one has defeated him in that particular genre. He is a dictionary for young Malayalam writers. His sense of characterization, his development of a plot and his undecorated narration are unique. He does not look for happenings separately to write a story. He brought his own experiences to both his fiction and travelogue work. There are no messages in his story. Rather, the message lies in the form of narration. To put it simply, Pottekkatt was a born writer,” Su Ra concluded.

Courtesy: The New Indian Express

Pottekkatt image courtesy: Wikipedia

‘Resolving conflicts is a matter of constant practice’

N Vinoth Kumar

Published Date: Jan 9, 2013

There are two exercises which a person must have every day — swimming and facing conflict. As the whole world is surrounded with water, one really should know how to swim and in a life filled with quarrels and disputes, one should know to manage conflict, says Dr S P Udayakumar — the man behind organising and leading the stir against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project — in his new book.

An ardent anti-nuke activist, he wrote quite a few books on the topic, such as Anu Aattam, Thagaraaru and Asura Sindhanaigal, a compilation of thoughts of Asuran, the renowned environmentalist. Udayakumar, who is known for his writing skills both in Tamil and English has now penned Puyalukku Pinney Poonthendral, published by Kalachuvadu publications. It was released a week ago in Koodankulam and will be available at the Chennai Book Fair this year.

In his new book, Udayakumar talks about his past when he worked as a teacher in Ethiopia, where he summed up the courage to deal with conflict.

“I started to write this book in 2008 as a series when we started a magazine, Puthiya Thendral. But after the sudden demise of our friend Asuran, the magazine was closed and thereby the series was also stopped. Later, in 2011, when I was working in Monmouth University, USA, I had a chance to complete the book” says Udayakumar in his preface to the book.

The ‘Iron Man’ also attributes his skill of dealing with issues to his parents. His father was a politician and his mother, a social worker, met many people, who were having personal, official and societal problems. He explains, “My parents’ way of counseling people and their urge to bring a ‘win-win’ solution to the problems attracted me and I imbibed that skill with some practice.”

When he applied this practice to his friends and it worked on them, he began to believe that violence could never offer a solution to one’s problems.  To teach his doctrine, he set up a ‘UNESCO Club’ in the school he worked, even though it was controlled by a communist military government.

“A panacea for fear for others is nothing but understanding and having kindness for them. If we are fearful, we will not be capable of managing conflicts,” writes Udayakumar in one portion of this book. “If self-analysis is negative, we lose the confidence to engage our conflict,” he adds.

Throughout his book he stresses on the importance of ‘listening,’ apart from encouraging everyone to have peace, education and practice conflict management.

“Listen to the worries of individuals and that will be a great help in those moments, for people entangled in the problem,” he says.

In this book, he listens to the problems of people whom he considers ‘affected’ – between lovers, between an authoritative soldier, his superior and himself, district education officer on setting up of ‘UNESCO Club’ in the school and celebrating the Independence Day of USA, and also between brothers.

While sharing his past he also tries to depict the history of Ethiopia at that times — militarism, red terror, white terror and Mengistu tyranny —  have made him believe the principle of ‘servant leadership’  and all this helped him while leading the  anti-KKNPP struggle.

Through this work, his six years of Ethiopian life, that constructed a man of new beliefs, principles and his own way of struggle, Udayakumar makes genuine efforts to win the hearts of the readers. The book is legitimate and compassionate and makes for an engaging read.

Courtesy: The New Indian Express