Theendum Inbam - Pleasure of touch

Sujatha does it again. This time he takes up the problems urban college goers have and had portrayed it in a realistic manner that makes you realise with the brutal facts. As the name suggests it is about the pleasure of touch, one night stands, that brings along with complications like unwanted pregnancy, Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and its implications over the psyche of the concerned individuals. The best of a Sujatha's novel is that the incidents are not sugar coated but offered as a bitter pill tough to swallow. Here also Sujatha does the same with the protagonists Akalya, Sridhar & Raghu.

It is all about a simple yet supremely talented girl Akalya, who is aspiring to do IAS and already representing the college in various forums. She is going steady with a guy and one fine day she finds herself pregnant. She decides to bear it and agrees to give for adoption after the delivery. She delivers as per plans, her priorities change and towards the end she tries to give a meaning to her existence in this world.

Like any other Sujatha's novels, this too travels in the viewpoint of the main protagonist Akalya. The transformation of a happy outgoing girl to a traumatic single mother is well conceived and told. We had seen similar characters opting for single motherhood in "Kya Kehna.." and another TV serial with Deepa Venkat (I forgot its name), but what makes Akalya apart from those characters is the simple practical solution the character offers. While the former two made their decisions on emotional note, Akalya realises the problems of being emotional and opts for a practical decision.

The novel, I swear, will surely make the readers feel uncomfortable while reading even though the story telling is engrossing, especially for the people like me brought up with small town & middle class values. But you can't deny its presence in this westernizing society where onenight stands, MMS scandals are becoming a casual. It won't be an exaggerated statement if I say that this novel had shaken my beliefs in marriage and virginity.

Sujatha in the pretext of going through the Akalya's character exposes all the dark elements that prevail in the campus. The campus he had portrayed is very much believable. The celebration parties with dark corners that ends up as sex spots, the way guys try to provoke the instincts of girls are really hard to digest. The feeling Akalya undergo when she realises that sl1e is pregnant and consequent activities to abort it are fine.

Sujatha exposes the industry that survives on illegal pregnancy in this novel. The so called "inter-country adoption" centres that thrive on young victims, by brainwashing them to deliver the babies at the royal expense of the adoption parents and getting donations in US Dollars, the noble cause turned into a lucrative profession are well explained. When the girls refuse to part with the children how they are tortured is narrated well.

Besides scams, Sujatha also depicts the practical problems of being a single mother especially at the time life just starts unfolding in a major way. He suggests the ending in a practical way leaving the sentiments and emotions behind. I couldn't identify or agree fully with the ending but felt it is one of the possible endings.

This novel is plausible because of the writing style of Sujatha. Even though the stark reality slaps hard at your face, you will learn to accept the happenings towards the end rather than closing your eyes to deny its existence.

கல்லூரிக்குப் போகிற பெண் கர்ப்பமானால் என்ன ஆகும்? இந்த ஒற்றை வரியை வைத்துக் கொண்டு, ஒரு பெண்ணின் மனப் போராட்டங்களை, இயல்பு மாறாமல், வெகு யதார்த்தமாக, சுவாரஸ்யமான நாவலாகத் தந்திருக்கிறார் சுஜாதா.

Maheshwaran

35 years old, Male, married, Indian (by birth), SAP Consultant (SAP SD & IS-Retail), SAP Trainer... believer in people, love the after office life, self-indulgent when it comes to books, movies and music... avid fan of Illayaraja and AR Rahman... once an avid traveller / reader now trying to make time for the passions... love to share whatever little knowledge / experiences I had got from life and this is the primary reason for starting this blog... definitely am happy to hear the feedback if you take a moment to drop your comments... actively looking for a job in Melbourne, Australia so if you come across anything related to SAP SD in Melbourne, drop me a message.

அனிதாவின் காதல்கள் - சுஜாதா

Anitavin Kaadhalagal, which translates into Anita's affairs, may sound lurid initially but once you complete it you find the title wholly misleading. Written by Sujatha, it portrays the love story of a simple vulnerable, young girl who has been used to tranquil and calm living style. When she happens to meet the man who sweeps the ground off her feet with love the world around her changes but she couldn't. By the time she could adjust herself to that hectic pace, a rough wave topples her life and she is left stranded. Meanwhile she comes across four young men who are desperate to get her and their proposals.

Anitha is a Brahmin girl next door contended with her simple life style, crush on Salman Khan, icecream parlors and group study in her friend Madhu's room. Her life changes when she accidentally meets Vairavan, a leading young industrialist, who manages to charm her orthodox parents and gets he married in a jiffy. The following sequences are like dream come true and it comes to a screeching halt when her husband was arrested in a scam. Meanwhile three more guys propose her and finally Anita decides to take the life on her own.

Strength of Sujatha is his style of writing will be stark, not sugar coated or biased. The entire novel is from Anitha's point of view, thus highlighting the feminine sensitiveness. Anitha being a simple girl is not carried away by the romantic advancements being made by Vairavan. Infact, before she realises what had stuck her, the marriage is finished. Since we travel with Anitha, we explore the lighter vein college life of a simple girl and her reactions unable to cope up with the sudden marriage in her life. You could sympathise that even before she is fully drawn into the fact that she is married, a hurricane sweeps her happiness and she is let free again, making life a turmoil for her.

Coming to the famed title Anitha was being loved by Suresh, a software engineer, who comes through proper channel. Next is by Vairavan who manages to marry her, even though he was of lower caste, just because he makes right moves with money and charms her parents. Then comes her relative Sitaraman, for whom Anitha is the sole inspiration to move up in the hierarchical ladder by appearing for competitive exams. Last comes Vishwanathan, an aspiring musician and friend of Sitaraman, who feels that Anita was not given proper freedom. All come at different stages of Anitha's troubles and also within a month.

Through out the novel, Anita comes as a meek and submissive young girl who couldn't vent out her feelings and sometimes you get irritated why this girl doesn't be affirmative atleast with her marriage. But the way Sujatha had written it overrides this and makes you to look forward what will happen next. This is the beauty of this novel, which travels in the predictable path towards the climax. Especially the romantic episodes through which Vairavan expresses and proposes Anitha are interesting. His ordeals and the circumstances under which he decides to set Anitha free are equally interesting, making this reading a delight. When the same Vairavan sees a ray of hope, he pleads Anitha to be back in her life is just exciting.

As usual Sujatha takes up a real issue as a backdrop and builds a story around it. Here it happens to be the stock market, share trading and its scams. He elucidates the thin line between the legal trading and bulling, how sometimes the victims can be really legal through the arrest of Vairavan and its impact on the victims social life. The grand wedding reception of Vairavan and the unattended burial of his father are well said. Coming to the marriage, Anitha's expression of being a lost babe in the wood of VIPs was nice.

May be Sujatha thought of giving some wild justifications to the titillating title, he starts the novel with the description of her sisters' husbands, how they joke everything with hidden sexual innuendoes, making you believe that they will be a part of Anitha's affairs. But nothing happens so. As said, the novel didn't violate from traditional values, but takes a dig at the ever changing materialistic Brahmin attitude who are always ready to bend the traditions according to their conveniences. When realising that Vairavan is a multi millionaire, caste didn't come in between, when Vairavan was arrested they conveniently take up the caste issue and tries to get her married to Sitaraman, supporting with the instances of remarriages.

Overall, this novel offers nothing new except the Share scams, but its racy narrative makes it worth reading.

--Maheshwaran

Maheshwaran is a Mechanical Engineer turned Sales Engineer who had found his passion / calling in IT - ERP. With a solid experience of 3 End to end implementations and support projects in his stint with SAP since 2005, he turned to teaching for sharing the knowledge gained over a period of time. He had trained in SAP Training academy as well in virtual classes. These series of posts are sharing the knowledge on advanced topics which were not taught in the standard SAP Certification academy. Currently Maheshwaran is planning to migrate to Australia on PR and start a career in Melbourne. If you come across any suitable SAP SD / SAP IS Retail openings in Melbourne, please drop him a mail.

ஓர் அமெரிக்க மாப்பிள்ளை, உள்ளன்போடு நேசிக்கும் அம்மாஞ்சி முறைப் பையன், பரந்த வானத்தின் கீழிருக்கும் எதையும் விலை பேசும் பெரும் பணக்கார இளைய தொழிலதிபன், வாழ்க்கையை சுவாரஸ்யமாக வாழ அழைக்கும் ஒரு சங்கீத இளைஞன் என நாலா திக்கிலும் தன் மீது வலை பின்னும் காதல்களால் திகைத்துத் திணறி திக்குமுக்காடி போகும் ஓர் எளிய நடுத்தர வர்க்கத்து பெண்ணின் உள்ளுணர்வுகள், மன சஞ்சலங்களை விவரிக்கும் வசீகர நாவல்.

City Tour

That craft was very big. But we couldn’t call it a ship. A big craft built for the pleasures of its passengers. In the upper deck amongst comfortably standing, sitting, basking in the sun,lazily swimming in a moon-shaped pool people was Aathma waiting for Nithya.

Not really paying any attention to the book in his hand… he kept glancing at pretty Nithya who was visible every now and then. We couldn’t tell that the craft was going very fast.

Powered by a nuclear power plant in its belly it kept floating on an air cushion.

For Aathma this trip was an important event in his life… In eleven minutes the craft will reach Chennai.

Chennai!

His ancestral place! His great-great-great grandfather’s… family had a house here! And where was it? Triplicane... In Theradi street… Near the temple… the computer told him...

A young man stood in front of him and smiled. He had a small label that said, “guide.”
“Is everything fine?” he enquired.

Aathma shook his head.

“Your wife seems to like this trip a lot!” He said glancing at Nithya dive like an arrow into the pool. “Aathma! Join me” Nithya yelled.

Aathma shook his head.

A gentle breeze ruffled Aathma’s clothes. A sense of joy welled up in him…

“When will we reach Chennai?”

“In thirteen minutes!”

Aathma looked into the distance. The ocean was lazing in an orange hue. The smell of ozone caught Aathma nose. The loudspeaker sparked to life

“Attention... Dear Passengers! Attention! This is the Captain speaking. A warm welcome to all you passengers who have come to see Chennai on this luxury craft.

This is your craft. There is nothing that is not available on board. This craft is a marvel of modern science. Right now we are cruising at five hundred miles an hour. This craft can go on the ocean, go underwater and even hover on land!

If you need an introduction to Chennai since you are here to visit the many places of Chennai, please use the headphones nearest you. Thank you!”

Aathma had finished reading everything about Chennai. Still he felt pangs of anticipation every time he heard Chennai name mentioned. He put on the headphones. He heard a sweet persuasive voice along with some music playing in the background.

Although Chennai or Madras, which was a very important city in South India, existed much before, its formal history began in the year 1639, on the 23rd of August, when Tharmala Aiyappa Nayagan gave permission to Francis Day to build the St. George Fort…

“Day arrived in 1640 in the month of February with twenty five European sepoys and Nagapattan, a Indian expert on explosives. The outer walls of the St George fort were completed in 1640 on the 23rd of April...”

Nithya toweled herself, sat next to Aathma and pressed her ears on his headphones.

“Madras Pattinam was its old name” We do not know the exact origins of this name.
It could have been derived from Matha Raju, who was a king during that time...
Or from a sea-faring tribe called Marakkal rayars, it could have been called Marakkal Rayar before it finally became Madras Pattinam...

Nithya poked Aathma. He lowered his headphones.

“How many times will you keep listening to the history of Chennai? I am bored”

“This is our town Nithya! “We will be going to our home!”

“What will you see in your ancestral home?” “Will there be something stuck on the wall to say that Aathma will be born 350 years from now?”

“It is going to be difficult to even find the house first” “And who knows in what shape it will be”

Most of the homes seem to be in good shape... Hey the guide was enquiring about you...”

“Yeah. He kept looking at me...”

“How do you know that?”

“Every direction I looked he seemed to be there...”

“Cover your chest. You might catch a cold”

“I am hungry”

Why don’t you go down and eat something. I will come after hearing this out.
Be back in five minutes though... We will be reaching Chennai.”

Aathma put his headphones on again.

“While digging the foundation for Mylapore’s Lazarus Church they came upon Manuel Mathras tombstone. Mathra’s family was quite a wealthy family. So it is possible to think it could have come from Mathra’s name.

Mathraza is a Persian word to mean a school or college. There could been an old

Mohammedan school there. So the name could have come from there too...

Anyway the name Chennai stuck.

One by one the passengers were making their way to the upper deck. We are approaching Chennai! Aathma’s heart was pounding! He felt he was approaching his mother...

How far he has come on this journey... He had a holiday on Astro 7. Nithya had a holiday. They caught a shuttle from there to the space station. They didn’t get a reservation and had to wait on the floating station for two days before they got one,
And caught the planetary ship to earth and another trip on earth... a week of stay in hotels, strange journeys, strange rooms, strange faces…

“Why are you so adamant to make this trip? We are wasting our holidays here! We could

have gone to so many new places! They say Helios, the new colony, is like heaven!
You and your Chennai! Be miserable with your history!

“If you didn’t like it, you could have made a trip on your own Nithya!”

“Yeah. I unknowingly made a mistake. Earth is so boring!”

The moment he had heard the news about the discovery Chennai in Astro 7 he was beside himself. He saved money his holidays… and reached here.

“You have seen Chennai. Haven’t you?”

“Once a day… That’s my job!”

“You know all the places don’t you?”

He laughed. “High court, Santhome, Anna Salai, Valluvar Kottam, Kapalesvarar Temple, Kandaswamy temple, fort… What do you want?”

“Do you know Triplicane?”

“Parthasarathy temple is there” Join the third queue.

There on Therady Street is a house…
House?” he looked surprised.

“Why?”

Before he could answer there heard a siren.

”Pay attention. Pay attention” Please stand clear of the upper portions of the craft. The craft is covering itself.

All the people in the upper deck stood in the center. They heard the hum of the engines and a semi-circular plastic wall started to enclose the craft. Suddenly they were engulfed in silence and anticipation.

“Please pay attention. The craft is going to descend into the ocean. We are going to reach Chennai in three minutes… Towards the end of the twenty first century the sea submerged Chennai. With the help of modern science, all the old buildings have been scrubbed, made clean and restored. They are waiting for you! Your craft will submerge and go on the streets of Chennai. There you will hear descriptions of the streets. We will reach St George in two minutes…”

The craft began to submerge.

The craft started to roll in its silvery wake. It was really quiet.

Nagar Valam (1976), Sci-Fi of Sujatha was in limelight during the Tsunami attack. In Jan 2005, an English translation of the story appeared in Sunday issue of The Indian Express. 

The same is reproduced here. Ranga Rengarajan(Sujatha’s son) has done the translation.

--Courtesy Sujatha Desikan

தொடர்புடைய பதிவு:
நகர்வலம் -சுஜாதா

Why He Mattered... Baradwaj Rangan

The unfortunate demise of the Tamil writer Sujatha — from the news-channel eulogies, though, you’d think the man was merely a screenwriter, giving shape to the visions of Shankar and Mani Ratnam — has occasioned a steady outpouring of how-I-learnt-to-read-Tamil-with-his-books memories, and while I know from experience that that’s true, I feel no one has zeroed in on why this is so. 

After all, there were so many other Tamil writers — the great modernist god that was the early Vairamuthu, say — who were Sujatha’s contemporaries and who were certainly no slouches when it came to a certain felicity of expression that could make any rank newbie fall in rapturous love with the language. But I think what made Sujatha stand apart and speak to so many of us who grew up in the seventies and the eighties was that his writings were instantly appealing to a generation that could understand Tamil and speak Tamil and read Tamil and perhaps even write Tamil — but thought in English.

I’m not just talking about the sci-fi setting of En Iniya Iyandhira and its robo-dog named after the Roman goddess Juno — all far, far removed from the sociopolitical and moralistic scenarios that constituted a lot of the writing in the local magazines of the time — but Sujatha’s Western sensibilities would peek through even his pieces on ancient religious texts.

By “Western” sensibilities, I mean that he could demystify the most arcane of abstractions with the lightest of touches and with the gentlest sense of humour. In other words, he would take his subject seriously without taking himself seriously — and that was refreshing to a generation whose defining characteristic was (a borderline don’t-care-ish) casualness. As an aside, maybe that’s why Mani Ratnam felt the time was ripe for his kind of cinema — because he had in front of him a young audience that wasn’t especially “Indian” when it came to, say, respecting authority figures.
    

அக்னி புத்திரன் என்கிற இந்திய ராக்கெட் எதிரிகளால் கடத்தப்-படுகிறது. கடத்தப்பட்ட அந்த அக்னி புத்திரனை மீட்பதற்காக உளவுத்துறை இளைஞன் விக்ரம் களமிறங்குகிறான். கம்ப்யூட்டர் பெண் இஞ்சினியர் ப்ரீத்தி என்பவளுடன் சலாமியா என்கிற வினோத ராஜ்ஜியத்துக்கு பயணமாகிறான். ஏராளமாக ஒரு ராஜா, தாராளமாக ஒரு ராஜகுமாரி, வில்லன் ராஜகுரு என்று சலாமியாவில் பயணிக்கும் ஆக்ஷன் நிரம்பிய சாகச ஜிலு ஜிலு கதை. ‘விக்ரம்' என்ற பெயரில் கமல்ஹாசன் நடிப்பில் உருவான சினிமாவுக்காகவென்றே எழுதப்பட்ட இந்தக் கதை திரைப்படமாக உருவாகும்போதே ஷூட்டிங் புகைப்படங்களுடன் குமுதத்தில் தொடர்கதையாகவும் வந்து ஹிட் ஆனது.

Do you think a filmmaker from an earlier era would have given us the scene from Roja where Arvind Swamy’s mother speaks of his smoking habit as if it were a minor annoyance, perhaps ranking alongside a maidservant who doesn’t show up despite her previous-evening promises to be there first thing in the morning? And maybe that’s why Mani Ratnam worked so extensively with Sujatha, one Western sensibility in complete synchronicity with another. (So also Kamal Hassan, who collaborated with Sujatha on Tamil cinema’s first stab at a Bondian swashbuckler, Vikram.)

Anyway, coming back to Sujatha, here’s what I mean when I talk of his being with it, and with us: In a recent installment of his series in the magazine Kalki — the column was called Vaaram Oru Paasuram (loosely, ‘A Verse A Week’), where, each time, he’d pick a sacred hymn and lay it out in layman terms — he’d chosen a stanza from (the poet-saint) Nammazhvar’s Thiruvaimozhi, one that went Nalkuravum, selvum...

Now, this is what he does. Like that other Tamil instructor so beloved to those of a certain age — Maa. Nannan (from Doordarshan’s Vaazhkai Kalvi), who opened up to us a world of etymology and spelling and pronunciation, armed with nothing more than a piece of chalk, an easel-tilted blackboard and the patience of the ages — Sujatha first breaks down the verse word for word, stopping to intone, for instance, that “nalkuravu” is Old Tamil for “poverty.” Having approached the passage at a building-blocks level, Sujatha now stands back a little and talks about the most immediately apparent meaning, which is Nammazhvar’s contention that the image of the Lord he laid eyes on was an amalgamation of antonyms — poverty and wealth, poison and life-giving nectar, amity and enmity, hell and heaven — and therefore, He is (and is responsible for) everything. And after this is when Sujatha doffs his “Indian” hat — his truly reverential, emotional, subjective “Indian” hat; there’s not a note of condescension or scepticism in this robo-dog creator’s appraisal of the religious text at hand — and looks at things from a decidedly objective, “Western” perspective. He marvels that you could extrapolate this philosophy of God into the utmost extreme of antonyms: namely, if you think He exists, He exists; if you don’t, He doesn’t.

But because of His all-encompassing nature, even His non-existence is proof of His existence. And after this dizzying demonstration of circular reasoning, Sujatha signs his piece off with the Tamil equivalent of “the mind boggles,” capping off what could have been a fuddy-duddy exercise in esoteric academia with a cheeky flourish of hipness. And that’s why he’ll be missed — because, like few before him, he got us in touch with the uncoolest of things in the coolest of ways.

( Source: Sunday Express )


--Courtesy Sujatha Desikan

Pesum Bommaigal(Talking Dolls)

Consider this possibility-we are able to download information from the internet and upload information vice versa. What will happen if the process of downloading is done on human brain? What if we can upload the contents of the human brain-thoughts, memories to a machine and then feed it to another and make the person behave like the source (the person from whose brain the information i.e thoughts, memories are taken)? This revolutionary idea is the crux for writer Sujatha's novel Pesum Bommaigal, literally meaning Talking Dolls, published by Uyirmai Publications.

I have always been an ardent fan of Sujatha's novels and stories, that too the famous Ganesh-Vasanth from my childhood. Perhaps the different line and thinking of the author appealed to me, or the twist in the story, or identification with the characters. I always have a special place for Sujatha's works.

It has been Sujatha's novel way to take up an idea, mostly scientific in nature, and deal it out in his stories in an interesting and captivating manner. My favorites among his science-fiction works are En Iniya Iyandhira(My Dear Machine), Meendum Jeeno(Again Jeeno)- a sequel to the former, Sorga Theevu(Heaven's Island), Pesum Bommaigal, the subject of this post.

The story goes like this. Maya, a young lady gets an offer as a Research Assistant in a scientific research center called CMR Labs. She finds the activities in her new work place weird, especially in the way she is tested in the interview and the subsequent medical tests she is asked to take - her voice is recorded, strange readings are taken with no explanations, and she finds to her surprise that she got the job because of her sister Menaka, who was a former research associate in the lab.

Naturally curious and eager to keep up the reputation of being Menaka's sister, Maya does the bidding of her bosses-Dr.Narendranath and Dr.Sarangapani. She finds them contrasting in character-one aggressive and the other pleasing towards her and initially jealous of each others' works(interesting characters, they are). More than all, she finds out to her horror that all the staff in the lab have their right hand shorter than their left hand. Her inquiries lead her to dead ends and makes her doubt about continuing there, but the pay packet and the assurance of her lover Sunil who works there makes her continue in the job.

The story takes a turn when Maya discovers that the lab secretly conducts trials on the staff with or without their consent, but shuts them up from speaking out by paying them handsomely. Even more is her fear on finding out that the tests are related to mind control and her sister had been one of the victims who never made it out of the lab. She is trapped when her bosses learn about her knowledge, and she becomes a pawn in an unwitting game of horror.

Maya's father and Sunil take the matter to Ganesh and Vasanth(I would need another post to write about them!) who are perturbed by the strange nature of the case and decide to investigate. The chase leads them from Chennai to Vijayawada to back to Chennai as they learn about the complex and devious plans of the doctor duo-advanced research on the human mind by way of downloading the memories and information from the brain to a system and vice versa. A stunning finale(the 'poetic justice' Ganesh delivers is not to be missed) makes the reader sit up and wonder at the ingenuity of the writer in skillfully taking the story through the pages.

Sujatha's forte is that he set the trend for these kind of stories, explaining complex scientific things in a simple layman's term to the reader, perking up his curiosity. A must read for all, especially those who love different kind of stories with a intelligent twist.

--Harish Ragunathan


இந்தக் கதையின் ஆதாரக் கருத்தான (Downloading) 'டவுன் லோடிங்' என்பதின் சாத்தியத்தைப் பற்றிப் பலர் என்னிடம் சந்தேகம் கேட்டார்கள். ஒரு மனித மனத்தின் அத்தனை எண்ணங்களையும் ஓர் இயந்திரத்துக்கு மாற்றிப் புகட்ட முடியுமா என்று பலர் வியந்து இதுசாத்தியமே இல்லை என்றார்கள். இன்றைய விஞ்ஞான ஆராய்ச்சி நிலையில் இது சாத்தியமில்லைதான். ஆனால் இன்று அமெரிக்கா போன்ற முன்னேற்ற நாடுகளின் முற்போக்கு ஆராய்ச்சி நிலையங்களில் 'செயற்கை அறிவு' என்ற இயலின் ஒரு பிரிவாக இத்தகைய மூளைச் செய்தி மாற்றும் ஆராய்ச்சிகள் செய்து சிறிதளவு வெற்றி கண்டும் இருக்கிறார்கள். இந்த வெற்றியின் ஒரு கற்பனை விரிவாக்கம்தான் 'பேசும் பொம்மைகள்'.

Down Memory Lane — Sujatha

Today’s posting is “Down Memory Lane” by Sujatha. This article featured in Nrisimhapriya August 2004 issue ( English Edition )

I have never been asked why I became a Tamil writer. Let me think..

I was born in Triplicane and almost from my cradle whisked off toSrirangam by my grandmother. My father was in a transferable job and this was the reason given for my early separation from my parents. Srirangam had its own oddities and charm.

Even now it has some, but today’s Srirangam is not my childhood town. Except for the inner Uttra and Chitra streets and the sanctum, every thing has changed irrevocably.

Every morning the Prabandam verses were afloat in our ears recited in a sing-song voice, by little Vishnava boys, thanks to aVedapathasala established by my ancestor Kuvalagudi Singam Iyengar. This was a Charity Trust for the children of poor Iyengar families. Young and bright-eyed boys were given sustenance, along with Upanishad’s and Diyva Prabandam lessons.

They were to learn them by heart before they were twelve. Then, they were sent into the world to fend for themselves. I followed some of them in later life. Three became cooks. One became an assistant director in Kodambakkam, another a brilliant teacher of Visishtadaita and yet another, an archaka in Vishnu temple at California.

The parthasala model education was not suitable for the modern world. The Trust had to revise the curriculum to enable the boys survive in the world.

Recently, when I visited Srirangam there were hardly any students. The Iyengar community has presumably become prosperous. But even today, the vestiges of the great tradition established in early eighth century and canonised later by Sri Ramanuja, remain.

When Lord Ranganatha comes out of the great temple the verses of Divyaprabandam precede Him. In Margazhi festival, the entire Thiruvaymozhi is recited in decadic from day and night. The temple is steeped in Tamil tradition. You will find even today there are individuals who know the entire four thousand verses by heart. Without much difficulty I can recall a few hundred verses.

The verses got embedded in my memory before I knew their meaning. In Srirangam, even today, you find people greeting each other in chaste Tamil terms like adiyen, devareer, thirumeni, etc., No wonder I became a Tamil Writer.

Srirangam Rajagopuram sketch by Sujatha Desikan (1993)

Kolaiyudhir Kaalam – Sujatha

அறிவியலுக்கும் அமானுஷ்யத்திற்கும் இடையே நிகழும் தீராத போராட்டத்தை முன்வைக்கும் இந்நாவல்கணேஷ் வசந்த்தோன்றும் சுஜாதாவின் படைப்புகளில் பெரும் புகழ்பெற்றதாகும். மனதை அதிர வைக்கும் சம்பவங்களும் எதிர்பாராத திருப்பங்களும் தீர்க்கமுடியாத புதிர்களும் நிறைந்தகொலையுதிர் காலம்வெளிவந்த காலத்திலிருந்தே வாசகர்களின் உற்சாகமான வாசிப்பிற்கு உரியதாக இருந்து வந்திருக்கிறது.

Kolaiyudhir Kaalam(Season of Murders) is a murder thriller from Sujatha, the famous creator of Ganesh-Vasanth duo.

I have previously reviewed some of Sujatha’s works here. This one is no different in the plot genre and the characters juxtaposition, but the difference is that it deals with two different tracks at the same time toeing the main line. There is a thin line between labelling a crime as done by human elements and labelling it as superstitious elements. Sujatha takes this thread wonderfully and woes a story around it.

Ganesh and Vasanth are sent to an estate to settle certain succession related disputes by a friend called Deepak. There they find that the legal heir apparent is an 18 year old girl named Leena Vyasan, taken care of by her uncle Kumara Vyasan.

The estate has some strange things to offer. Kumara Vysan fills them up on the legend that runs in te family-of a ghost haunting the Vyasan family members, especially female members and the latest to be affected by it is Leena who had committed a murder two years back, but is unaware of the fact.

Ganesh and Vasanth decide to investigate and are perplexed at the nature things take shape. Whsipering voices in the dark, murder attempts, Leena’s strange behaviour, apparitions walking in the night with no clue as to how it all happens make them pinch themselves and pull at their hair.

Ganesh, ever the logician, rationalist refuses to believe the supernatural element and investigates deeply, injuring himself in the process. Vasanth is not so convinced in the science element and draws his own conclusions from the events. And all points to Leena, who denies any knowledge of the events.

As gradually Ganesh uncovers the reasons behind the strange happenings, a great blow falls…and all is blank for Ganesh and Vasanth. More characters join towards the end and a stunning climax awaits the reader, leaving him wondering whether it is all science or supernatural elements that play foil.

A good interesting read indeed.

–Harish Ragunathan

SCIENCE FICTION – Another tomorrow

SCIENCE FICTION is usually celebrated for the glimpses it offers into the future. The crispest definition of science fiction is to call it a literature of “what if?” Due to the protean nature of the genre, it embraces everything from crude interplanetary romances to sophisticated psychological drama. It has been universally acknowledged as the most popular form of fiction for young people and exists in diverse forms, challenging any kind of rigid categorisation. “It attempts to present realities which are different from those we know”, says critic Christopher Evans. “The imagined future, the altered present and the past in which history was different!” Science fiction writers have been perpetually interested in possibilities and potentials.


In his preface to the anthology of short stories written by Sujatha Rangarajan, a major Tamil writer, the author admits that as a subgenre, science fiction has not been widely practised by Tamil writers. However, Sujatha points out many elements of science fiction are present in novels written in the past in Tamil.


Many of his own stories have been published without being classified as science fiction, although they may have possessed many traits common to the genre. Just as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has been regarded as the forerunner of the genre in the Western world, our own epics and myths have elements of science fiction which are truly amazing. Not just rockets Sujatha, in his preface, reminds us that science fiction need not necessarily be concerned with rockets and space odysseys. Dark subjects like the survival of mankind are frequently addressed.


In “Jillu“, set in the future, there is a threat of acid rain after nuclear warfare between India and warring nations. Cities are being evacuated but the child Kumar refuses to board the helicopter without his pet dog Jillu. In the ensuing confusion, both the boy and the dog get left behind. The pity and the terror of the situation is conveyed in terse crisp prose. Sujatha’s knowledge of robotics and computer technology find expression in the stories “Adimai” (Slave) and “Agayam” (Sky).


In “Adimai“, the human is able to hoodwink the robot, but in “Agayam” the robot is juxtaposed against the human as an equal and the ending is left to the wild conjectures of the reader. Jayant Narlikar, in his Return of Vaman, has likewise speculated on the grave possibility of robots eventually taking the place of man, making him redundant.


“Anna Salai” and “Thimala” are stories set in the distant future. “Thimala” is particularly heart warming, for the power of religion and prayer still operates even after the modern miracles of the digital age have come to pass. The experience is described as “thrilling” by the protagonist Athma who agrees to visit Thimala (our Tirupati) to please his wife who still has within her remnants of the forgotten human qualities of love and piety.


“Suriyan” (The Sun) is also set in the future. It is about a few families which live underground to avoid the deadly effects of radiation, a legacy of global warfare. “Mister Munuswamy Oru 1.2.1” is an interesting essay into the psychological depths of the human mind and its capacity for total intellectual transformation. However, the scientific marvel of artificial intelligence is, alas, only temporary and Munuswamy is back to his illiterate life style, believing his short-lived transformation to be just a dream.


On the wings of time In “Oru Kathayil Erandu Kathai“, the same character is shown in two different eras, more or less displaying similar roles. In “Kala Yanthiram” the protagonist gets hold of a mechanical contraption which helps him travel backwards and forwards in time. Being a novice in such exercises, while operating it, he goes back in time to the age of the famous grammarian Tholkappiar and even has the pleasure of adding his contribution to the famous book by the grammarian. But the problem arises while trying to return to the 21st Century. By pressing the wrong button, he comes to 1774 instead of 2024 to which he belongs. This story has the reader in splits as Sujatha gets away with the anachronism inherent to such writing with audacity and brilliance.


Man and the unknown The motif of alien beings peopling our planet is a very common one in science fiction. Patrick Parrinder comments, “Science fiction, when it is concerned with alien modes of being, approaches man through his contact with the new and the unknown. Their concern is with man himself and the literary exercise is a process of discovering what man is and what choices are open to him.”


“Tejaswini“, written in 2001, has a startling conclusion while “Manjal Ratham” has all the weird connotations of life in a strange planet where we earthlings are the aliens. “Upagriham” is about a UFO phenomenon discovered by an aged man who is faced with disbelief and ridicule for his remarks. Sujatha’s anthology, in turn witty, wise and incredibly entertaining, makes imaginative use of conceptually intriguing scientific technology.


An accessible combination of conceptual daring and moral seriousness places the book well above the common run of science fiction. Sujatha says, in Marathi and Bengali, there has been a significant increase of writers experimenting in this category. Kondke’s anthology of stories entitled It Happened Tomorrow includes two Tamil stories.


Even if an author is ignorant of scientific facts, as long as he observes “internal consistency“, if it obeys social and structural rules within the plot, the story will be accepted, says Sujatha. He invites greater exploration of this genre which flouts tradition and invites a re-evaluation of old-fashioned viewpoints.


More than mere craftsmanship Being science fiction, Sujatha’s expertise in plumbing the depths of human emotions is naturally not in evidence. However, the reader’s intelligence and emotions are stimulated through the “thought through” explanatory mode of narration adopted by the author who is much more than a clever craftsman.


There is a constant sense of movement, physical as well as psychological, ensuring the reader’s attention. As Mark Twain once said, “Why shouldn’t truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense“: science fiction, often called the literature of the impossible, appears mainly as an alternative technique for apprehending and coping with our everyday world.


-Courtesy Sujatha Desikan 

கடந்த 25 ஆண்டுகளுக்கும் மேலாக சுஜாதா எழுதி வந்திருக்கும்விஞ்ஞானச் சிறுகதைகளின் முழுத் தொகுப்புமுதன் முதலாக வெளிவருகிறது. தமிழில் விஞ்ஞானக் கதைகளின் முன்னோடியான சுஜாதாவின் இப்படைப்புகளில் நிகழ்காலமும் எதிர்காலமும் அறிவியலும் புனைவும் யதார்த்தமும் கனவும் கலந்து மயங்குகின்றன. கால மாற்றத்தால் புதுமை குன்றாத இக்கதைகள் வாசகர்களின் மனதில் தீராத வினோதங்களைப் படைக்கின்றன.

PREMA SRINIVASAN Literary Review , The Hindu – Sunday, Sep 05, 2004.