First of all, I would like to say that this is not a post to advice or
criticize. It's just how I felt when I started reading Tamil books and
understood how great they are.
Current Situation:
Speaking of reading, whether it is Tamil or English, it has become a rare one as getting audience for artistic Tamil movies. When you say that you read books, you are viewed as someone different in your social circle. First question which comes is "English or Tamil". If it’s Tamil, then I have 90% probability of losing that 'Someone different ' value. I even had a bitter experience of a friend of mine asking me like 'Do we have notable literature in Tamil?' I don't know how to say that we have notable and acclaimed literature for past 1000 years and even above.
In the past:
In the past, it wasn't like that. We had businessmen, small kings and big kings patronizing poets. Even though, some of that patronizing might be for self-proudness, it was elemental in making the poet continue to create. And hence, we had mind blowing literature.
What about honor?
I am not saying we don't have now. We have awesome literary works by some notable persons. Maybe they are updated for the modern audience. But, are we reading them or at least honoring them?
The only honor literary persons get these days are name in papers and TVs when they won Sahitya Academy award or our Tamilnadu Govt. Award (which is shown by Tamil media alone). We can't blame the Northern media though. When was the last time you saw a name of a literary person from other state on a Tamil media?
Let's leave other languages. Coming to Tamil, did we ever had any discussion on any book which won Sahitya Academy award? No. Or anything about our Tamil Literature? No. We only have these dramatic shows trying to showcase it as equals to Arnab Goswami's **** shows (you can fill whatever bad word you want)
Reading Habit:
And coming to the habit of reading, are we really reading? The irony is that most of us think reading Ananda Vikatan and Kumudham is a great literary reading (I agree with Ananda Vikatan a little bit since it has some good literary content). It's not the actual reading though. There are hundreds and hundreds of mind blowing works in Tamil. They have every range of emotions - love and sex, joy and sorrow, revenge and forgiveness and whatever-you-know to whatever-you-don’t-know.
Why in Tamil?
It's not that I am opposing reading of English books. They are fine. But, you get that cultural touch only in Tamil. Imagine reading about a war in England and a scene which depicts a fight with a neighbor in Chennai. You will get involved more with the second. And it's great that you know about your culture before moving on to other culture. It's because, then only we can compare them with ours which will give us a better understanding.
And always there is a talk that many areas of writing are unexplored in Tamil literature. That's not right and we are exploring many contemporary areas of literature too, by our modern day writers.
That feel of reading in Tamil:
And the habit of reading in Tamil, it is an unexplainable experience. You have to read it to experience it. Not only can the movies make you feel or cry. Literature can too. They are an important tool for a change in society as Jeyakanthan says. Change in the sense it's not like an uprising. It is a gradual change which will affect your life forever. Like the short story 'Agniprevesam', it is a famous short story of Jeyakanthan and created more controversies when it came out in the 1960s. It totally changed the way of how middle class people considered 'Chastity'. And his continuation novel for that short story titled 'Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal' is a master piece which won him the Sahitya academy award. And many other writers like Asokamitran, Janakiraman and Jeyamohan explore the mind, the extent of its thinking and ways it can think which we also do, but afraid to say it loud in the public. They deal with those kind of thinking and give us a kind of solution on how to deal with them.
A little alert:
And if you are coming to Tamil Literary World, please don't get yourself into any group of fan following of any author. It's because we have many unhealthy discussions by fans of different Tamil writers online. So, please avoid them and try enjoying their works.
Some suggestions:
If you have decided to read Tamil Literature, here are some books I can suggest as a heads up:
1) Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal - Novel by Jeyakanthan
2) 18 aavathu atchu kodu - Novel by Asokamitran
3) Aram - short story collection by Jeyamohan
4) Muthirai kathaigal - a bulk collection of short stories of Jeyakanthan
5) Short stories of Prabanjan, Kalki and Janakiraman
And many more. These are like drops. A vast ocean is before you. Try to sail in it and don't get feared of drowning. It will teach you how to swim.
A little favor:
And if you are going to read a book, please buy them as paperback and read it. Nothing can match that experience. No eBooks or borrowed ones (unless you can’t find that book). Please buy them on your own. It's because at the end of day, writers are also trying to make their ends meet, by enriching the culture and humanity left with us. :)
Note: And I wrote this in English since many of you wouldn't have read this if it was in Tamil. That's what I thought. Pardon me if I thought wrong.
If you want to see how our Tamil literary world has evolved and how mind-changing reading can be, have taste of it here: அக்கினிப் பிரவேசம் - ஜெயகாந்தன்
Current Situation:
Speaking of reading, whether it is Tamil or English, it has become a rare one as getting audience for artistic Tamil movies. When you say that you read books, you are viewed as someone different in your social circle. First question which comes is "English or Tamil". If it’s Tamil, then I have 90% probability of losing that 'Someone different ' value. I even had a bitter experience of a friend of mine asking me like 'Do we have notable literature in Tamil?' I don't know how to say that we have notable and acclaimed literature for past 1000 years and even above.
In the past:
In the past, it wasn't like that. We had businessmen, small kings and big kings patronizing poets. Even though, some of that patronizing might be for self-proudness, it was elemental in making the poet continue to create. And hence, we had mind blowing literature.
What about honor?
I am not saying we don't have now. We have awesome literary works by some notable persons. Maybe they are updated for the modern audience. But, are we reading them or at least honoring them?
The only honor literary persons get these days are name in papers and TVs when they won Sahitya Academy award or our Tamilnadu Govt. Award (which is shown by Tamil media alone). We can't blame the Northern media though. When was the last time you saw a name of a literary person from other state on a Tamil media?
Let's leave other languages. Coming to Tamil, did we ever had any discussion on any book which won Sahitya Academy award? No. Or anything about our Tamil Literature? No. We only have these dramatic shows trying to showcase it as equals to Arnab Goswami's **** shows (you can fill whatever bad word you want)
Reading Habit:
And coming to the habit of reading, are we really reading? The irony is that most of us think reading Ananda Vikatan and Kumudham is a great literary reading (I agree with Ananda Vikatan a little bit since it has some good literary content). It's not the actual reading though. There are hundreds and hundreds of mind blowing works in Tamil. They have every range of emotions - love and sex, joy and sorrow, revenge and forgiveness and whatever-you-know to whatever-you-don’t-know.
Why in Tamil?
It's not that I am opposing reading of English books. They are fine. But, you get that cultural touch only in Tamil. Imagine reading about a war in England and a scene which depicts a fight with a neighbor in Chennai. You will get involved more with the second. And it's great that you know about your culture before moving on to other culture. It's because, then only we can compare them with ours which will give us a better understanding.
And always there is a talk that many areas of writing are unexplored in Tamil literature. That's not right and we are exploring many contemporary areas of literature too, by our modern day writers.
That feel of reading in Tamil:
And the habit of reading in Tamil, it is an unexplainable experience. You have to read it to experience it. Not only can the movies make you feel or cry. Literature can too. They are an important tool for a change in society as Jeyakanthan says. Change in the sense it's not like an uprising. It is a gradual change which will affect your life forever. Like the short story 'Agniprevesam', it is a famous short story of Jeyakanthan and created more controversies when it came out in the 1960s. It totally changed the way of how middle class people considered 'Chastity'. And his continuation novel for that short story titled 'Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal' is a master piece which won him the Sahitya academy award. And many other writers like Asokamitran, Janakiraman and Jeyamohan explore the mind, the extent of its thinking and ways it can think which we also do, but afraid to say it loud in the public. They deal with those kind of thinking and give us a kind of solution on how to deal with them.
A little alert:
And if you are coming to Tamil Literary World, please don't get yourself into any group of fan following of any author. It's because we have many unhealthy discussions by fans of different Tamil writers online. So, please avoid them and try enjoying their works.
Some suggestions:
If you have decided to read Tamil Literature, here are some books I can suggest as a heads up:
1) Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal - Novel by Jeyakanthan
2) 18 aavathu atchu kodu - Novel by Asokamitran
3) Aram - short story collection by Jeyamohan
4) Muthirai kathaigal - a bulk collection of short stories of Jeyakanthan
5) Short stories of Prabanjan, Kalki and Janakiraman
And many more. These are like drops. A vast ocean is before you. Try to sail in it and don't get feared of drowning. It will teach you how to swim.
A little favor:
And if you are going to read a book, please buy them as paperback and read it. Nothing can match that experience. No eBooks or borrowed ones (unless you can’t find that book). Please buy them on your own. It's because at the end of day, writers are also trying to make their ends meet, by enriching the culture and humanity left with us. :)
Note: And I wrote this in English since many of you wouldn't have read this if it was in Tamil. That's what I thought. Pardon me if I thought wrong.
If you want to see how our Tamil literary world has evolved and how mind-changing reading can be, have taste of it here: அக்கினிப் பிரவேசம் - ஜெயகாந்தன்
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