My Tamil article translated into english by AI
By Ragavapriyan
It was by the grace of Lord Arangan that I once had the rare privilege of meeting the distinguished writer Komal during his visit to Thiruvarur. I was granted barely ten minutes to speak with him — yet those minutes have lingered in my memory ever since.
At that time, this humble devotee of Arangan had written a few poems in English — awkwardly and imperfectly, as beginners often do. Amid the crowd surrounding him, I somehow managed to show him a few of my verses. To my surprise, he took one of them, glanced through it attentively, and — to my greater astonishment — managed to decipher my handwriting with ease!
After a brief pause, he said with characteristic warmth and candour:
“Brother, your words have depth. But to arrange them beautifully, you must learn a little more of English grammar and literature. Read abundantly.”
He then went on to say,
“K. C. Venkataramani — like your father, Tejaswi — was an Iyer too. He wrote a fine novel titled Desabhaktan Kandan (Kandan the Patriot). Read that novel, and write an article about it for Subamangala magazine.”
Komal paused again, his eyes glinting with curiosity.
“Did you know,” he continued, “that Venkataramani was the second Indian to write a novel in Indian English? Can you guess who the first was?”
Turning towards the small gathering around us, he smiled in expectation. My dear friend Adiyaarkku Nallaan replied quietly, “It was Bankim Chandra Chatterjee.”
The moment Komal heard that name, he embraced him affectionately. The entire group — myself included, along with Rajaguru and a few others — was moved with delight and admiration. (Whether Thanjai Prakash was present that day, I can no longer recall.)
Then Komal shared another touching anecdote.
He told us that when Mahatma Gandhi once visited Chennai, Thiru V. Kalyanasundaram (Thiru V. K.) had found himself unable to procure a car to escort the Mahatma. At that crucial moment, a judge named Sadasiva Iyer had graciously offered his own car for Gandhi’s use.
As Komal spoke, my mind remained fixed on the name Desabhaktan Kandan — it echoed within me with a quiet insistence.
The next day, I visited every library in Thiruvarur — from the college library to the one opposite Ammaiappan Talkies — in search of that elusive book. None of the librarians had heard of it. I could not find a single copy. To be truthful, it was not mere failure of effort; rather, it was my own indolence of reading that prevented me from pursuing it further.
If that novel, by any good fortune, exists today in digital form, I would be deeply grateful to my respected friends who might send it to me at the following address:
ragavapriyansrajagopalan@gmail.comWith affection, gratitude, and reverence,
Ragavapriyan
No comments:
Post a Comment