Tamil Nadu, Malaysian writers forge links

Does anyone know that the Chennai Corporation and Kuala Lumpur City Hall had signed an agreement on the promotion of art, culture, education, sport and commerce between the two cities, more than six years ago? Well, it is politics that had caused the delay but implementation has indeed begun now!

Prof. Krishnan Manian at the mike, T. Nadarajan, Special Officer to the
Minister of Health (standing by the wall), Malaysian Writers’ Association
President Saleh Rahmad and Dy. Minister Dato Saravanan (seated next to him)
at the Kuala Lumpur Tamil Writers’ meet.

The hosts in Kuala Lumpur made it an unforgettable event for forty Tamil writers whose books were specially released at a gala function in the International Centre for Youth in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in February, as part of the arrangement, with a foreword by Dato S. Subramaniam, Minister for Health, Malaysia. The event was jointly organised by the Special Implementation Task Force, Prime Minister’s Department, and supported by Kuala Lumpur City Hall, and Kalaignan Pathipakam, a notable publishing house in Chennai which is celebrating its Diamond Jubilee and had hoped to release 50 books by 60 authors at the function. Unfortunately, 20 could not meet the deadline.

T. Natarajan, Special Officer to the Minister of Health, welcomed the delegates from Tamil Nadu, Malaysia and Singapore. The highlight of the two-day seminar was the speech in Tamil by Dato Saravanan, Deputy Minister for Youth & Sports, Malaysia, quoting from the Tirukkural and other Saivite Tamil scriptures, and referring to the glory of Tamil literature and the need for collaborating with Malay Tamil writers. He mentioned that this was made possible when he, as a Minister in the Government, signed an agreement with the Chennai and Kuala Lumpur civic bodies on the initiative of the Department of Special Task Force of the Prime Minister, Malaysia, for promotion of art, culture, education, sport and commerce, but was not pursued further for lack of initiative. However, he said he was happy that this was made possible by the persistent efforts of Prof. Krishnan Manian. He congratulated him for translating Malay poems into Tamil and publishing them through Kalaignan Pathipakam at short notice.

The keynote address, ‘Development of Tamil-Malay Literature in Malaysia’ was delivered by Associate Professor Dr. Krishnan Manian of the SITF. He summed up the literatures of both the nations in a crisp talk peppered with humour and substance. The inauguration was attended by Dr. Saleh Rahamad, President of the Malay Writers’ Association. Prof. Mannar Mannan, President, Tamil Writers’ Association of Malaysia, spoke about this first-time event which culminated in the meeting of Tamil writers from two nations. A group of Tamil writers from Singapore also attended the morning session.

Dato Saravanan released the forty books and complimented the authors and the publisher for launching books on so many different subjects, from children’s literature to short story collections to novels and non-fiction. On behalf of the authors, the publisher Nandan Masilamani appreciated this opportunity given to them.

The evening was devoted to reading of Malay poems by Malay poets and their translations in Tamil were rendered by Prof. Krishnan Manian. A few Tamil poets read their poems in Tamil for which Prof. Krishnan rendered the meaning in Malay instantly.

The four-day function was equally divided between seminar and sight-seeing. The first two days were utilised for releasing the books and presenting papers by the visiting writers. The papers were not about the Tamil literature per se, but a lively introduction of the authors and their body of work. It was an occasion for many Tamil writers from Tiruppur, Madurai, Salem, Tiruchi, Erode and Pondicherry to mingle with the writers from Chennai.

After the academic seminar, the visitors were taken to the old Chetty settlement in Malacca, where they could meet the present generation of Tamil families who still follow the Tamil traditions and celebrate Pongal, Deepavali, etc., but know only a few words in Tamil! The local Sivasubramania Temple is maintained with the traditional sannadhi-s of the deities.

The Batu Caves, known for the huge Murugan statue in the front, is a tourist attraction where visitors from all religions and nations could be seen taking pictures of Lord Muruga. “Muruga is in all the homes of the visitors to Malaysia, irrespective of religion or caste!” Natarajan, who accompanied the group said, “The added attraction is the Ramayana gallery opened in 1992 as well as a Vinayaga temple and Perumal temple, besides the main deity at the top of the caves.”

The authors whose books were released at the function in Kuala Lumpur were: 1. P. Muthukumaraswamy (grandson of VOC); 2. R. Muthusamy (Prabhusankar); 3. K. Sivakaminathan; 4. S.R. Subramanian; 5. Charukesi; 6. Gunasekaran (Kamalalayan); 7. Vasanthimanalan; 8. Udayasankar; 9. Idaimarudur K. Manjula; 10. Muthupalaniappan; 11. Ka. Mu. Durai; 12. K. Ramamurthy; 13. Banumathy Bosco; 14. P. Karnan; 15. La.Ra. Saptharishi; 16. Sathyapriyan; 17. A.P. Aziz; 18. S. Shankaranarayanan; 19. M. Anbalagan (Singapore); 20. Sp. Thinnappan (Singapore); 21. Varadarajan (Singapore); 22. A.P. Raman (Singapore); 23. R.V. Pathy; 24. Kavipithan; 25. Manaa; 26. Gouthama Sidharthan; 27. Dr. Nirmala; 28. L.V. Parthasarathy; 29. Bharati Vasanthan; 30. Udumalai Vadivel; 31. Prema Prabha; 32. Lalithamathi; 33. Thennampattu Ekambaram; 34. Subra Bharathi Manian; 35. Mu. Veerayan; 36. Arunagiri; 37. Raghavan Thambi; 38. G.A. Shanthakumar; 39. AzhagiaNathan; 40. Kannikovil Raja.
Charukesi

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