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| Wednesday, 8 December 2004 |
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In memory of K. Kailasapathy
On this particular evening there were more than five cultural items taking place in the metropolis. Despite these attractions, quite a few genuinely interested people turned up at the function. Chitraleka, a student of Kailasapathy elaborated the everlasting contributions the late Prof K.Kailasapathy had made to the intellectual climate of this country. The Forewords written by Kailasapathy to many books have been gathered into a volume and that was also released on the occasion. On the previous day there was a panel discussion on his contribution especially to the Thamil community in Sri Lanka over the Tamil National Service of the SLBC. The station presenter Ravindran invited the three participants to recount their experiences with the deceased don and evaluate his role as a Marxist thinker and a literary researcher. The participants were A. Mohammed Sameem, a historicist and an educationist Kumarasamy, an educationist and a trade unionist and yours truly, K. S. Sivakumaran. They all viewed the different roles played by Kailasapathy in his short life from different angles. As far as I am concerned, let me be permitted to say that I have written in Thamil a little book called " Kailasapathiyum Naanum " (Kailasapathy and I) and has incorporated this in my latest book 'Thiranaivu Entral Enna?" (What is Literary Criticism?) November 2004 published by Manimekalai Prasuram in Chennai. The late K. Kailasapathy wrote an introduction to my 1974 publication in English, "Thamil Writing in Sri Lanka". The present day younger generation might not have heard of Kanagasabapathy Kailasapathy, but the Lankan intellectuals from all communities know him very well. In fact quite recently, Dr Gunadasa Amarasekera told me that he and Kailas were in the same Hall at the Peradeniya University. A Yaalpaanam Thamilian, who had spent his boyhood in either Singapore or Malaysia, came down to his birthplace and had his early education in Vannarpannai in the north. He entered the University of Peradeniya through Royal College in Colombo. His maternal uncle was a former Civil Servant and an FAO employee in Sudan and Indonesia, Maanickka Idaikaadar. He married his daughter Sarvamangalam. Kailasapathy did Thamil Special in the university and joined Lake House as the Editor of the Thinakaran when the late Esmond Wickramasinghe (Opposition Leader Ranil's father) was at the helm. He made the paper, particularly the Thinakaran Vaara Manjari, a vehicle for transformation of the mindset of the writers in Thamil in this country. He had a fine set of assistants, who later became editors themselves like the late R. Sivagurunathan, Sivapragasam, Balasingam, Sabaratnam, Hanifa, Kumarasamy, M.R, and so on and a fleet of excellent reporters. Even Prof Thillainathan had worked for the Thinakaran and the Ceylon Observer. Kailasapathy emphasized a social consciousness and a writing featuring the lifestyles of local people in realistic manner and encouraged local writers and gave them prominence. He introduced literary criticism and world literature through competent people here and diversified the scope of the paper to be well versed with modernity, while re-reading tradition. Having been a Marxist, he subtly made his readers accept contemporary way of thinking rather than totally lying in past glories of a dying culture. He loved world literature and his favourite foreign writer was James Joyce. He read avidly spy stories, espionage and detective novels. But he modelled his literary approach, multidisciplinary though, on the lines of Christopher Caldwell, Ralph Fox, Plakenov and other Marxist critics like Raymond Williams, Arnold Kettle and other American and British critics and writers. I started as a creative writer, but he encouraged me to take up to literary criticism. He invited me to read books in the series - The Critical Idiom. Apart from his role as a newspaper editor, which was for a brief period, his biggest contribution lies in his teaching and researched works. He brought in fresh insight into Thamil Literature with critical perceptions. He wrote extensively and with original interpretations as evidenced by his books, particularly 'Adiyum Mudiym' (The Top and the Bottom), "Padai Thamilar Vaalvum Valmum (The Lives and potentials of the Ancient Thamilians), Thamil Naaval Ilakkiyam (The Thamil Novel) and "Ilakkiya Chinthanaikal (Litrasry Thoughts). There are many more books by him. He compared Greek Poetry with Thamil Sangam poetry in his book in English "Thamil Heroic Poetry". For the Official language department he compiled a book in English on Tamil Language along with Prof A Shanmugadas. He obtained his doctorate from the Birmingham University for his work on comparative Literature. He studied under Prof Thomson, a great scholar. When the Yaalpanam Valaham (Campus) was opened in the north, Kailasapathy became the first president. He played a vital role in modernizing the campus which became a full-fledged university. Kailasapathy was an intellectual, writer, critic, author and researcher and also a broadcaster. During his time, the Sinhala department and the English department in Yaalpaanam university, dons like Suchitra Gamalath, Sunil Ariyaratne Dharmasena Pathirajah, just to name a few , and a Red Cross executive, Harsha Gunawardena were teaching there. Regi Siriwardena was a visiting lecturer. Kailasapathy was a sign post to the ensued changes in academic learning both in Sri Lanka and Thamilnadu in India. A film on Islamic Thamilians If Indonesia is the largest Islamic country next on line with a large Islamic population is India and in India in northern parts the Islamic people speak Urdu, Gujerati, Hindi, and perhaps Assamese and Oriya. And in the south, they speak Telugu, Malayalam, Thamil and Kannada and perhaps some other dialects. Some of the best writers in Malayalam are Islamites. In Thamilnadu, those who profess Islam justifiably call themselves Islamic Thamilians. They speak and breathe Thamil and basically they follow the Thamilian cultural traditions. Next to Hollywood, the largest film producing country is India and in that country most films seemed to be produced in Chennai than in Mumbai. That is one reason why the glamorous and sexy-looking north Indian stars, not actresses, flock to the Thamilnadu capital. The filmmakers there exploit them to the full to present dance and gyrations cum hybrid music. The relatively illiterate Thamilnadu population that is conservative with suppressed emotions and feelings are amply satisfied with the movies that are churned out in Kodambakkam. However, a few good entertainers blending artistic propensity and commercial ingredients have also been produced during the present decade. The social consciousness or realistic portrayal of the life of the poor and the middle class are yet to come in full measure. There is a lot of unimaginable violence and crude display of banal sex seems to be the tonic for the starving filmgoers in India. They are so conditioned that they are unaware of the existence of good films in India produced in other parts of the country. I have not seen a single film produced in Thamil that features aspects of life of the Islamic Thamilians. But In Malayalam, one or two films have been produced and I saw one of them in a film festival in India. I cannot remember the title right now. However, I saw a Thamil film titled Nathik Katayinilae on November 27 shown at the WERC organized by Vibhavi. The film was made by Pon Vannan of whom I have not heard before. I shall write a review of the film separately in due course. Pravaham on Eye Channel Nearly quarter of the Islands population speak Thamil. At national level there are only two channels that telecast programmes for them. One is a private channel, Shakthi, very influential in both good and bad senses and very popular too, especially with womenfolk at home. The good aspect is that a variety of programmes are presented and this variety is of entertainment value particularly for the unrefined viewers, who are conditioned by the putrid stuff churned out by Thamilnadu films and television stations. In the absence of cheap entertainment provided by the government-controlled Eye Channel, such unsophisticated viewers have to look for an alternative station that gives mind-polluting stuff and naturally Sheathe provides all this in ample measure. We have to thank the station for looking after the interest of such pedestrian viewers. But at the same time, Shakthi doesn' totally depend really on imported stuff from the Sun TV from Chennai. And we must not forget that some good programmes are lined up in Sun TV too for instance: Good Morning Thamilaham and superb delivery of newscasts and news presentations. But Shakthi doesn't relay these programmes. Well, that is the business of the concern and they may have reasons for this. However, Shakthi's news coverage (and not the news reading so much) and political discussions and a few other programmes are welcome. The bad aspect is that the youngsters among the even-educated lot assume such frivolous stuff as the real thing and the done thing, which should be imitated and emulated. It's sad because there are a lot of things which are of educational value that should be understood and appreciated by the youngsters. In such a situation the Eye Channel telecasts some very useful and entertaining programmes of high order, but never noticed by the average viewer. Even those who look for good entertainment and educational or cultural value are unaware of these programmes, because of lack of publicity in the press. It is the Thinakaran that notices these programmes and comments at times. Again the Thinakaran is not widely read as some of the other dailies, it is reported. Among such programmes that Eye Channel telecasts, I always make it a point to watch Pravaham on Sundays at 11.30 a.m. This half hour programme is compiled and presented by a very knowledgeable presenter Jaffir (Aathma). He is a very fine poet in Thamil and perhaps the only person in the electronic media right now who could be at ease on contemporary Lankan and Indian literature and artistic films all over the world and he uses clippings of music videos of fine taste. I thoroughly enjoy his magazine programme of five or six segments. Even if you do not understand the Thamil language, yet you can enjoy some aesthetic clippings from the international film scene. For instance, he showed recently Portuguese, Latin American, Indian and Continental and East European films. Better still, he explains the shot and the context creditably. More about the Eye Channel later. There was something in the air that Minister Mangala Samaraweera was planning to expand and extend Thamil programmes on this service, but nothing is being done in action. The demise of Maruthoor Gani Maruthoor Gani, politician, poet and writer passed away recently after ailing for some time. He was a fine writer and poet and always wrote about the downtrodden and it was always a beautiful experience in reading his creative writing. I wrote about him sometime back in this column. Goodbye, the lover of the humankind. Contact: mailto: [email protected] / phone: 2587617 **** Back **** |
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On
Sunday November 27, 2004, the 22nd Remembrance Day of the late Lankan
intellectual born in the Thamil Community was observed with a memorial
Lecture by Prof Chitraleka Maunaguru of Kilakku Palkalaikalaham (the
Eastern University) under the chairmanship of K. Shanmugalingam, a retired
SLAS officer and an earnest seeker of socio-literary knowledge and a
practising commentator in Thamil on many matters of academic interest.
This was held at the Ramakrishna Seminar Hall, Wellawatta.
