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Gleanings:
A Lanka born Canadian informs ...
K.S. Sivakumaran
A Lankan short story writer in Thamil since the 1960s, having worked
as a UN official in many parts particularly in the African continent has
given an interview to a Thamil monthly called Theeranathi published in
Chennai. He gives a lot of information on many matters including
literature and politics. I gleaned a few facts for the reading pleasure
of our readers from the interview.
Here are some astonishing statistics given by the writer A.
Muttulingam as far as I am concerned:
Lankan Thamil writers spend their own money in publishing books.
A Lankan in Canada cannot sponsor the visit of his wife if she
happens to be in Kilinochchi.
Besides the expatriate Lankan writers, there are important writers in
Lanka who write in Thamil: They are M. Ponnambalam,Mallikai Jeeva,
Theliwatta Joseph, Sengai Aaliyaaan, Yesurasa, Saanthan, Uma
Varatharajan, Iravagan, Anaar. (According to me there are more important
writers in Thamil in Lanka than adjudged by Muttulingam).
Writing in Thamil (world over) is sometimes better than any other
writing in any language. T. Janakiraman, Sunthara Ramasamy, Es.Po, P.
Singaram, Asokamitran, Jeyamohan, Pramil,Ambai, M. Thalayasingam, Salama
are great writers.
The young expatriate writers read a lot in Thamil * A State in a
country is different from a country itself.
At one stage there were more than 50,000 languages in the world. At
present there are only 7000 languages.
The most spoken 12 languages are: Mandarin, English, Hindi, Spanish,
Bengali, Portuguese, Arabic, German, French, Japan and Urdu.
8 million people speak Thamil today.
The caste system among the Thamilians in Lanka is different from the
one practised in Thamilnadu. There is no Brahmin domination in Lanka.
The power resides with the Vellalas. The Lords from Thamilnadu were
invited to Lanka with the slaves and established here.
I have refrained from quoting Muttulingam's views on politics as far
as it relates to the Thamilians in Lanka.
A. Muttulingam has written more than 10 books in Thamil. He is now
retired as a Chartered accountant and held high positions as a UN
official. He was born in Kokkuvil. A semi-biographical novel by him is
to be published shortly.
In the same issue, another Lanka born Frenchman has written the
history of the political life of the Lankan Thamilians since the
Soulbury Constitution. His name is K.P. Aravindan.
It is nice to note that the Thamilnadu journalists are now turning
their attention on Lankan Thamil writers. But the snack is that they
seem to know only Lankan Thamil writers who had left Lanka. over the
past quarter century. It is a pity.
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