A prolific writer’s stories
 N P Arulanantham is a writer in Tamil to emerge particularly from the
first decade of this century. He is a winner too having won many prizes
and awards in competitions for his short fiction and fiction in general.
Hailing from Vavuniya he has engaged himself in creative writing.
Recently two of his books were launched at Colombo Thamil Sangam at
Wellawatta.
One of his books was a translation into English of 15 of his Tamil
stories he wrote during the first decade of this century. The translator
was M James Pulle.
The author asked me to introduce the book in English to the audience
who were all Tamil-speaking. There were few other speakers who reviewed
the two books in Tamil. But since the book given to me was in English, I
preferred to focus on the necessity of translations in our languages.
Denied changes
But in this piece I want to add the main themes of his stories found
in this collection “Changes cannot be Denied”
 In the first place I must be forthright in saying that though the
translator had attempted to put the content of the original writer in
perhaps readable manner, yet it falls very short of perfect rendition.
His style in using the English language creatively, grammatically and
effectively resulted in much to be desired.
Basically I agree with what Prof Saba Jeyarasa has said about N P
Arulanantham and his stories, only differing in the manner of writing.
Here are his main points:
“His stories reflect close relationship between reality and fiction..
His social thoughts have enriched the content value of the
stories…Social contradictions are reflected in conflicting characters in
real situation…the stories reflect tension between tradition and
modernity in the Tamil environment… The author’s skill in portraying
serious and sensitive issues in a way that is both funny and critical
leads him to realize the conventional representation of social life…”
Traditional lifestyle
Arulantham’s stories deal with - war situation and the suffering of
people in the North, the usefulness of the Palmyra tree, how the
traditional lifestyle of the people was disturbed by the horrors of war
and the running away of the people to save their lives and emigration to
foreign lands, an old couple’s love for their pet dog, happiness of a
few amidst adversity, hypocrisy among some people, the inner feelings of
a couple, the silence of the sound of the drum after the demise of the
main character in a story, unproductive nature of a woman character, the
return of a character to is native and the changes taking place after
the war, a different kind of mercy of a mother, two lovers find it
difficult to get together on account of financial difficulties and
obligations.
A poor man’s sincerity and honesty, a farmer’s plight to adverse
circumstances, a youngsters determination to regain what he has lost on
account of the war, the plight of the people who went in search of
greener pastures experiencing hardships abroad.
Arulanantham writes about the human foibles in the context of the war
in the north during the past three decades. Even though I would have
expected specific problems of the people, under the siege of war, so
that through the translation, people in the rest of the country would
have had the opportunity of learning first hand, at least some of the
problems that their brethren experiences, in Tamil speaking areas.
The copies of this collection could be obtained from the author. His
contact number is 2734765.
[email protected]
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