Malayattur Award presented

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, AUG. 27. "I don't write for the lure of the buck. If money had fascinated me, I should have been writing on Saint Vatsyayana and not about E.M.S. Namboodiripad," said Mr. M. Mukundan, renowned Malayalam writer and the author of `Kesavante Vilapam', the novel with the late Communist leader as the central character, here today.

The novelist was speaking after accepting the `Malayattur Award' for the same work of his, presented by the Malayattur Smaraka Samithi.

"The allegation that I wrote this novel for monetary benefits pained me a lot. I don't need to create a controversy on my literary work to make it sell," he said. For the Malayali psyche, there is this dualism in political interpretation of anything and everything. If it is pro-Communist, it is anti- Congress and the vice versa. At least when it comes to reading a novel, this attitude must change, he suggested. He never meant to demean Communism or to project one of the greatest Communists of the present times in a poor light, Mr. Mukundan added.

Mr. G. Karthikeyan, Minister for Cultural Affairs, who presented the award, carrying a purse of Rs. 15,000, a memento and a citation, said the Kerala society was missing EMS and feeling his absence, to a great extent. An award becomes all the more meaningful when it goes to the right person. A new dimension has been added to the Malayattur Award with Mr. Mukundan winning it, he observed.

The Minister also gave away the other literary prizes instituted by the Malayattur Smaraka Samithi, to Mr. K.P. James, Mr. Madhu Alapadambu and Mr. C.M. Sudhish Kumar.

Mr. P.S. Supal, MLA, presided over the function. Dr. V. Rajakrishnan, chairman of the jury that selected the winners, Ms. Chandramathi, its member, and Dr. Thevannur Maniraj, spoke. Dr. V.K. Jayakumar welcomed the gathering and Mr. S. Devarajan proposed a vote of thanks.

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Section  : Southern States
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