The Hindu : The literary lineage continues

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 27, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Pondicherry

The literary lineage continues

By Deepa H. Ramakrishnan

Pondicherry March 26. The literary lineage continues from the grandfather through the son and now through the grandson. The poet Bharathidasan's grandson has been awarded the Pondicherry Government's Nehru Children's Literary Award for the year 2002. The Puratchi Kavingar, whose mentor was Subramania Bharathiyar, naturally christened his grandson Barathi.

The award has been given to Mr. Barathi for his work of drama, `Pattu-k-kanal Bharathidasan', depicting the poet's life.

"Though several books have been written about the life and times of Paavendar, they are not popular among children. All they know is that he loved Bharathiar and changed his name to Bharathidasan following his acquaintance with the nationalist poet, and also about his famous works. They don't know what kind of a man he was and the things he stood for. This play is an attempt to make his life history and ideals known to the younger generation," he says.

In the 32-part play, the author and his father, Kalaimamani Mannar Mannan, himself a poet, have also been included as characters. "I was just three months old when my grandfather died. I interviewed enough people, read books about him and heard my father speak about him.''

While Mr. Barathi has penned four books on Bharathidasan, his father has written 10. "When my father did his research on my grandfather, I went along with him, took notes and deciphered tape recordings for him. That helped me when I wrote the play."

Writing plays is not something new for Mr. Barathi, who wrote his first drama, `Muttal Muniyan', a comedy character, when he was just 10. "A friend of mine, Aravamudan, asked me if I could write a short skit for children to act it out and I wrote this for him. He then asked me to write one about my grandfather.''

Since then, there has been no looking back for Mr. Barathi, who has written several plays for radio and children.

The play tells about Bharathidasan's love for his nation, how he wanted Indian society to be free of barriers, how he wanted women to be given equal rights and respected and so on. Written in simple Tamil and in a literary style, the play has been so penned that every scene can be acted separately. Though Bharathidasan had many friends and relatives during his life, there are only 15 main characters in the play. Mr. Barathi says `Paattu-k-kanal Bharathidasan' is meant for children and hopefully would be the base for a film or documentary on the poet.

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