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Literary Review
Sumptuous feast
1942-BORN freelance writer Sivasankari reached celebrity status even while Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister. What else do you say of one who was called by name the moment she caught the eyes of the PM? A charming conversationalist, she was found by Ashok Mahadevan of Reader's Digest chided by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi during flight for having failed to inform him of her birthday which went unnoticed.
Be it the interview with Mother Teresa or the biography of the industrial magnate G. D. Naidu — not to speak of the world of fiction — her approach and style of writing, which have individualised the charismatic figure, make one absorbed in the reading. What more, research scholars delve in Sivasankariana. She was the first to be inducted into DD-2 for the presentation of her short story under the "Thaen Thuli" slot. With all these accomplishments, the awards she has bagged are not commensurate with the high degree of excellence she has brought to bear on her literary output.
While the credit of integrating the states goes to Sardar Patel, cultural queen Sivasankari has taken upon herself the stupendous task of harmonising the different language groups across the country through her prestigious project Knit India Through Literature. All set to introduce Indians to Indians through literature and to discover the potentialities of a United Bharat, she devotes most of her time to a blossoming of understanding through in-depth interviews of writers belonging to various Indian languages and translations of their works, in different volumes like South, East, etc.
Gracefully growing with the years, this remarkable woman of parts (now past 60) would answer the description of Shakespeare:
Age cannot wither her, nor customs stale
Her infinite variety.
Put together, both the volumes under review contain 60 stories, of which the bulk is from published sources. The simultaneous release of two more volumes carrying another 60 stories of her choice penned by her contemporaries shows her kindred spirit.
Sivasankari's stories maintain a good balance in their delineation of the human species. She never falls into the trap of considering all men bad and all women angels. Renowned writer and Women's Libber, Rajam Krishnan, in her exhaustive foreword, shares the same view.
Not for Sivasankari, the conventional method of captioning the book after the catchy title of one of the stories within; at least in this collection. Elegantly got up and modestly priced — the veteran publisher deserves kudos — with Sivasankari in all smiles on the cover, and almost free from misprints, the twin books have a richness about them. In spite of the author's penchant for long stories, her performance is sure to win her a lasting place in the writer's Hall of Fame. As if to prevent an evil eye, Jatti (panties) appears as Satti (earthenware pan) on p.213 (Vol. I)!
Now, to the stories proper: Sri Aurobindo's memories are enshrined in a daughter's reminiscences of her ennobling father. The elevating experience before an Acharya marks "Jaya Jaya Sankara". An unscrupulous son exploiting shamelessly the generosity of his widowed mother toiling as a cook for livelihood is captured in "Kazhugu". Heartless destruction of squirrels to save the guava fruits, obituary of a butterfly, the fate of a neglected accident victim, the dilemma caused by a faithful Alsatian and the one of a dependant mother feeling vulnerable and depressed, make moving stories. "Oonam" is on a par with Hans Christian Andersen's, "The Ugly Duckling".
"Soru Aaruthunga" pictures a needy woman's predicament before a moneyed seducer when her thoughts are with her ailing husband. The success of the story lies in how she manages to put the stranger at bay. "Manitharkal" brings back to memory the famous words of Ellery Channing, "Every man is a volume, if you know how to read him". "Thaai" goes into child psychology. "Natpu" underscores the occupational hazard for a popular writer. "Vairaagyam" pricks the bubble of resoluteness.
More story lines: The indomitable spirit of a handicapped girl; an aspect of motherhood; the price for stinginess; a woman making a fetish of cleanliness; rumour-mongering; a surrogate mother in her true colours; how idle hours flew by; the compulsions in marriage; a dig at political extravagance; a challenge to medical science; how soon the edifice of a bridegroom's hopes can crumble; daughter's white lie to please mother; clearing the way for a walking exercise; erroneous trunk call.
A relapse of mental depression; the personality of a child; a futile exercise in gardening; where the message of birth-control has not made a dent: a wife's bitter experience with the moral rake; terrible bores; mind in a tumult; an interesting case of an aborted embryo; a supreme sacrifice; the ravages of time; a resolution to help the poor wears off; and how a stealthy attempt to extract honey from the beehive ends in a fiasco.
What a sumptuous feast of stories! One hopes that both the author and the noted publisher are the probables for a National Award.
60 Sivasankariyin Sirukathaikal, (Two parts in Tamil), Sivasankari, Vanathi Pathipakam, 2002, Rs. 125 each.
P. SUNDARESAN
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