From Agastya Maharishi to Anandha Vikatan...

Let me make a confession first.

Despite the appearance of Westernism, modernism, feminism or any other '-ism's my posts may have in the present and in the future, I am just an average and sometimes-too-traditional Tamil girl. English is only a smear and a facade I wear. Hit me hard and I bet, you will hear "Amma!" but not "Mom!".

'Mom!' is only for my conscious consumption.

I arrived at the above truth about myself thru a little self-analysis. After a lifetime of dabbing with the Shelleys, the Keatses and the Wordsworths of the world, and definitely enjoying them, I find Bharathi and Kamban infinitely superior. And I catch myself going back to B & K more often than to SK & W. Bharathi and Kamban are my bad-weather friends. Hence my true friends.

So, let me warn you before you read any further that you may find this post insanely biased.

When I look back thru the years I have gained in life, I vividly remember my grandfather as the initiator and upkeeper of the reading habit in me.

Sitting me on his lap this Vedic Scholar told me about the divine beginnings of the language of Tamil from time immemorial.

"During the Shiva-Parvathi marriage, due to the congregation at Kailash, there was a certain weight imbalance on the earth. Bhooma Devi found it too difficult and complained about it to Lord Shiva. So, Lord Shiva summoned Maharishi Agastya who was short and hefty and ordered him to go South to balance the weight on earth. He also taught Agastya the Tamil language and asked him to spread it among the masses. Maharishi Agastya crossed the vindhyas, settled in the South and preached the language. He also wrote the first Grammar book called 'Agathiyam' which is lost to us. His principle disciples were Teraya and Tholkappiya. The later wrote a book of Grammar himself called 'Tholkappiyam'. So, the language we speak descends from Lord Shiva and Maharishi Agastya!"

"But the politicians say otherwise...!" said my father who happened to pass by us.

"Salesmen can say anything to sell their product. It is in the buyer's best interest to know the truth!"

Catching me reading Cinderalla, Tom Sawyer and the like, he advised my father, "English is all fine. But it is very important that she is proficient in our mother tongue!"

He is the one who started me on reading-outside-text-books in general and Tamil literature in particular. His house was a few streets away from ours. when I had gone there once, he introduced me to 'Ambuli Mama'.

He was resting on his bed and I was at his feet.

He said, "Dear, check if Ambuli Mama is in the hall".

I ran to the hall and came back, "No, grandpa!"

"Check properly. I am sure!"

I did it again.

"No, grandpa. I am sure!"

He got up and came out himself and picked it from the sofa.

"It is right here. Where did you look for it?"

" 'It'....? I thought the 'Mama' was a person..."

He called every one at home and told them the story. They all had a hearty laugh and exclaimed, "So innocent!".

To your family, even your ignorance is only innocence.

I later came to know that the same monthly came in English as 'Chanda Mama'.

Thus started my reading odyssey. The voyage brought me the treasure troves in 'Bala Mitra', 'Ratna Bala' and 'Indrajal Comics'. My grandfather used to buy these books specially for me.

And in his house I stumbled upon a magazine that became a constant companion since then, though it was not only for me.

The magazine was 'Anandha Vikatan' or 'Vikatan' for short. A name Tamils all over the world cherish, rever and look upto even Today, though the ardour may have come down a bit, of late. You are not a writer if your story has not appeared in Anandha Vikatan. Your diction in Tamil is not current if you do not read it constantly. It is a magazine that is a great entertainer, status symbol, is modern, traditional, poetic, spiritual, humorous, scientific, rational, hip, youthful and any other good thing I have missed out. I think, any generation before mine and after mine would describe it the same way. The 'in-thing', as they say, at any and every particular point in time.

The magazine opened up many vistas for the readers. I came to know about all the great names in the Tamil world thru Vikatan. 'Sujatha' an engineer and writer par excellence, who could write about anything from Sangam literature to Japanese Haiku to Galaxies and Rocket launching to computers, and was the man behind the electronic voting machine as the General Manager of BEL, was introduced to me by Vikatan (Well, 'Sujatha' was a man. He is no more). My friends and I died to read everything he wrote.

Vikatan introduced me to Devan. His 'Ms.Malini', 'Detective Sambu', 'Rajam' and all other stories are a saga in humor. Honestly, when I read PG Wodehouse I am reminded of Devan and hold Devan on a much higher pedestal. Sujatha and Devan are clearly of international class.

Sivasankari, Anuradha Ramanan, Rajendrakumar, Rajeshkumar, PKP, Subha, Balakumaran and, yes, SriPa (our dear Varalotti) were introduced to me by vikatan (If my memory does not fail me, Shandilyan and Lakshmi were also introduced to me by Vikatan). Their writing and intelligence touched me. I have favourite stories from all of them. And if you would permit me I could write a thesis on them. Seeing my undieing fervour for Anandha Vikatan, my husband suggested to me that I do a Ph.D on the role of Vikatan in the Tamil Society.

I used to sit by the Window in my room with an issue of Vikatan and devour it. If you looked out of the window, you could notice the absolutely picturesque surroundings to my home. A dozen Coconut trees, an earthern well with the roller and rope, a water tank with a ladder and pipes, a small garden full of flowers, a lemon tree, a few plantain trees and mud. Beyond all this was a small canal. But you had something more beautiful in hand. So, the beauty of the scene paled into insignificance in comparison. I was out of the world with Vikatan. How could I enjoy the beauties of the world until I came back? The beauties of nature could wait. Vikatan could not.

Thinking about windows, in those days, Vikatan was our window to the world. It introduced me to Charles, Diana, Ronald Regan, Mohammed Ali, Ayotullah Khomeni, Palk Strait, Prime Minister Thatcher, Navaratilova, Chris Evert Lloyd, Boris Becker and many more. Not just with the disdain of the daily news. But with a human touch to their lives. They were all sitting with me by the window and chatting. Would you believe? They were talking to me in Tamil!

If it were not for Vikatan I would have endlessly argued with my Geography teacher that the world started and ended with my hometown.

By an unfortunate stroke of ill-luck, if you happened to be late and did not buy Vikatan from the store in time, it would be at least a couple of doomed-weeks before you caught hold of a noble soul who was ready to temporarily part with it. Missing Vikatan was much worse than the last-ball-six of Miandad's.

I used to make 'book's out of the serials and other interesting articles in Vikatan. The excercise involved collecting 'old' Vikatans and cutting out the articles and writings, collating them and giving them to the binders and getting the bound book back from them. I have found many times that after extracting the needed articles, the entire book itself vanished. I had needed the whole issue of the magazine! I have a library with Viktan extractions in India.

Madan's cartoons and jokes were at once hilarious, educative and informative. I have seen cartoons in some of the English dailies of India and USA. But most of them are so much inferior to the quality of the thought and finesse Madan brought to the table of cartoons. Another international class.

Just as we have observed time and again that the most beautiful girls are mostly found next door and not in the glitter of a beauty paegent, these exemplary creators also did not get international acclaim they so well deserve just because they chose a vernacular language as the field of their creativity.

But, that is alright, I believe. A few judges can not take away what the masses give. Because, as I said in the beginning, after a short stint with the Madonnas, the Britney Spears, the Janet Jacksons of the world, I come back only to the Anuradha Ramanans and the Sivasankaris of my world. So,in my world, they are the Miss Universes.

And Vikatan, just like my grandfather said about the language of Tamil, is a 'Nithya Kanya', forever-a-maiden and beyond titles.

 

Dear AC,

So quick! Thank you.

You always encourage all the beginners. You give them confidence to contribute more. You are interested in their growth. You are a very active member of IL and you never miss any of their progress. It is very nice to have you around.

Once again, thank you very much for your enthusiastic FB!

 

Dear Usha,

Thanks for the whole hearted FB.

I love to have you as a reader of my threads.

Once again, thanks.

 

Dear Shanvy,

Thank you.

Yeah, I also feel that the quality of Vikatan has gone down a bit and I have mentioned it in the post. Please, see the excerpt below.

I think, a magazine is mostly a reflection of its times. Our times have changed considerably. So has AV.