Chennai: At 90 years of age can one ever imagine writing a book? One can imagine as well as successfully publish the book, says K A Ramaswamy, as his book ‘Tamil Ilakkiyathil Uvamaigal’, was released recently.
‘Tamil Ilakkiyathil Uvamaigal’ is a book that lists out all the allegories used in Tamil literature so far. The book was released by Tamil scholar Avvai Natarajan on 28 March and K A Ramaswamy was also awarded the title Ilakkiya Peroli by Nallarivu Koodam.
Speaking to News Today, he spoke about his love for Tamil and his works. Asked about how he developed an interest towards Tamil literature, he says, “My inclination towards Tamil grew when I was as a school student. I was a teacher in Besant School, Adyar and taught Tamil and later worked as a translator in CLRI, where I helped in translating books related to leather science from English to Tamil. It was Tamil that helped me earn,” he says.
However, it was only after after 1993, when he started taking Ilakkiya classes for six people initially, he developed an idea to write books.
“I read Tamil literary works like Thevaram, Thiruvasagam, Seevakasinthamani, Tholkappiyam and other numerous works and explained it. After reading Thiruvalluvar and Thirumoolar, I found that both of them have conveyed the same message mostly and decided to do a comparative study between them, and that is how I decided to write my first book,” he says.
Thirumoolarum Thiruvalluvarum was published in the year 1994 by Tamil Valarchi Kazhagam. His second book was Thoodhu Nee Sendru Vaarai which is a compilation of all the ‘Thoodhu’ in Tamil literature, compiled in two volumes published in 2008. His third book is ‘Tamil Ilakkiyathil Uvamaigal‘, published recently.
When asked how he managed to read almost all the Tamil literary works, he says, “First, I started reading Thirumoolar. The perception I had earlier about Thirumandiram was that it would be difficult to read, but when I started it was very easy and that gave me the confidence to read many other pure Tamil literary works like Naalayira Divyaprabandam and others. By this way I developed my knowledge.”
He is currently working on his fourth book – Agananurum Nattrinaiyum. “Agananuru and Nattrinai too have many similarities and speciality in them is that the verses in Nattrinai are jumbled throughout. Through the book, I try to arrange the verses in a specific order and explain in detail about each and every song and also mention about the author in detail and also compare it with Agananuru. It will take another year for the book to get published,” he says.
He credits his son, daughter-in-law and grandson for helping him. “It is only because of them that my books are getting published. They are all very co-operative. Without their help, I won’t be able to do anything.”
About his future plan, he says, “I am 93 now, so I don’t think I will be able to do anything more. I would be very happy to complete the ongoing work. However, I have a plan in mind. In Thevaram, there are some songs which say Vinai Theerume and Vinai Agalume. I wish to write a book about these songs in detail.”
Contact KA Ramaswamy at 73057 30509.