Days ago, a stray dog tore into good friend Ashok Reddy on his morning walk; had to be in hospital for a day, now at home recovering a lingering pain. We talk often, he on the landline, me on mobile. 'A few deep cuts, but am better,' he tells as if editing a copy. He was my news editor in Business Line for years; the paper never showed off a Reddy byline; wrote some fine edits on stock markets; like the man, the writing had no flourish but was easy to digest. He is not on ipad, Facebook, whatsapp; more a monk these days in Chennai than a journalist. If anyone asks Reddy his name, he will shy away. Today morning, there is a whisper of excitement on the phone: 'The Madras High Court judgement perhaps is as literary as Perumal Murugan, did you read it,' he asked and me affirmed. Ashok in flow: discussed The Hindu edit on Perumal; the daily morning edict from Mount Road Mahavishnu though Ashok will never go into that. Ashok is into books, tennis, football .... of course cricket and newspapers. Chat over went back to the judgement of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Satyanarayana; they quote from Shanti Parva of Mahabharata; 'in response to the demands of time and place what is proper/may become improper, and what is improper may become proper'; conclude: Let the author be resurrected to what he is best at ...Write. Perumal Murugan could not have made a better case.The Intolerance debate gets a knock. Perumal can park his wares. Justice Kaul as a Delhi High Court judge ended the exile of M.F. Hussain in 2008. We have a compassionate Judge in Judge Kaul. But will Perumal Murugan write; he suggests as much in a one line chat with Mathrubhoomi; will he allow Kalachuvadu, the Nagercoil publisher of his books in Tamil; they could not do it; Rama is keen as much as she is on Perumal. In Pyre, Saroja has a lone cat as friend. Perumal writes: ..A cat that had screamed and run away from her when she had first arrived had finally warmed up to her. It would come, arch its body and rub against her legs..... It didnt matter if she didnt feed it; the cat was still affectionate to her....' Rama, me and many others are for Perumal. Khushboo Narayanan knows well Aniruddhan Vasudevan, translator of Perumal; maybe Perumal Boswell. She has promised a chat with him and me hopes with Perumal also. For now, Perumal please write. Tamil alphabets are your metier.
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Please write....
Days ago, a stray dog tore into good friend Ashok Reddy on his morning walk; had to be in hospital for a day, now at home recovering a lingering pain. We talk often, he on the landline, me on mobile. 'A few deep cuts, but am better,' he tells as if editing a copy. He was my news editor in Business Line for years; the paper never showed off a Reddy byline; wrote some fine edits on stock markets; like the man, the writing had no flourish but was easy to digest. He is not on ipad, Facebook, whatsapp; more a monk these days in Chennai than a journalist. If anyone asks Reddy his name, he will shy away. Today morning, there is a whisper of excitement on the phone: 'The Madras High Court judgement perhaps is as literary as Perumal Murugan, did you read it,' he asked and me affirmed. Ashok in flow: discussed The Hindu edit on Perumal; the daily morning edict from Mount Road Mahavishnu though Ashok will never go into that. Ashok is into books, tennis, football .... of course cricket and newspapers. Chat over went back to the judgement of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Satyanarayana; they quote from Shanti Parva of Mahabharata; 'in response to the demands of time and place what is proper/may become improper, and what is improper may become proper'; conclude: Let the author be resurrected to what he is best at ...Write. Perumal Murugan could not have made a better case.The Intolerance debate gets a knock. Perumal can park his wares. Justice Kaul as a Delhi High Court judge ended the exile of M.F. Hussain in 2008. We have a compassionate Judge in Judge Kaul. But will Perumal Murugan write; he suggests as much in a one line chat with Mathrubhoomi; will he allow Kalachuvadu, the Nagercoil publisher of his books in Tamil; they could not do it; Rama is keen as much as she is on Perumal. In Pyre, Saroja has a lone cat as friend. Perumal writes: ..A cat that had screamed and run away from her when she had first arrived had finally warmed up to her. It would come, arch its body and rub against her legs..... It didnt matter if she didnt feed it; the cat was still affectionate to her....' Rama, me and many others are for Perumal. Khushboo Narayanan knows well Aniruddhan Vasudevan, translator of Perumal; maybe Perumal Boswell. She has promised a chat with him and me hopes with Perumal also. For now, Perumal please write. Tamil alphabets are your metier.
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