The 'reel' real story

"For me you are the veena

Caressing finger me for you”

-          Bharathiyar

“Ganesh Kumar is an excellent actor, but the Oscar should go to Oomen Chandy for his acting in this whole episode”

-          Kodiyeri Balakrishnan from CPI[M]

Perfect Match

Second of April dawned with a surprise news. Minister for Forests K.B.Ganesh Kumar became the first minister to resign from the Oomen Chandy government. As a good Congressman, Oomen Chandy tried to delay the inevitable but could not delay too long. The resignation was on the cards, as the chance for reconciliation between Ganesh Kumar and Yamini seemed out of bounds. Both of them leveled charges of physical assault in public and it became a treat for the media. Photos of Ganesh Kumar with bruises were aired; opinions sought from different quarters, the media frenzy came to a temporary halt with his resignation.

Now two questions arise naturally. Is it mandatory a Minister or a Government servant resign on personal issues/allegations? To what extent media can give prominence for such stories?

The first question is tricky as we have not yet come to terms with absolute freedom that is proposed and followed (to a certain extent) in the West.  But we can state that if a Government Servant’s personal allegiances affect his daily activities and amounts for a larger impact on the society, then it is no more personal. It is for the media/public to scrutinize that. For example, Nehru’s relation with Edwina affected the independent India as much as his leadership hence it is nothing wrong debating that.

In this episode, nobody including the strong critics of Ganesh Kumar could charge him any wrong in ministerial affairs. He is one of the performing ministers in Kerala Government more than anything he was able to make the changes happen. Renovation of government theatres and excellent hosting of IFFK was one such example of excellent work by Ganesh Kumar and his team.

Media has become a punch bag of late for all thanks to its sensationalism. But the prominence given depends on the general public’s interest and most importantly on the competitors. Both these factors go hand in hand. Comparatively Indian English News Channels could themselves appropriately in a situation like this. We have some lessons to be learnt from how English Media handled the Abhishek Manu Singhvi video in compromising position with a fellow lawyer.

This is another episode to analyze the psychology of Indian Public like the Abhishek Manu Singhvi episode. All said and done, if Yamini withdraw her complaint today Ganesh Kumar will be reinstated within hours.

Hence Kodiyeri’s comment quoted above is very much valid but he missed include the public as well; we too acted our part very well.

Three Tamil Writers in the web

“Tamil Penchant to see a Trinity in each generation (musical) implied an attitude of veneration, which, considering the caliber of those constituting the triple Trinities was fully deserved. On the other hand, it could also suggest a collective inclination to set high standards against which to measure a generations’ artistic worth.” – TJS George in MS: A Life in Music

Tamil society loves to have stars in every aspects of life. Some are grudgingly compared to the 'stars' in their field and look diminished;whereas others happily coalesce to the star power.

In Tamil Literary world three such stars are: Charu Nivedita, Jeyamohan and S.Ramakrishnan. Even after the arrival of next generation writers, this trinity has not lost its star status. Selecting these three for writing about has two reasons. One this Trinity contributes extensively in web world, two the strength of reading their most works.

Charu Nivedita:

Charu started writing in Web around 2000, out of the trinity he has the largest readers (fans I should say).  He first wrote in Vikatan.com which was a startup by Vikatan Publications which publishes various popular magazines. Since it was free website and also had the brand name Vikatan Charu was able to reach a lot of foreign Tamil readers especially Sri Lankan Tamils. These readers still are the major fund raisers for Charu. “Konal Pakkangal” was the name of the column which serialized and then was published as a book. In that he discussed on the Literature, Music, Cinema, Gossips and lot of others. It catered to the online readers because of the following reasons:

1. Insightful parody on the current political and social events happening in India, Tamil Nadu in particular.



Charu Nivedita

2. Introducing Erotic literary texts and writers like Marquis de Sade etc.,

Having said this, it might sound a single dimensional reading. It also contained essays on “Billie Holiday” and Latin American Music which were unique. Charu’s novels like “Rasa Leela”, “Kamaroopa Kathaigal” were serialized in his blog (charuonline.com\blog) then published as books.

Today even after his controversial support to Nithyananda and allegations of sex messages to a female writer, Charu has an inspiring presence in the online world.

Jeyamohan:

Jeyamohan also started writing in the Web around 2000. Looking back now, we could say that the articles around were focused broadly on these two themes. One the articles were written to take part in online debate and put forth his arguments. By doing that he countered the incorrect reading of his works and false propaganda about his personality. Two essays written to introduce the books he read and critical analysis on the works of eminent Tamil Writers. He wrote them in Thinnai.com till 2007. From that year on he writes almost an article  a day in his own blog jeyamohan.in.

The specialty of the Jeyamohan is that he hasn’t fallen prey to the cult of writing in a different language for the Web.  Because of that some of his essays may be more than 10 pages and short stories extending 5 pagees in our computer screen. His blog contains essays under different genres including political criticisms, travelogues, introducing different personalities etc. He shares his experiences, views on life and engages constantly with the readers. 

Jeyamohan

 His novels “Anal Kattru”, “Iravu”,” Maththagam” and short story series under the title “Aram” were serialized online and then went on to get published. Now looking back Jeyamohan has utilized this online medium to a near perfection.

S.Ramakrishnan:

 S.Ramakrishnan is relatively a late comer to online media. He writes mostly on his choices and preferences in movies, music and foreign personalities. His blog is sramakrishnan.com and essays on foreign movies, books are very thought provoking.  S.Ramakrishnan language in itself is simple and easy to engage. His wish list of 100 important books in Tamil and 100 movies to be seen are very important for starters.

S.Ramakrishnan

I consider this essay to be starting point to know and access these three writers and going over to the website will open new avenues for a literary reader.