Ponniyin Selvan (Kalki)

I formally studied my mother tongue Tamil only upto class 5. After that I started learning Hindi till class 10. (All the way, I indulged in my first love - English) Since my formal Tamil learning was abruptly cut off at class 5, my skills in reading and writing Tamil dwindled to near non-existence. Those skills were barely kept alive by reading the titles of Tamil movie posters and cut-outs. To those who say big posters and cut-outs must be removed from Chennai, I say, guys, don't do the language a disservice.


Ah, I am digressing. To get back to my original thread of thought, my Tamil skills were dying out, and it needed a whopper of a miracle to revive my interest in Tamil language and culture. That happened when I was on a trip to SriRangam for my vacation after my first year of undergrad study. My dad got me the whole set of 5 books of Tamil writer Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan. The miracle was that I actually got started on that unprepossesing tome, notwithstanding the fact that my Tamil reading speed was about 2-3 words per minute.

But once I started, the book was simply un-put-down-able. (I can feel the grammar purists squirming in their seats here. But then language is merely a means of communication, and as long as I am able to put my point across, I don't give a damn. Ah, I am digressing again!)
By the time I had finished the first of five parts, my reading had improved from agonizingly slow to painfully slow. By the end of the second part, it was uncomfortably slow. At the finish of the third part, I was crawling. By the fourth I was trotting. By the end of the fifth (and largest volume), I was galloping!!

It helped that I was reading the book in SriRangam, which is an island on the river Kaveri aka Ponni, the lifebreath of ancient Tamil culture, and also the bedrock of the novel I am writing about. I would often spend my afternoons in the huge SriRangam temple sitting in some stone-pillared mandapam and imbibing the story of the Ponniyin Selvan, and in the process, the culture of the Cholas who ruled converted Tamil Nadu into a formidable power in South India and even overseas, extending their clout to Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia.

Ponniyin Selvan is a magnum opus by Tamil writer, nationalist, historian, art connoiseur and poet - R.Krishnamurthy. Meticulously researched and wonderfully imagined, Ponniyin Selvan is a novel that seamlessly melds historical facts with beautiful fiction. Broadly, it deals with the life and times of the Chola royal family when Prince Arulmozhi Varman (later to become Emperor Raja Raja Chola - the mightiest ruler in Tamil history) was a youth. Specifically, it deals with a conspiracy of vengeance hatched by the survivors of the praetorian guard of the Pandya dynasty, which had recently been destroyed by the Cholas.

I won't go into the nitty gritty of the story - I will end up translating the Ponniyin Selvan here (unfortunately someone has beaten me to it ;-). In summary, the Ponniyin Selvan is a prolific tale of history, romance, intrigue and politics - which presents a justly flattering view of the Chola times, including their art and spiritual aspects.

Read the Ponniyin Selvan if you get the opportunity. Try to create an opportunity if you don't get it. It is worth it.

Why this name ?

I am sitting here in the middle of Tainan City, Taiwan in a huge apartment, all by myself. Tainan city is not the easiest place in the world to find spicy South Indian Iyengar cuisine, and it is only a matter of time before I start craving after arriving here.

But as a matter of principle (and also practical convenience), I almost completely avoid Indian food whenever I travel outside India. Unless I am visiting my relatives outside India, that is. One reason is that Indian cuisine is complex hence very easy to screw up. Avoidance of Indian food cooked outside home reduces the risk of stomach upsets.

Well, the bottom line is, I am craving, and craving really hard. My craving at this point of time is for Molaga Bajji. Hence I simply decided to call my blog by that name.