Dravidian Movement made me learn Tamil: Madhavan

Eighty-two-year-old Tamil writer A. Madhavan is a classic example of unsung heroes of Tamil literature. A writer of five-decade long standing, the grocery story owner turned novelist has

definitely been recognized a tad late. Born to Tamil parents in Thiruvananthapuram and educated in Malayalam medium schools, the soft-spoken octogenarian recalls his association with the Dravidian movement and transition from a Malayalam speaking schoolboy to an established Tamil writer in this chat with K. Karthikeyan

Yes. Whoever spoke to me and congratulated me, made this unfortunate statement. I will die in a few years. That is when the Sahitya Akademi has finally decided to award me for my prose collection Ilakkiya Chuvadukal. However, I am happy that the Akademi has selected me for the prose collection now.

Definitely. Krishna Parunthu is my masterpiece. Situation so conspired that I am getting it for Ilakkiya Chuvadukal now. What Sakitya Akademi does is not good for writers. Experts in the Akademi should choose a writer’s masterpiece from the past as well. What they are doing now is like supporting an exhausted writer in the twilight of his career. A writer like Jayamohan wrote Kadaitheruvin Kalaignan because of my masterpiece. If experts had identified that masterpiece and awarded me, I would have been a happier person. It would have been better if they had at least mentioned while selecting me for the special award that my masterpiece was also considered for the award. It is not good to fix time frame while selecting writers for such awards, not only for Tamil, but for all languages. Fixing a time frame for awards is what traders do.

Indeed, I was born in coastal Kerala. Malayalam was in fact the medium of instruction in school. Fortunately, we used to receive some good Tamil magazines and newspapers like Thendral, Murasoli, Dravidan and Porvaal, mostly run by the early Dravidian movement. I was lured by the force and vigour of their language. I liked it. I started reading them regularly. In fact, Dravidan had published one of my early works. Dravidian Movement made me learn Tamil more. That was a time when we also had people who spoke good Tamil and the movement had a magazine like Ponni and when Thee Jaanikaraman’s Moga Mul was published in Swadesamitran. I gradually started writing more in Tamil. I should feel proud to say that Dravidian movement brought Tamil to me. Now, the movement has lost its charm due to various reasons.

We can actually call it the Dravidian Language Movement. Anna, Karunanidhi and Villalan among others were instrumental in shaping it. Sadly, that generation has ended. And so did the Tamil language of that era. Politics has changed the colour (of Dravidian movement). I do not want to blame any party. Not that I do not have faith in politics. I had belief and interest in national movement. It was a different period — my schooldays. Gandhiji was my Guru. Nehru was a writer and intellectual. I like Sahitya founder Dr Radharkrishnan very much. All that is history now.

I was attracted by the early Dravidian leaders writings. Later, I wrote in Murasoli too. They had respected my writings as well. Things changed. People got into politics and started making money. I don’t want to talk about it. As a person living outside TN, I can only think of that and say so much.

Weak research of Tamil is a reason. New generation is exploiting. Young writers are misusing Tamil and hence Tamil is not growing. That old energy is lost. New-comers are struggling. Everyone is starting some small magazine and writing something. I do not like it. I do not want to endorse that.