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Sukumar Azhikode enlivens ‘Mambazhakalam’ camp

Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

ALL EARS: Social critic Sukumar Azhikode interacting with children at the Mambazhakalam summer camp in the city on Saturday. —

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Orpheus, Domasthanese, Cicero, Akbar, Tansen, Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhiji, Winston Churchill... it was as if all the heroes from the pages of history came alive for a while when social critic Sukumar Azhikode spent an hour conversing with the young participants of Mambazhakalam summer camp at Vyloppilli Samskriti Bhavan here on Saturday.

Retelling stories from history and mythology, Mr. Azhikode engaged the participants in delightful conversation. Answering queries, the veteran orator also rewarded every right answer from the students with a handshake.

“What you learn in class most probably you might have to abandon after your education. What you learn outside the classroom is what is important. It is outside the classroom that you mostly learn to nurture your talent,” he told them.

He urged the students to read books, not just what was taught in the school but also what was out of syllabus. This would help in nurturing ones writing and oratory skills, he said.

“Nehru wrote the Discovery of India while he was in jail, where he had access to no other resources or libraries other than his fellow freedom fighters. Today, I know of professors who avail Rs.5 lakh from the University Grants Commission along with many other facilities and still get away without publishing any books.” He asked the children to make it a point to read the book. “If you read the Discovery of India you will never realise that it was written from jail,” he said.

Talking about the present generation of the Nehru family, he said that nobody is going to be great because of a surname. Explaining why he did not write an autobiography so far, Mr. Azhikode said that autobiography is something that should be written once and in later stages of life. “Today there are people who write their autobiography at 50 and then go on to live till 90. Then they might have to write two or three autobiographies. I don’t want to be like them,” he said.

Mr. Azhikode said that he likes best to be known as the author of ‘Tatvamasi.’

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