An unending story reservoir

A day with Ki Rajanarayanan, the celebrated Tamil writer and folklorist, who regales us with stories from the village, witty observations on urban life and his love for cinema

November 02, 2017 04:31 pm | Updated 04:31 pm IST

  Never tired  of spinning yarns Ki Rajanarayanan   SS Kumar

Never tired of spinning yarns Ki Rajanarayanan SS Kumar

It is a little difficult to believe that I am listening to a 95-year-old man. Ki Rajanarayanan reclines in his armchair at his home in Puducherry, and is in the mood to tell a story. There is a spark in his eyes and a youthful irreverence about him that sets him apart from his contemporaries. His shelves are lined with awards and pictures with some of the eminent artistes from Tamil Nadu including Kamal Haasan, who came to his home last year to spend some time with him. But, none of these honours and recognition hold him back while sharing amusing stories of goats.

The stories are from Kidai , his short story, revolving around the lives of goats. The way he says it transports the listener instantly to that space and time. “When the herd goes for grazing in the forest, the entire community is with them. It is a separate universe filled with its own norms, belief systems and rituals. The thalaivan of the herd has to stay up the whole night without batting an eyelid, to look after the goats,” he says.

Popularly known as Ki.Ra., the Sahitya Akademi Award winner has spent the last three quarters of a century collecting the wildest tales of the karisal mannu , the black-soil region around Kovilpatti in Thoothukudi. Now, we can see these stories unfold on stage. Chennai-based theatre group Perch will bring alive the folk tales featuring a self-important eagle and a confused chicken in Chennai this weekend.

One cannot really trace the origin of a story in a book, he says. “It has always been passed on from one generation to the other. The legends and myths that exist in this world have all been told to someone by someone at some point of time. They have never been written down. It is not something that involves so much of effort, like some writers do today. They go to Thoothukudi, take a room in a lodge and write about the place,” Ki.Ra. says with a mischievous smile.

Just as RK Narayanan immortalised a fictionalised village called Malgudi in the Indian literature canon, Ki.Ra’s Edaicheval, though not fictional, holds a similar place in the hearts of Tamil literature readers.

For an urban reader, some of his references can seem as if they belong to another lifestyle, filled with the lives of peasants and cotton farmers in the arid karisal area.

Lover of cinema

“That does not mean I am an orthodox, regressive man praising an old value system,” says the writer, who is a fan of world cinema, a lover of film festivals and an Akira Kurosawa loyalist. His eyes light up when he talks about a documentary where he saw a kangaroo climbing a tree. “I found that very amusing,” he says with a laugh. But, probe him further for a profound take on world cinema, and he brushes the question aside, saying, “Everyone loves movies, don’t they? I am just one of them too.”

Conniving goddesses, envious husbands, angry demons and pious sparrows... his folk tale universe has all kinds of colourful creatures. However, the Indian English space has also recognised the works of the writer. Some of his works — such as Where are You Going You, Monkeys and the Sahitya Akademi Award-winning Gopallapuram — have been translated to English by Pritham K Chakravarthy. The first book even includes a chapter of “naughty and dirty” tales!

The writer says he is happy in his home in Puducherry, endowed with good water and pure air. He was also professor of folklore at Pondicherry University. Those days offered him memories to cherish.

“The students would come home and chat for long hours, listening to my tales. I never offered them a structured syllabus. I told the Vice Chancellor too, who assured me that I do not need to be a typical teacher, but share my tales. I myself have not gone to college (laughs) . But, tell me something, why do kids in colleges shout and whistle when their teacher starts talking?” he asks.

The writer is now playing with an idea on old age homes and children’s day care centres. “So many elders are being abandoned in these homes. What if we connect the crèches to these, so that the kids are not deprived of their grandparents’ affection and the elders find company in the little ones?” Looks like another Ki.Ra. story is brewing, and one just can’t wait.

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