The World Classical Tamil Conference – 2010 fever has gripped many a Tamil aficionado and one among those is P. Sakthivel.
The foundry man has written important Tamil works on 8,064 pages to highlight the importance and richness of literature. “It's my way of participating in the important event,” he says.
He began writing on May 3 and finished it on June 20. “I wrote for three to four hours a day continuously for 48 days.” He used three pens with special nibs and five bottles of ink on ‘map litho' paper.
“In the book titled ‘Arunthamizh', I have included Tamizh thaai vaazhthu, Thirukkural in full and excerpts from Kalaignar's (Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi) Tholkappiya Poonga, Kambaraamayanam, Pathupaatu, Silapathikaaram, Manimegalai, Kalingathupparani, Muthukumarasamy Pillai Thamizh, Kutraala Kuravanji, Ainkurunooru, among others.”
The 32-year-old says a total of 32 works find a mention in the book, which weighs 8.14 kg and has a height of 41 cm. Each page measures 21 cm x14.5 cm.
The book also has illustrations. “I took the help of my friend and studio owner B. Babu Charles, who has sketched 136 images.”
Mr. Sakthivel is working to have the book displayed at the conference exhibition. The feathers on his cap include a 2.5-km-long letter to Kargil war heroes, “smallest” Thirukkural book and the smallest football with 5 mm diameter.
