When Sivasankari completed 25 years as a writer in 1993, at the age of 50, she had a large body of work to her credit, including novels, short stories, essays, interviews, travelogues, and biographies. Yet deep down, she felt that her contribution was incomplete.
It was in 1992, when Sivasankari and her friend Maalan, a writer and senior journalist, were on a train returning from Mysore after attending a literary symposium, that the genesis of her brainchild, Knit India Through Literature (KITL) took shape. At the symposium, the work of a Black American writer, Gloria Naylor’s The Women of Brewster, was discussed. This got Sivasankari thinking. How often do Indians take up a work of an Indian author for critical discussion, especially when Indian literature comprises works in many languages, which are rarely translated into other regional languages and English?
The train journey turned out to be a significant one, one with an ‘eureka’ moment as Sivasankari puts it. Her project was propelled further when she attended a literary event organised by the Sahitya Akademi in Sikkim. “None of the writers in other states knew of the Thirukkural or the greatness of Subramania Bharati or other prominent Tamil writers,” she says, adding, “We are all Indians yet we do not know anything about a good majority of Indian writers or their literary works.”
KNLT became Sivasankari mission. “Using literature as a vehicle I wanted to bring an awareness about culture, traditions, lifestyle and history of various Indian states, among Indians in general,” she says.
Writer Sivasankari’s memoir Suryavamsam has bagged the Saraswati Samman Award for 2023 | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The book, which has four volumes, is classified into North, South, East and West and features 102 authors across 18 languages. Each volume begins with an introduction to the region, followed by the writers’ interviews with Sivasankari. A short story or a selection of prose or poetry by the writer, that she has translated is presented alongside. At the end there is a segment that provides a brief history, a perspective of literature of that region or language from ancient to modern times by scholars from the respective language.
Lyricist Gulzar releases Tamil writer Sivasankari’s book ‘Knit India through Literature’ at the India International Centre Annexe in New Delhi on May 27, 2009. Konkani writer Damodar Mauzo (right). | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
“It was like a tapas a prolonged meditation. It was an ambitious and a humongous one as the scope of the project was rather vast. Those were the pre-Internet, no mobile phone era and communication was a huge challenge. I largely depended on postal services and telephone calls (not all writers had the luxury of having a telephone) and during those years I traveled the length and breadth of the country, to every nook and corner to meet and interview the stalwarts,” she says.
Apart from her research to finalise the writers, she wrote to the Sahitya Akademi, various regional publications and literary societies across the country, requesting them to provide a list of the top 10 writers in each language. From the responses she received, she would select four to six names that were common to all the lists. “Once the list was made, and sufficient homework was done, I would write a letter to each writer introducing myself and my mission and wait for them to reply, and then I would make a telephone call, fix an appointment and travel to respective places meet and interview them.”
All the four volumes of Knit India Through Literature (English and Tamil) will be relaunched on March 18, at The Music Academy | Photo Credit: special arrangement
“I was called a one-woman army by my friends and true to that I had to operate at multiple levels simultaneously,” the octogenarian says. She adds, “While doing research on one language, I had to travel to do field work for another and translate and write in yet another... I was not only the interviewer but also the photographer and recordist. It was truly a herculean task.” Discussing her field work she says “I would spend a couple of days over there to understand the landscape, people, literature, language, culture and lifestyle through that particular writer’s perspective”
Sivasankari has written four short stories during lockdown and returned to writing after nearly 25 years | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
When Sivasankari began this project, she thought it would take about six years. “Little did I realise that it would involve 16 years of work,” she states. “Translating eastern languages posed a huge problem due to unfamiliar names and pronunciations. At this juncture, Lalitha, my secretary of 40 years, came to the rescue. With the help of a transcriber, she was able to help me translate the remaining 14 languages recorded on tapes.”
The four volumes of KITL were published between 1998 and 2009, beginning with Volume 1 South in 1998, and thereafter, in a gap of four years, other subsequent volumes were released. After nearly 14 years, now, KNTL is being resurrected, thanks to Sriram Group’s director, Akhila Srinivasan, who wants to introduce it to the current generation. “In February this year, we distributed 400 copies of Knit India Through Literature to major libraries, universities and colleges across the country as part of our CSR initiatives,” Akhila says.
Aruna Sairam | Photo Credit: VELANKANNI RAJ
The Sriram group is organising an event to recognise Sivasankari’s contribution to Indian literature, where the writer will be felicitated, and the four volumes (in Tamil and English), formally released by noted literary personalities. This will be followed by a Carnatic music concert by Aruna Sairam, titled, Knit India Through Music, where she will render songs in over 12 Indian languages. “This is my musical tribute to the epic work, a national treasure given to us by Sivasankari. The concert will be like flying on a magical carpet across the country, listening to the songs in various languages,” says Aruna Sairam.
Sivasankari. meanwhile is finally satisfied. “I feel blessed and privileged that I got the opportunity to meet 102 literary giants of India in person,” she says, adding “Knit India Through Literature is my greatest dream realised.”
@Music Academy, March 18, 6.30 pm. Entry is free on a first come first serve basis.
