Sixteen years ago, she stopped writing fiction and started work on a distinctive project Knit India through Literature , which won Sahitya Akademi's appreciation as the “first of its kind in Indian literature.” The extensive bilingual work in four volumes — categorised South, East, West and North — covers every corner of the country, presenting the languages of the respective regions, the writers and their works, besides exclusive interviews, with an originality that only Sivasankari can be credited with.
“Not many authors would have met writers of 18 languages. I interviewed about 100 writers, stalwarts from all over the country. I would study the literature of the State before I met the writer. Initially, I thought I would finish the work in six years. It turned out to be an unimaginable 10 years more. However, the outcome is fulfilling. My wish to introduce Indians to Indians has come true, in a small way,” the voice reverberates with a flourish typically hers.
For Sivasankari, who reruns the 45 years of her journey as Tamil fiction writer and activist in just a few hours, life has come full circle. She has no regrets about her self-renunciation. “Only if giving up is forced on you, you regret. People should learn from the lives around them. I should learn from my life too. All the close people — my father, mother, husband — I have seen them all pass away. This has taught me to accept reality and lead life gracefully,” she says.
Reaching out
“My mind has broadened; the heart has too. There is happiness when you see everyone as equal. My husband Chandrasekaran and I decided to educate 100 children, help a 100 get medical treatment, and marry off a 100 couples. After my husband's untimely death, I continued with what we had decided to. No publicity is sought; no one knows this is being done. I am close to reaching the goal,” she nods her head approvingly.
“One should not question reality. People ask me why I look so different — my hair has gone completely grey! I used to colour my hair and that made me look younger than you see me now,” she smiles.
Loads of translations, research work, short story collections and biographies, 37 novels, 48 novellas and 15 travelogues later, Sivasankari dwells in a past of “beautiful memories and inevitable tragedies.” Her eyes focus when she says, “Eventually you learn to get up and walk forward. I believe in spirituality. Ignore the black spots, look at the white space — if not life will be miserable. Like a flooding river, I would flow. My husband was like the riverbank on either side helping me go my way,” she acknowledges the presence that left her widowed very young but was the driving force behind the “revolutionary writer” that she turned out to be. “All my life I have written fiction. Many of my books will be made available online soon,” says Sivasankari, who wrote her first story when she was 25.
In the 1980s, her novels that dealt with alcoholism, drug abuse and old age were seen as cutting edge literature for their finesse in analysing social issues which had begun to raise an ugly head. One of her books, Avan — the first to be made into a tele-serial “Subah” in Hindi and aired on Doordarshan in 1987 — pictured the perils of drug addiction. The nationwide response the serial evoked was remarkable that many students became aware of the consequences of doing drugs even once.
Another book, Oru manidhanin kadhai , made into a tele-serial in Tamil under the same name, centred on alcoholism. “The characters I portrayed in my books — the family ties — were very positive. That was because I came from a secure home. The negative characters around whom my stories revolved were, however, needed to convey the message. I never liked to be tagged a feminist. I am a woman and am proud to be one; this has got nothing to do with the work I do. The only tag I would like to have is ‘Sivasankari is a humanist.' People should say I am a good human-being and incidentally a good writer, not the other way around,” says the 68-year-old writer.
Sivasankari's travelogues with Rajiv Gandhi were translated into Japanese and published in 1995. For her biography on Indira Gandhi, The story of Indira , she stayed close with the then Prime Minister for many days. Recalling those moments of simplicity makes Sivasankari wonder how times have changed. “Modernity does not mean westernisation; it is to do with the mind. One should not be judgmental. Everyone has a reason to be the way they are and what they do. So don't force anyone to suit your demands,” her words overrule the expressions of her eyes, which confess the trained dancer that she also is.
Never superstitious
What she values most is the love and respect that people can have for one another. “I have never felt close to things; I am not superstitious. No particular colour, object or number has held my fascination. Give me any pen and I will sit and write,” she says convinced of herself. “Most women depend on someone — a father, brother, husband, or son — at different stages of their life, instead of being self-dependent. My books are my children.” Her confidence permeates the room hemmed in by books.
