He loves Malayalam and lives by it. Even his lack of formal education does not deter him from writing novels, poems, plays and short stories, that too in Malayalam, a language quite alien to him. And today his livelihood depends on the income he gets from selling his creative works.
Raju Paathalam, as he is known in the world of letters, (he is known in his locality as ‘Chinna' Raju), hails from Dindigul, Tamil Nadu. Ask him what made him take to writing and Raju says, “It was after reading Changampuzha Krishna Pillai's ‘Vazhakkula' that I was inspired to write,” and he promptly recites the poem in chaste Malayalam.
Driven by a passion for Malayalam, Raju has now written novels, plays, poems and short stories in the language. When today's ‘Malayalis' consider it fashionable to say that they don't know Malayalam or speak with an anglicised twang, this middle-aged man from Tamil Nadu considers it his privilege to speak, read and write in this language.
He has so far written seven short stories, a play and six poems in Malayalam. A collection of his works, ‘Innale, Innu, Naale', was released at a function held at Changampuzha Park, Edappally recently. It contains a poem ‘Agraharatharuni,' a play ‘Navaprathibha' and an article ‘Innale, Innu, Naale,' among other writings.
Samuel Johnson once said, ‘I write so that I exist' and this is true in Raju's case. He now writes for a living. His father Chinnaswamy, a daily labourer who died recently, left Dindigul in search of a job. He reached Pathalam, near Eloor. Chinnaswamy had divorced his wife when Raju was still a child. This was in the early 1970's, when Raju was studying in Std II. He had to discontinue his education, and along with his father, settled down at Pathalam. Although Raju's formal education ended there, he can read, write and speak in Tamil but ironically not as fluently as Malayalam.
“The conditions then were tough. I could not continue my education. I had to cook food, when my father went for work. I managed to get hold of a Malayalam-Tamil handbook and started learning the alphabet. I used to listen to Malayalam radio programmes at that time,” Raju remembers. He used to watch children of his age going to school and longed to be one of them. He first tried his reading skills by trying to decipher the Malayalam letters on the destination boards of buses. By 14, Raju was able to read Malayalam newspapers.
To improve his vocabulary and also to help him understand the meanings of words used in Malayalam poems, Raju bought a dictionary. “This helped a lot. I was soon able to understand what Changampuzha meant in his poems, the aesthetics of it.”
First poem
Soon, Raju had to join his father as a daily wage labourer. “It was during this phase that I began to write my first poem. It took me months to complete ‘Agraharatharuni' for I could write only at night.” After some time he was employed as daily wage worker at Cominco Binani, Edayar.
It was K. S. Namboothiri, playwright and a teacher at FACT School, who nurtured Raju's talent. “I used to hand over everything I wrote to him for an impartial opinion and critical analysis. He encouraged me although I had made some glaring mistakes in my first poem, ‘Agrharatharuni'. He also helped me in correcting errors in my works.”
Raju's initial efforts to publish his works in periodicals failed. That was when he took it as a challenge and published 1,000 copies of his poem ‘Agraharatharuni' paying from his own pocket. He put a price tag of Rs. 1.50 per copy and sold it all over the State. He then brought out ‘Navaprathibha,' in 1999.
His journey in the world of letters brought him into contact with some great literary luminaries, like Pavanan, when he was Secretary of Kerala Sahitya Academy, Prof. Sukumar Azhikode, O. N. V. Kurup, Prof. M. Achuthan and others.
The most memorable incident in his life was that when Jnanpeeth Award winner O.N.V. Kurup gave him Rs. 50 as a token of appreciation for his works and for his love for Malayalam. “That happened in 1983 immediately after publishing my first poem ‘Agraharatharuni'. I met him at his Thiruvananthapuram residence. It was an unforgettable moment. Then, after many years, I went to meet him again after ‘Innale, Innu, Naale' was published. But he was not keeping well at that time and so I could not meet him personally. I gave a copy of my work to his daughter.”
Selling books
Raju had to discontinue his job at Cominco Binani two years back owing to acute diabetes. He now makes a living selling his books. He travels with his books, visits offices and educational institutions talking about his works and selling them. “There are days when I sell around 60 copies. This was a challenge. When no publisher agreed to print and publish my works I decided to do it on my own. I printed 3,000 copies at a cost of Rs. 40,000. This plunged me and my family into a huge financial crisis. I had to pledge the ornaments of my wife to tide over this crisis.” Raju, stays with his wife Pandiammal and son Vignesh, a Std IX student, at Eloor.
When one hears people and groups screaming that Malayalam is dying and when one also hears voices that demand the ‘classic' tag for it, the efforts of Raju becomes all the more relevant. He loves the language and can speak, read and write it better than a whole lot of them who claim Malayalam as their mother-tongue. Raju can be contacted at 9846183876.
