“Friends, I am moving to a house which has a tube light,” beams Sandhya in excitement. Sandhya’s family resides in Theerthakadu, a poromboke land which does not have any basic amenity including electricity. “I was shocked when I overheard the IV standard student’s conversation with her friends. I went to Theerthakadu and the life of 400 and odd families, who were evicted by the local body, inspired me to write Sivappukol Manithargal (Red Planet Dwellers),” says K. Saravanan, children story book writer.
The novel talks about friends and their travel to the red planet in a different galaxy. “I find writing for children easier than for adults. For, their life is uncomplicated and is all about wish fulfilment,” says Saravanan, Headmaster of Thirugnanam Government Primary School. “I am working with the children and I have heard a lot of stories from them. I understand their struggles, pain and aspirations and have faithfully incorporated all these in my novels,” he says.
Writing is a passion he nurtured from his childhood. Born to schoolteachers, Saravanan was exposed to books at young age. “My mother Leelavathi is a great inspiration for me. She was a voracious reader. She made me read books and also motivated me to participate in several competitions at school and college level,” he says.
He was a regular contributor to several magazines including Semmalar and Kaakkai Siraginile. His short story Loosu Vaathiar published in Kaakkai Siraginile became very popular. When Saravanan became a schoolteacher he wrote series of articles on how a student should approach his studies and why private tuition is not a must for a student. Having read those articles his friend Jayakumar, who owned a printing press, compiled and published the book Neengalum Muthalvaragalam . To his surprise, 2000 copies of the 60-page book sold out in a jiffy. It encouraged Saravanan and he took writing seriously. The book talked about several topics including time management.
At that time his ailing sister was admitted to hospital and he was given the duty to stay with her during nights. “To kill boredom I wrote Sivappukol Manithargal ,” he says. Bharathi Puthagalayam published the book. Saravanan also wrote series of short stories commenting on present education system, student-teacher relationship and the role of parents and it came out as a collection of short stories Akilavum Brazil Pengalum . “It is for all age groups and it raised a lot of questions for those in power to answer,” he says.
In the meantime, good response to his children’s stories published in Bommi, a magazine for children, propelled him to write more for children and Saravanan followed it up with Vilangugalin Pallikoodamum . “I was moved when one of my students asked whether she could bring her mother to school to attend regular classes as her mother did not know to read and write. I immediately encouraged the parent to come to school and I took her to drawing class and asked her to draw. It was rewarding experience both for the parent and the student. It inspired me to write this novel,” he says. The novel is about student field trips. It talks about healthy food. The author gives life to animal characters and through their voice communicates what the student expects and how a teacher should act only as a facilitator,” he says.
His novels are more educative as he brings in science, civics, history into his novels. For example in the Sivappukol Manithargal , the author talks about space shuttle and how temperature is controlled and several scientific facts about planets.
Generally children love to hear fairy tales and ghost stories. To dispel all the misconceived notions about ghosts, Saravanan wrote Spiderman. This novel is about the wish fulfilment of a boy, who wants to become Spiderman and do good things for the welfare of the society.
His daughter Leela Madhurita, VII Std, St Michael Matriculation Higher Secondary School, is the illustrator for his novels. “When my second book release got delayed because of illustration, my daughter volunteered. Now, she has become the permanent illustrator for all my novels,” he says.
At present, Saravanan is busy giving finishing touches to two novels Kannamoochi and Maaya Pencil .
