EXHIBITION AND SALE OF HANDMADE CREATIONS

FOR THE EXISTANCE OF THE WORLD

Santhan a bilingual writer of Sri Lankan Thamils

Introduction

Santhan has been writing short stories and novels in Tamil for more than four decades. His stories have been translated into English and published in local and foreign magazines (Illustrated weekly of India ). Besides writing short stories and novels, he also writes articles and poems.

He started writing in English in the late eighties and his first collection named The Sparks was published in 1990. His English writing appeared in local magazines and news papers.

A draughtsman by profession and a leftist by ideology, Santhan is known for his brevity of expression in form and content. His second collection titled In their own worlds was released by Godage and Brothers in 2000. The book was dedicated to Mr.S.Rajasingam, his literary mentor. His second collection of short stories was acclaimed by many critics. Santhan was adjudged the best writer in English for the year 2000 and awarded the State Sahitya award. Earlier he had won the prestigious literary award from the Government in 1975 for his contribution in Tamil.
The second collection of stories was followed by a collection of poems under the title of Survival and Simple Things in 2003. This book was dedicated to the late A.J.Canagaratna, a reputed literary critic. Professor Chelva Canaganayaham says “The pieces that comprise this collection constantly reflect a subjectivity that is understated.”

Santhan’s third collection of short stories The Northern Front was published by S.Godage and Brothers in 2005. This book was dedicated to Mr.K.S.Sivakumaran, a literary columnist who has encouraged the writer in many ways.

The present collection of Santhan’s writing gives a fair picture of his world. There have been criticism and comments about his short stories and poems. When I went through all the criticism I got a feeling that these should be collected and put into a single volume so that the literary world could have a complete and comprehensive picture of this rare Sri Lankan bird writing in English and Tamil. Since writing in English with a Tamil perspective is very limited and the only writer who writes profusely and sharply is Mr.A.Santhan, it is very essential and pertinent to introduce his literary world to the wider world in order to make the world know the life of the people in this part of the country and also to promote English writing in Sri Lanka .

Sri Lankan writing in English which falls under the broad banner of world literature in English should have more writers in order to capture the sense of human crisis prevailing in this part of the world.

English has become the most important language in the world and it could be a vehicle to carry messages throughout the world. There are writers in English from India , Nigeria , Sri Lanka , Pakistan and many other countries apart from writers from native tongues. There is a need for our writing in English to reach out to people of other cultures.

Another aspect one has to take note of is that many writers, from the native tongue write with much vigour and a rich literary flavour. Their writing could be translated into English and made available to the world.

In our context we had writers like Alagu Subramaniyam, Raja Proctor, C.V.Veluppillai, Thambiraja, and A.Thambimuthu. Santhan started as a Tamil writer and proceeded to transcreate his stories into English. Later, he transformed himself as a writer writing in English. His success lies in his use of brevity and the choice of themes. The themes are very down to earth and topical. They are also powerful in exploring the politics of the people with a keen insight. This is the justification for this edition of these critical essays on Santhan’s writing. I hope this volume will receive the attention it deserves from the literary circles in Sri Lanka and abroad.

Kandiah Shriganeshan,
Lecturer in English,
University of Jaffna ,
Vavuniya Campus,
Vavuniya.

The Children's Bard Somasundara Pulavar

The great bard of Thamils of Sri Lanka is also known for his virtuosity in children's poems. His poem on SCARE CROW is very famous among children.

Scare Crow is known as Veruddy and Kaththari Veruly in Thamil. Thirdeye is working with children on Veruddy with a different concept and the song of Somasudara Pulavar and the songs of the affiliates of the Thirdeye on Veruddy is being used for this creative activities.

Exhibition and Sale of Handmade Creations!!!

Handmade creations of Sekar of Thirdeye will be held from 14nth february 2009 to 15nth february 2009.

ANOTHER INCARNATION.... OR

Another Incarnation of .... or
Best Interrest of the Power Politics

This time
The bombs
That smashed over Gaza
Have no eyes, ears
And the senses too

It's too brutish,
Horrible and horrendous
Devastating and destructive
It's genuinely
A merciless act of terror

But the bombs
That smashed over Wanni
Have eyes
Nice and beautiful
Lotus like eyes
And have wonderful ears too
Which differentiate the sounds
Of mourning and the roaring
And penetrate to ponder the dreadful

Those who smashed to pieces
Child or an elder
May it be man or women
Who bore the children
In a wrong place
And at a wrong time

The bombs
That smashed over Wanni
Have incredible sense of sensibilities
That targets only the evils
And it becomes
Another God Incarnation

In order to save
The saints of democrats
From the hands of
Demonic terrorists
The inborn destroyers of
World peace and order

January 2009S.Jeyasankar

Call of the coloures and lines of Vasan 3

LIBERAL THINKING IN AN EMBATTLED SOCIETY

Date:13/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/br/2009/01/13/stories/2009011350031300.htm
Back Book Review
Liberal thinking in an embattled society
V. S. SAMBANDAN

AJ: The Rooted Cosmopolitan — A Festschrift: Edited by Chelva Kanaganayakam; Pub. by Tamiliyal; 27B High Street, Plaistow, London E13 0AD. Rs. 250.
Men of ideas and letters — teachers, litterateurs, and journalists, for instance — shine best when they work from settings to which they can relate to the most.
This collection of writings A J: The Rooted Cosmopolitan by and on Aloysius Jayaraj Canagaratna (1934-2006) (AJ), the Sri Lankan writer, critic, translator and journalist, is not only a tribute to a person; it is also a flashback to a country where decades of militarism has eclipsed the quest for intellectual pursuits.Intellectual expression
AJ’s succinct observation made in an (unpublished) book review of one of Sri Lanka’s intellectuals, K. Sivathamby, sums it all: “Like Prof Sivathamby I too wanted – and want – to be both a Tamil and a Sri Lankan living on equal footing with other citizens of Sri Lanka. And I certainly do not want to be treated as a second-class citizen: this is a feeling shared by many Tamils in Sri Lanka.” As another contributor points out, despite being “traumatised by the Sri Lankan state’s military adventure in the North,” AJ was “always sceptical about the grandiose plans of Jaffna Tamil nationalism.”
Conflicts invariably bring out the best — and the worst — in a society. Militarised civil conflicts, like that which has ravished Sri Lanka for over three decades now, broaden the canvas for expression of ideas.
There are broadly two choices open to members of embattled societies, particularly those who have the ability to articulate both the popular sentiments and the undercurrents of a conflict, and are willing to stand up and be counted. They could choose distant, safer climes to espouse their ideals, or do so from the thick of things. By all accounts as presented by the writers in this book AJ chose the latter; and he did so with a sense of intellectual commitment. As one of the book’s contributors, Rajan Philips notes in the piece Jaffna’s Literary Soul: “AJ stuck with Jaffna through its years of trial and tribulation. He walked the fine line between the occupying army and the infighting militants, but without sacrificing his intellectual independence.” Cosmopolitan
Of the several roles donned by AJ, that of a journalist from a troubled society merits detailed study. As editor and publisher of the Co-operator, “The journal of Jaffna’s once vibrant cooperative movement,” or as a moving force behind the unique, but now defunct Saturday Review, AJ’s role as a journalist is summed up by Philips: “He did not become a ghost writer or apologist for any of the Tamil groups, as many others did. AJ was not brought up to be a supine fellow traveller of any group, although he had views – critically reflective views – on all of them.” One of Sri Lanka’s leading intellectuals, the late Regi Siriwardena, in his article, which gives the book its name, sums up AJ’s approach to life aptly: “…together with his cosmopolitan culture and broad international awareness, AJ was also an intellectual deeply rooted in the soil of Jaffna, in its life, experience and language…” The book, published by the London-based Tamiliyal, has two parts. The first part is a collection of essays on AJ, with a selection of essays and reviews by AJ making up the second part.
The book is a flashback of not only the life and times of one of Sri Lanka’s accomplished writers, but also of a time when intellectual resistance was the norm, rather than an anachronism. The articles and narratives are a reminder of how rapidly liberal space can shrink when militarism overtakes a society.
© Copyright 2000 - 2008 The Hindu

Forum in "Challenges of Alli": a Reformulated Kooththu

Forum Theatre facilitated by the 'Parai Araivon' the traditional drummer in "Challenges of Alli" a Reformulated Kooththu performance of Seelamunai Art and Cultural Centre and Third Eye Local Knowledge and Skills Activists Group.

In tradition, the character of 'Parai Araivon' faces opposition from the caste of Paraiyar because of its negative portrayal in Kooththu.

The character was reformulated with the participation of Annaviyars and Parai Melam Players as a positive one and developed as a facilitator to run a forum theatre followed by the Kooththu performance.

For more detail,
Pl. read
Playing with Parai Araivon (Herald)in Kooththu (Traditional Theatre)of the Thamils of Sri Lanka: From tradition to Reformulation.
A Journey through Participatory Action Research
Book: DRUM OF A HERALD
A THIRDEYE PUBLICATION

AJ: THE ROOTED COSMOPOLITAN

CONSUME NOTHING BUT....

Mind blossoms and spreads it's
Intellect frragrance of freedom

The fiercely forced silence
Is not destined
The concurrence with occupation

Physical languish
And the mental anguish
Distribute not the prospects

But arrogant minds fail
To conceive and consume
Nothing but resistance

S.Jeyasankar
December 2008

TEACHING HUMANITARIN RULE TO A CHILD

Oh dear my child
You have to wait at least
The age of eighteen
Until have to take refuge
Under the trees or
Behind the tree trunks
Or at your usual resident
Where you bury yourself alive
The bunker you inherited
As the house of yours
In the age of e.world

And you can keep it
For the future
If you can or if you have
A future
In the humanitarian world
As the heritage
Of your living mode
If you and all
Are save and alive
Under the barrages of
Shells and bombs of
The almighty liberators
Of you and all
Under the dark sun

SJeyasankar
December 2008

NOT THIS TIME

Papa brings you
This time
Not a bag full of gift
But a bag of grief
Filled with full of
Field fresh body parts
Collected from the
Grounds of battle
And you
You will be failed
If you try and find
The race in the limps
That scattered
On the grounds
The hands
That nourished
The tender limps
With love and oil
Squeezes its hearts
In grief and pain
Papa will bring you
The grief and pain
Of the hands that
Nourished with love and oil
And field fresh body parts
Collected from the
Grounds of battle

S.JeyasankarDecember 2008

THE POWER OF CLOTH AND POLE

ONLY TO THRUST
OR
ONLY TO GRIEF
OR
THE POWER OF CLOTH AND POLE

My dear friends
I wish to greet you all
But have words
Only to grief

My heart is filled full
With disfigured
And decomposed
Bodies and body parts
Of brothers and sisters
Scattered all around

And my mind
Is derailing with
The images of
Young disabled
With flying heart
And immobile body
In silent scream
With tears of blood

We all learnt
To call it
Differently able

But still not to learn
How to keep safe
The bold
And the enthusiastic
Youths

The children of
Hardly laboured mothers
From the inborn disease
Of warring man kind

My dear friends
I wish to greet you all
But have words
Only to grief

Where people
Do not know
How to live together
But to Kill each other

Only to thrust
A pole with a cloth
Call it as a flag

S.Jeyasankar
December 2008

Challenges of Alli: A Reformulated Kooththu

Kooththu photos which were captured in the performance held on 20th December 2008 at Institute of Swami Vipulananda Aesthetic studies for the festival on Swami Vipulananda memorial day.

The performances of the Kooththu, the traditional theatre of the Thamils of Sri Lanka was extended with a forum facilitated by the Parai Araivon, the traditional drummer.

Chinna Chinna Aanantham: An Exhibition of Hand Made Greeting Cards

LITTLE LITTLE HAPPINESS

AJ: The Rooted Cosmopolitan

Call of the coloures and lines of Vasan 2

Call of the Coloures and lines of Vasan

HOW CAN I...?

I laughed and laughed
And laughed again
When you register me
With forms and forms
And forms of
Different colours and hues
With hooks of questions
And put me into files
Of different colours
According to your knowledge
And providing me with
A cup of drink
And a mouth full of smile
I laughed and laughed
And laughed again
How can I help
To cure you
From the sickness of
Fear and suspicion
How can I make you
Believe and relieve
That you are the cause
Of your own sickness
Fear and suspicion
Is not new like HIV
It’s historic and hereditary
Born with the authoritarians
Like a twin child
And haunts from within
I laughed and laughed
And laughed again

S.Jeyasankar
October 2008

Galileo’s Priests

Priests of Galileo
Are not dead and gone
They are alive
And exist
Every nook and corner
And in all spheres of life

Priests of Galileo
Are not dead and gone

If they are not aware
That’s not exists
If they don’t want
That’s too won’t exists

Priests of Galileo
Are not dead and gone

They are the species
Stick them around
The throne of power houses
And define and dictate
Not only false
But truth too

Priests of Galileo
Are not dead and gone

S.Jeyasankar
October 2008

Two books in English from Maddakkalappu

K.S. Sivakumaran





A man strongly rooted in his own Yaalpaanam culture works as a senior lecturer teaching Drama and Theatre Arts at the Eastern University in Vantharoo Moolai. He is virtually settled there and tries his best to acquire the culture of the people in the East. He is a publisher of a periodical called Third Eye in English. He brings out other publications as well. We learn that he is the coordinator Third Eye Local knowledge and Skills Activities Group and Third Eye English Forum. His name is Sivagnanam Jeyasankar.
A collection of his articles titled Drum of a Herald is one of his publications. In his Foreword (printed as Forward) the author writes:
"Drum of a Herald is a response to marginalization and denial. The collection of articles written in English from years 2000 to 2008 will reveal the above mentioned statement"
Priced at rs.50/- this booklet is available at 30, Old Rest House Road, Maddakkaappu. An Introduction to the book is given by one James Thompson of Centre for Applied Theatre Research, University of Manchester. In that Jeyasankar is praised as follows: I would argue (that Jeyasankar) is one of the most important voices in a new generation of theatre scholars, practitioners and activists emerging from the Sri Lankan Tamil community"
There are 13 articles in the book. Most of them are on folk theatre (Kooththu in Thamil). But I particularly appreciated his comments on DCRA Goonatilleke's and Ranjini Obeysekera's biases in disregarding Lankan Thamil contribution.
In another article titled "Research through Imperial Eyes", the writer says: "Colonial construct of the education system and neocolonial impositions and influences on educational reforms have led to the alienation of the people, especially the intellectual community, from their own environment"
On page 58, the writer gives a list of creative Lankan writers in English. And they happen to have some connection with the Thamil community in Lanka. Historians of Lankan English Literature seem to conveniently ignore most of them in their accounts. The names are:
"C.V. Velupillai, Tambimuttu, Alagu Subramaniam, S.J.K. Crowther, T.Ramanathan Raja Proctor, Heather Loyala, Saraswathi Rockwood, Guy Amirthanayagam, T. Somasundaram, V.Ariyanayagam, Shyam Selvadurai, Bamini Selvadurai, Valan, Indran Amirthanayagam, S.Pathmanathan, S.Thillainathan, Pon Ganeshan and several others."
IOn page 62, the writer gives the following information regarding his mentors:
"The emergence of the 'English Forum' with the support and guidance of Prof S. Canaganayagam, Prof Suresh Canagarajah, A.J. Canagaratna, S. Rajasingam and the involvement of T. Somasundaram gave the morale boost at the initiation and the development of the process of identifying and establishing a tradition for the writing in English by the Thamilians of Sri Lanka."
The Third Eye also published a slim book of 40 pages titled Just Being Me. It is by an adolescent named Tamil Selvi a.k.a Tina Angelin. She attempts to write poetry and her recurring theme invariably is melancholy and sadness and self pity even though there are few lines that suggest positive thinking. There are 31 compositions-most of them lack freshness in treatment or imagination. But there is a tinge of her personal felt experiences centering on hopelessness.
The painting in the cover by Kamala Vasuki is artistic. There in hardly any details about the young 'poet'. She could turn out to write better poetry as time goes by and when she read good poems from the repertoire of fine poetry in English.

WAR ON TERROR OR WRITE A POEM

WAR ON TERROR OR WRITE A POEM
“War on Terror” is
The topic of the time

A highly demanded good
In the market of world politics
Where a handful rules
And defined and defended it as
Politics of people’s democracy

In addition to various offerings
To the ritual of
The people’s democracy
Of the Market politics
Hundreds and thousands of
Poorest of the poor innocents
Offer their valueless lives

In order to celebrate
The free world of liberalism
Of the Market Giants

It’s good or bad
Raising issues and questions
Towards the Kings of Market Politics
To define terrorism first
And discover
The roots of cause next
Before waged a “War on Terrorism”
Not an act of intelligent practice

Asking questions
And raising issues towards King Nero
Meant for King Oedipus
Will only bring fear and pathos
It’s the essence of tragedy

Just write a poem
For cathartic purposes

S.Jeyasankar
August 2008

WHO AM I?

Who am I?!

I am proud
I am a Man
No, not a Modern
Next to Modern
But no
Definitely not a post modern

Man is not the centre
Of the Universe now
I am aware
The nature is not
In the custody of Man
And it will not be too

Science and Technology
The intellectual weapons
Of Inventions and Discoveries
For conquering and control
Of the Modern Man
Experiences its limitations
Even though
Had breakthroughs
Into new frontiers

I am not given up
Who am I to given up
The power of control
But a paradigm shift

I positioned myself
The centre of Mankind
All the visible and invisible
Creatures of the Universe

Who am I to given up?
I am the authentic
And the direct descendant
Of the Modern Man

If you like
Can call me
Neo Modern Man

But definitely
Definitely not a post modern

I am not bothered about
The tremors or quakes
Cyclones or Tsunamis
Floods or the other fatal disasters
Nature thrust on Mankind
And I am not concerned about
Warning or early warning systems
Other than the private purposes

I am aware that some evil forces
Imagining and manipulating
That I might behind
The Natural disasters too

I will make use of it
To exhibit my generous character
By relieving them with
Goods of Mass Pacification

I am still march forward
Not for my mere survival
But to exhibit my fitness
By manufacturing and marketing
“Weapons of Mass Destruction”
To terrorise and to democratise
The world of mine
The Neo Modern World


S.Jeyasankar
August 2008