Sri/Malathy et al Firstly, if you see my original email, I never put the blame only on Sivakami. My comment was not about how women should be, etc. (personally, the stronger the heroines, the better i like them)
Secondly, I do like all the characters in SS.. when they are not bickering, I do like even Sivakami/Mamallan :)
I am not questioning Kalki's realism - I know people like that exist, even if they are not artists or princes! I am only suggesting that they put their ego above their love always - hence, their love will never know constancy and peace. As others have pointed out, maybe thats why Kalki didnt get them married (of course, also to stay true to history)
I was just surprised by the intensity of their bickering.. some "oodal"/"roothna-manana" is always expected. Probably a bit more than normal in this case due to an artist/prince being involved. Sivakami does have a mercurial nature and Narasimha is like a "pea on a hot shovel" too :) However, their meetings seems to bring out the worst in them.
Remember this scene. Sivakami is captive in Vathapi, forced to dance on the streets to save the Pallava prisoners of war. Narasimha knows why she is dancing. He comes to rescue her amidst such intense danger after a very long journey. They hardly have a few minutes. And they choose such a time to bicker, suspect each other and question their love for each other - they let their ego come before their love. And suffer later.
Why would you expect this dynamic to stop suppose they had married? If Narasimhan, busy with his kingly duties, ignored her, she would throw a tantrum. He would, in turn, taunt her. She would always throw "oru siriya sirpi magal" to him and he would continue volley a "moovulagum potrum naattiya rani" to her.. and this would go on. "oodal"s, which may be fun while courting will definitely be a pain when one is trying to rule a kingdom :)
Anyway, sorry for lengthening this discussion. Will stop now! Deepa
Given their charecterstics, i am not sure what would have happened if they had been married.
Sivakami was a free spirit and so was narasimha. If they had been married it would have been difficult for sivakami to be without dancing and pattathu rani in kolu mandapam dancing for visitors et all, may not have been a bright prospect.
Kalki talks about her nuturing that aspect, when Naganandhi poisons her mind against the 'bayam kolli pallavan', her artist frame takes over, one must read those pages to feel like how it is to be a performer of any art, only Kalki can do justice to those immortal words about Sivakami's mind display.
Dear Deepa, very good analysis, I think yours and Pavithra's together make a superlative study of the Sivakami-Narasimhan relationship from different viewpoints.
Generally speaking, be it in fiction or real life, noone can really predict how relationships turn out. It is said KrishnaDevaRaya married a dancer (I forget her name) and their partnership is believed to have changed the artistic world at that time completely. Strong egos are difficult to reconcile but if they do it creates great change and transformation. But looks like Kalki never intended this couple to be married. Venkat mentioned he wrote Parthiban Kanavu before SS and he does state in that clearly that they were not.
So we can continue to debate and discuss this from many angles to our heart's content. My mother used to say she used to wake her father at 2 AM in Trichy to go to railway station on thursdays, while SS was originally serialised. Guess what, the copies of Kalki would arrive by train from Chennai at that time. Most copies would be sold before they left the station to go to stores. Which author or story can claim to incite such passions now? Sadly noone.
I dont think the quality of the authors has come down drastically. Its just that we are not aware ofsuch authors.Agreed Kalki was pioneer of his times.But the presence of other alternate mediums isnot allowing usto see the quality of authors out there.
Nanda, in US and UK we see people very excited about Harry Potter release and queueing up at Book stores to this day. In fact some book stores exist solely by virtue of Harry Potter.
Is there anything like that with regards to Tamil books in India? I don't know but not heard of. My own nieces and nephews give me strange looks when I even ask about current tamil books.
> Is there anything like that with regards to Tamil books in India? I > don't know but not heard of. My own nieces and nephews give me > strange looks when I even ask about current tamil books.
Hi Malathi as a publisher i would be able to tell you this. the last 5 years or so is perhaps one of the best periods for tamil publishing. more people are reading these days. more publishers are entering the field. hopefully it would remain like that for some more time.
if you want to compare english books with tamil ones its like comparing a hollywood movie to a tamil one in terms of investment and market. the english market is huge. there are publishers in india who just thrive on english translations of regional language books. example 'katha' they do extremely well- better than many regional language book publishers.
venketesh
> > Malathi > > --- In ponniyinselvan@yahoogroups.com, Nandakumar Selvaraj
Hi Venkat, I was not comparing just asking about general enthusisam levels among common people. Who would you think are best selling authors, I would very much like to know!!
I am not sure if Tamil readership is actually going down, but the craze of queue-ing up for books is definitely not there. Unfortunately Tamil readers, authors & publishers are being culturally assaulted through marketing programs for English language books. Tamil publishers do not have the financial might to create a market and marketing campaigns to allow them to do it.
Venkatesh can actually quote better than me, I am only giving my perception of things in Chennai. Makkal TV has allowed publishers to run banner running ads for their publications during certain programs, but unfortunately I could not even recollect one proper book from the running banners.
> Venkatesh can actually quote better than me, I am only giving my perception of things in Chennai.
true. lucky many publishers have an inherent love for the books and continue in the field inspite of all hazards
you can see this is evident from the many book release functions going on.
Makkal TV has allowed publishers to run banner running ads for their publications during certain programs, but unfortunately I could not even recollect one proper book from the running banners. > Regards > > Nanda > http://jobdealsinfo.ning.com > > Ã > Likewise the Tamil publishers presence on the net is very limited. Only sellers have their websites, not publishers. > > > > > > > ________________________________