For quite some time now, creative writing in Tamil has been on the high with a vigour and a vibrancy not seen before. The language of Tamil fiction was never more charming; the prose nevermore lilting and rich in vocabulary, or more down-to-earth, assertive and hauntingly aggressive. It is the language of the people, reflected in all its earthy simplicity and glory that brings tears to your eyes. It churns you from inside lighting at once a thousand torches that scorch your conscience and consume you with a sense of guilt. It is like an apparition that overwhelms you as you flip through and then get submerged in the hundreds of pages that are being written and published by new writers, more than a score in number who can easily be spotted as the ones with great promise; extraordinarily talented writers who come from small towns unspoilt by urban ‘sophistication’. Writers, men and women who have had humble beginnings, have had their education entirely in Tamil medium. Tamil words fall from their pens like magic, like mantras laden with truths never told before.
December 2006, volume 30, No 12