Short stories collection
ASHOKAMITRAN
SI. SU.CHELLAPPA SIRUKATHAIKAL (Tamil): Kaavya, 16 II Cross Street, Trustpuram, Kodambakkam, Chennai-600024. Rs. 500.
Manikkodi, a journal started in 1934 to prove a counterpoint to the then popular magazines, had neither a long nor continuous life. Though C.S. Chellappa (1912-1998) was a late starter for the journal, his allegiance to its name and mission lasted all through his life, even when he was the editor of a more methodical and 100-issues-old ‘Ezhuthu.’
Homogenous
Chellappa’s stories, written over a period of 50 years, are a study of youthful zest and idealism maturing into wholesome and homogenous creativity. Around 1958, he wrote his great novella ‘Vaadivasal,’ a term standing for a narrow gate through which bulls rush out for a form of indigenous bull-fight peculiar to the region he came from. The novella finds a place in this collection but not the other equally distinguished novella, ‘Jeevanamsam,’ a study of gender discrimination in the garb of protection of the woman’s rights.
His stories transcend individual behaviour and take on elements of a commentary on the state of society. Dialogue plays a minimal part in his stories. The writer is always the narrator, an exceedingly interesting narrator.
Chellappa was a freedom-fighter and was in the thick of movements from around 1928 to 1934. He suffered imprisonment and the experience gave rise to some perceptive stories, the outstanding one being ‘Moodi Irundadu’(It remained closed). All the ‘Manikkodi’ writers were in the freedom movement and the general comment is that they missed out recording that experience.
In subsequent years, Chellappa, in his fictional works, refers to the Indo-China conflict of 1962 and the Indo-Pak War of 1965. For him, the present was always to be considered in the context of the past. Generally, this concern for context could lead to cynicism but not in the case of Chellappa who always stressed hope for a better tomorrow.
From being an interesting narrator of stories, he moved, in his later years, to the realm of irony. Unfortunately, this edition is just a mass of text with no indication as to when and to which journal he wrote the stories. He himself wrote a detailed and objective critique of his stories and published it in book form under the title ‘En Sirukathai Paani.’
Self-taught
Chellappa had very few models before him to take any guidance. In a sense, he was a self-taught writer. He confined himself mostly to his own region. Reading his story on a horse-carriage driver, one can picture the railway station from where one had to go a mile or so to the bus stand and from there take a bus to his town some 80 kilometres away. This particular story spans a period of some 30 years and the important by-product is the change the environment undergoes progressively.
Chellappa deserved at least a misprint-free edition for a life led with a sense of history and methodicity. The book running to nearly 1,000 pages has no space even for a brief biographical account of the writer or for a chronology of the landmarks of his life. A definitive edition of the works of the pioneers of modern Tamil writing still remains an unfulfilled dream.
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