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Capturing reality in words

He talks about sorrow, loss, pain and pangs of separation. His poems mesmerise readers and remain in their hearts for long, writes S.S.KAVITHA

TOGETHERNESS Experiencing every moment with loneliness. Photo: G. Moorthy

At first glance, with his tonsured-head Boutha Ayyanar resembles a villain. Take a closure look and you find his eyes telling you that he is a writer. "I breathe through words and books are my best companion," he says. And "good literature lends experience to its readers."

Born in 1963 at Vinayagapuram near Melur as Ayyanar, as the only child to Azhagupillai and Perumal, a farmer, Boutha Ayyanar has traversed a path of hurdles, sorrow and pain until he realised what life means. After the revelation, he developed the knack of taking life in his stride.

In search of motherly love

With the death of his mother when he was six-months-old "I was bitten by solitude and soon my blood got accustomed to its venom," he says with watery eyes. He still longs for motherly love.

"I like the company of solitude or rather I love it. I sing, write all about myself often with a melancholic strain, which has become a trait of my self," he remembers.Growing under the guidance of grand parents Appathal Perumathal and Appachi Chinnayya, Boutha Ayyanar developed a liking for books not to while away his time but to protect him from the shrouds of loneliness, which has been constantly and persistently chasing him like a hound.

Life-educators

Smitten by the unbearable separation of his mother, he began a frantic search invading all his mother's relatives' houses in search of her photograph. And bad luck triumphed and again he turned to books, which he considers as `life-educators.'

Even before completing his ninth standard, he completed all novels of Tamil Vannan, Jayakanthan, Lakshmi and Kalki. His love for books made him shun school.

He fondly remembers that he owes a lot to a tailor, who motivated him to continue his studies when he joined his shop as an assistant after he was detained in sixth standard.

"But for the tailor, Ayyanar would have remained an illiterate. I grab all kinds papers including the one used for wrapping vadas and rotis for reading. On seeing my love for reading, the owner of the tailor shop motivated me to continue my studies and I went on till Plus Two."

"Words and letters are my life. They mesmerised and transformed me into a poet and a writer," he says and remembers 1982 as an unforgettable year when P.M. Habibullah, popularly known as Kavingar Abi, introduced him to modern literature. With the intervention of Kavingar Abi, the life of Boutha Ayyanar took a new turn when he started to choose quality literature for reading.

Claiming that with his little knowledge and learning and help of a few personalities such as writer Sundara Ramasamy, Kavingar Abi, Solomon Pappiah and N. Sethuraman, he was able to climb up the ladder of life with success.

Boutha Ayyanar recalls, "My passion for books and literature made me a thief and bunk Plus Two examinations. "

When he was working as a collection boy in Bangalore, when the Kannada-Tamil problem cropped up in 1986, Ayyanar looted a shop and went on an expedition of meeting writers, hoping to commit suicide after meeting his dream personalities. He met Sunadara Ramasamy, Nakulan, A. Mathavan, Ki. Rajanarayanan and Deva Datchan and realised that "death is not that easy to encounter."

Boutha Ayyanar maintained a close relationship with Sundara Ramaswamy. "By writing frequent letters to Sundara Ramaswamy I developed my writing skills and evolved a style for my works."

His works

So far Boutha Ayyanar has penned down four books -- `Viduvippu,' a collection of interviews, articles and poems, `Alaipiralum Vazhkkai,' a collection of essays on life in Chennai, `Mansion Kavithaigal,' a poetry collection of life in mansions, and `Sollil Irundu Mounathiruku,' interviews with a dozen writers including Madhan, Jeya Mohan Salma, Meera, Mounaguru and Meera.

Besides, he regularly reviews books for a Tamil magazine and is now working on an `autobiographical novel.'

Literature

"With continuous reading, literature can be enjoyed and every reading gives a different kind of experience. In literature alone one can dare to dream of the most abstract things and turn them into reality and understand life in all its abstractness," he says. His works are aimed at giving `my experience to readers' and he never mixes dreams and fantasies with real life.

When one reads his `Mansion Kavithaigal,' one gets to live in a mansion and his interviews give a feeling of meeting the writer or the poet interviewed in person.

Boutha Ayyanar not only relishes loneliness but also nurtures a love for death. Though he talks about natural sorrow, loss or pain, tragedies and life battles and pangs of separation, his poems are sure to mesmerise the reader and remain in his heart for long.

Like his collection of writings, he has worked as an assistant to film projector operator in a cinema theatre in Melur, programme co-ordinator in Vivekanada Kendra in Kanyakumari, associate editor of Kala Chuvadu, a literary magazine, and sub-editor for an online Tamil magazine. At present, he earns a decent living with his job as publication manager of Mahashemam Trust.

Unique trait

Writers or creators are supposed to have unique traits and Ayyanar has one. He always carries a notebook in which he jots down words, sentences and thoughts, which pass through his mind, especially in times of poetic ecstasy, and uses them in his works.

Though born as a Hindu, he has been attracted by Buddhist principles and in an attempt to start life afresh and to satiate his inner self, which undergoes persistent changes, Ayyanar has converted to Buddhism.

As a publication manager and programme coordinator, Ayyanar has so far organised thousands of medical camps and assisted in eye camps. A school drop-out, Ayyanar reads Albert Camus, Jean Sartre and Franz Kafka, all in translation.

All human beings ponder over their past mistakes. Boutha Ayyanar is no exception.

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