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A DROP OF POISON
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Tamil Writers' Workshop |
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6 – 8 April, 2001
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Women writers in Tamil, hailing from the tradition of Avvai and Andal, have existed from the Sangam era. Although their writing has a distinct flavour, literary histories in Tamil rarely discuss their contribution seriously. Nor has feminist literary theory of Tamil literature evolved over the years. Even the work of women writing in as late as the last decades of the nineteenth century is not fully documented. Ambai’s story, “Anil” (Squirrel) describes the search for female tradition in the musty shelves of the archives.
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While looking at who the writers are in Tamil it is also necessary to see how they wrote and established their identity as creative writers. Women have been writing steadily in both commercial and literary magazines—parallel streams in Tamil for some time now. An interesting trend is that of men writing in both streams, with female pseudonyms; so while writing is not completely denied to women in Tamil, the very mode of their inclusion raises complex issues for analysis.
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A small workshop was organised from 6-8 April 2001 in a peaceful health centre, Parinam, removed from the bustle of the city. A group of 15 invited writers met to discuss these issues, to examine the circumstances in which women write. The light sea breeze and the scent of neem flowers in bloom added to the calm of the relaxed space of the straw pyramid under which we met.
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The workshop began on a solemn note of silent homage to Azhagiyanayaki Ammal who died in March 2001. V. Geeta then presented a brief summary of The Power of the
Word, situating it in the Tamil context.
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Censorship as defined in The Power of the Word is expansive in scope. The illustrations given are mainly those of political censorship, but in a system steeped in caste and religious hierarchies there are many other ways in which censorship operates. Caste is a crucial factor in the realm of knowledge. Education has been denied to almost all non-brahmins for ages. Communities with access to education have had to struggle for it. Often women have not joined hands in that struggle for the right to education.
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Religion is the most significant factor in suppressing women’s knowledge and creativity. In this kind of situation, the experiences of women writers have ranged from writing in secrecy, hiding their writing, denying their capabilities, giving up writing altogether, or suffering on account of it. But, most often, these do not come into public domain is highly democratic. Even when they are exposed, they are treated as exceptions.
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Meanwhile, we also need to address issues like: what is women’s writing? Is it ‘about’ women? Or exclusively about woman’s physical experiences? Does the writing become notable because it deals with women’s problems? Why is it still difficult to approach women’s writings as a creative product? How can we strengthen our own writing and give it depth?
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Discussions about women and creativity have been under way for the past few years in Tamil Nadu. Paadini a literary magazine, conducted a get-together of women artists and writers in 1999 and 2000. In 2000, Brahmarajan, a leading poet in Tamil, organised a meet in Dharmaguri to discuss women’s writing in Tamil, in which many issues came up that led to heated debates. Krshangini, a significant poet in Tamil, organised a Kavithaikatchi (painting the poems) in March 2001.
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There was a felt need to find a platform where women can share freely—not to be isolated as women writers, where discussions devoid of personal animosity and groupism could be held, and where we could learn to share criticism without sacrificing friendship. Such a space can help us create women’s space, women’s language, women’s literature—in short, women’s tradition.
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Writers also felt that they needed to realise their own potential and strengthen themselves in order to function in the mainstream literary arena, and to sharpen our ability to identify and encounter anti-women, anti-progressive and anti-democratic forces at work. We need to create a space where differences are recognised, discussed and respected.
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Entering the waters
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that age, her imagination revolved around poetry and memories related to poetry.
She named her two tiny breasts, just developing, Angavai and Sangavai.
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--Ambai, (An Unpublished Manuscript)
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I remain, converting
urgent needs
into poems
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--Suganthi Subramanian, “Life Buried”
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First they talked about the facilities available for writing—from basic, material needs like a table and chair, to temporal, spatial and emotional needs.
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The urge to write throbs in Thilagavathi like a low fever, but dissipates because of heavy pressures at work. She is able to write without any intrusion only in the early hours of the morning, between 4:00 – 8:00 a.m. Vennila however claims that she writes as and when she wants to. Perhaps because she writes short poems, she works on her lines in her mind and puts them down on paper as soon as she feels ready.
Damayanthi, the professional, has all the facilities she needs, but is unable to start writing due to a paralysing lethargy that sets in. “I can’t write in absolute solitude,” she says. Though she has her own space and desk to write, she keeps shifting according to her mood. “The first moment and the first word are my main hurdles.”
Malathi of Bangalore does her first draft of writing during long official journeys and rewrites them after 10 p.m. at night. Bama also only writes at night due to heavy work at school and at home.
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Shailaja has a supportive environment, but finds it practically impossible to sit down and write. Her husband is an established writer. She takes care to provide a suitable atmosphere for him to work in, but said that “it seems too much even to expect the same for myself”.
Krshangini’s writing is not interrupted, and she gets up only after it is done. “Maybe that is why I am unable to attempt a novel,” she says. Even when a sleep, she sometimes gets up and sits down to work. “When I have a fever, I have this great urge to write.”
Vaasanthi suffered from gastric ulcers and was steeped in depression and self-pity for nearly 13 years. But she was goaded to write, to come out of that state by a friend. “My ulcer disappeared once I started writing,” she said.
Malathi Maithri finds rainy days very conducive to writing.
The availability of space, time and facilities to write reflects the role of writing in one’s life. Most of the women who participated in the workshop valued their writing and needed it for their self-esteem. Uma Maheswari and Salma (who was also unable to attend) said that writing was their only source of sustenance, but they only manage to pursue it amid great hardship.
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There was quite a lot of discussion on whether women should write only for literary magazines, which are exclusive and reluctant to make proper space for women’s writing, or for commercial magazines with a large circulation, that pay well. While they may exercise overt ideological control in terms of what is acceptable to their readership, literary or ‘little’ magazines tend to exercise another kind of control that is gendered but passes for ‘literary excellence’. There is also the question of whether writers use a different language and different themes depending on the readership. The main concern among the writers present was that catering to commercial magazines might affect their seriousness and literary reputations.
Damayanthi sends her stories to Kalki or (a commercial magazine) or Kannaiyazhi (a literary magazine), but doesn’t write differently for the two. Speaking of indirect censorship, she recalled how film director Balachander once bought one of her stories to be televised, but made many changes while doing so. Malathi also gave one her stories for the same teleserial; in her story the heroine refuses to accept pregnancy, but in the teleserial she says it is because she wants to continue working with handicapped children. Refusing motherhood evidently has to be justified by a more public form of mothering.
Vaasanthi’s stories were published with no questions asked when she lived outside Tamil Nadu . Later, after she was already an established writer, she sent in a story about a tribal community in which a man continues living with his wife who has been raped by an upper caste landlord. Vikatan changed the conclusion of the story saying, “Tamil readers will be flabbergasted to read that a raped wife can live with her husband!”
Bama writes short stories only when she is requested to by magazines. Krshangini publishes her poems in literary magazines but writes reviews of dance performances and art exhibitions, and interviews for popular magazines. On the other hand, Thamarai wrote mainly in popular magazines and for competitions, which she finds are a major incentive.
Reviews decide how women’s writing is viewed by society. Ranging largely from indifference to condescension, reviewers tend to relegate women’s writing to a minor key. One weekly published an interview of Thilagavathi with a photograph of her reclining on a sofa, portraying her as if she were a model or starlet. This kind of projection trivialises the writer’s intellectual calibre and sensationalises her views, while commenting on her dress and pose. Unfortunately, this is a trend that women need to encounter and handle carefully.
Sa. Samudram (a writer known for controversial statements) once commented that “women writers ‘open out their pallus’ even in their titles”. A magazine then asked a few women writers to comment on this overtly sexist remark. Some writers said, “There may be a few who are like that”; but when Thilagavathi condemned this comment he printed a poster saying, “Thilagavathi turns family women into dasis. Moreover since the police have no heart, how can a heartless person write literature?” There were also some snide comments about her using a proxy writer; although her relationship with her husband has ended she is still threatened when her writings or interviews are published. Thilagavathi bemoaned the fact that women writers were not always ready to fight anti-women tendencies in the literary world.
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Conclusion
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To summarise, the main points of our discussion were:
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What are the differences in gender perspective in commercial and literary magazines? Women writers need to deal seriously with this aspect. Popular publications may dilute our subject, literary magazines may resort to aesthetic or groupist arguments to undermine our work.
- Is it enough to write about female-specific experiences? Unless women writers take care to work on their language in order to create new meanings, there is every possibility that their writing will fall back into cliched usage. For example, poetry readings tend to be tuned to an auditory rhythm, but modern poetry is more visual. Yet, poetry with dense images is said to alienate an average reader. Unfortunately, women’s participation in such debates on aesthetics has been limited.
- When traditions place hurdles in our way, women question them readily, but ‘progressive’ practice can also be limiting. If what we want to say is new, we should say it in ways that are new. We need to forge a new idiom, to discover or invent it, to begin creating a feminist ‘tradition’.
- Relationships between social movements and women’s space within them are an important dimension of the discussion. It is clear that Dravidian culture has privileged women’s education, self-respect and expression. It is worth mentioning how “platform address” has become a major genre in Tamil Nadu through the influence of Dravidian movements.
- One has to be very careful about the caste, class and religious perceptions of various institutions. Literary organisations like Kamban Kazhagam have provided a space for contesting ideologies. People working within government media have also tried to carve out a space for alternative views.
- While writing about sexuality, male-female relationships and other taboo topics it is important to note how our discourse should be constructed. Existing narrative modes have to be dismantled in order to communication our vision.
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In conclusion it was agreed that gender identity cannot operate in isolation—it is part of our caste, religion, class, education and lifestyle. It is easy to yield to populist perceptions of a dalit perspective as casteist, and Muslim views as minority, but in an essentially hierarchic society, it is necessary that we voice our commitment to social justice. It is the responsibility of those who enjoy the privileges of this very hierarchy to recognise and publicly acknowledge them. Female-centered writing can only be that which counters caste, class and gender hierarchies, and the powers-that-be in this hegemony.
A common and strong need to link women’s movements and women’s writing was felt by everyone. The women’s movement stands to gain by writing, and writers can expand their scope and vision to encompass this. A healthy dialogue between these two groups is an immediate need. Unless a cultural nucleus evolves, no movement can bring about major change.
The Tamil writers’ workshop opened new doors, it brought the participants closer, and provided the reassurance that we are not alone. This thought has strengthened each one of us and fuelled our determination to meet more often.
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Vasanth Kannabiran & Mangai
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Workshop Co-ordinators
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Participants |
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1. Arulmozhi (32 yrs.) Oratory.
2. Bama, S. (40 yrs.) Novels and short-stories.
3. Damayanthi, Short Story.
4. Geeta, V.
5. Krashangini (50 yrs.) Poetry.
6. Kutti Revathi (28 yrs.) Poetry, journalism.
7. Malathi (38 yrs.) Poetry, criticism, prose.
8. Mangai
9. Priyadarshini, Andal, Poetry.
10. Salai, Kamarajar
11. Shyloja, K. V. (30yrs.) Poetry and prose.
12. Sivakami (40) Novelist.
13. Thamari, Songs.
14. Thilakavathi (40) Short stories.
15. Vatsala (62 yrs.) Poetry and short-stories.
16. Vennila, A. (28 yrs.) Poetry, letters.
17. Vasanthi (50) Novels.
18. Vasanth Kannabiran
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