Inspite of an aching body begging for a little more rest, manged to wake myself up early so that i could make it to the tennis court by six. a brief drizzle in the early hours, that would repeat itself the next two days, would come in the way of my Tennis aspirations. This being the first day ignored the damp weather and braved it to the court. I was glad to see the coach Mr.Ashraf had already come. However the court was water logged. even though it was a hard court the surface was uneven and hence the logging. Ashraf told me it was impossible to play and asked me turn back, I did not want it to end that badly. I asked him if could jus tap the ball in a dry corner of the court. He obliged. he guided me to practice tapping the ball against the wall. and a little latter he joined me and we stayed in a dry area and hit the ball across each other. My tryst with tennis was thus complete, atleast partly, a million thanks to Ashraf. I left the court hoping to come back for more, but it was not to be as rain and my engagement with literature would play havoc.
A news item in the Hindu took me to Tara books that morning. I had already heard about this place and had wanted to visit it.( In the course of these four days i managed to visit many of those places and met many of those people, the desire for which had been sown some time in the past.) The news item talked of an open house with a Ni pachedi Artist. These are the artists from Rajasthan who decorate the clothing that adorns the Goddess with fine paintings with natural colours, but the sad thing is that they are tribals prohibited from entering the temple, explained one Mr. Manivannan a staff of the publishing house. He took me through all the different books and works of Tara. They had a series of models that helped one understand how hand made paper was made the unique method of printing in Tara. To me each and every book of Tara was a work of art.
I had palnned to stop at Tara for less than an hour, but ended up spending more than two hours and a few hundred bucks on the books i found irresistable. I wanted to carry home a piece of their art. A book illustrating the poem ' I saw a peacock with a Fiery tail' was my most valuable pick. i hope to relish that book by sharing it with more and more people who can appreciate its beauty. I wanted to bring my cousins Harsh and Nivi to the place.
My overstaying at Tara tweaked my plans. Enroute to Woodlands dropped in at writer Pa.Ravi's house. He works for a magazine 'Thalam' , a literary aficionado and a distant relative. Picked up two books by Salem Tamilnaadan from him. He also could not help in tracing Aru.so.
Left for Woodlands, caught up with Harsh. i was glad to meet him and learn that he was there interning for The Hindu and reporting about the CIFF. While chatting, he suggested i watch ' Like father like son' that was to play at Casino the next day. A segment of my plan for the next day thus got made up. It was good to see him there all alone and standing tall in the middle of that maddening crowd working with resolve, buzzing around to theaters like a man on mission.
Left Harsh alone with his mission, as Dept of Archaeology was calling me. I had to buy a book, Oviya paavai by R Nagaswamy. This book was introduced to me by a talk at Tamil heritage center. It is about sculptures found in different temples. I had heard from Vijaybaskar Vijay that this place is behind the Museum at Egmore, i imagined that this was probably a part of the permanent book exhibition behind connemara but it was not to be. a person at the counter of this perm. exhibition guided me that the Dept. was on Halls road. The person sounded very knowledgeable about books and i wanted to try my luck inquiring about Aru.so. To my surprise he lead me to a rack with his books. Gosh! i was surprised by my luck, patted myself for my persistence. The book, a translation of Macbeth, had a number of the publisher. I tried ringing that number was surprised to find Aru.so answering.
I opened my heart out to Aru.So and told him how much i was inspired by his Tamil and wanted to meet him and talk to him. He gave me the address of the place he was staying at and asked to meet up at 5p.m. This was at 1 p.m. Quickly finished lunch and landed at archeology Dept. Chanced upon an amazing personality in Mr.Sreekumar who guided me through the exhibits of the Dept and opened up a sea of information in the field.
Had to force myself out of this raining clouds of knowledge to start off and make it in time to meet Aru.So. he was staying at Thiruvotriyur. The drive took me beyond Beach station for the fist time. Passed thru Singaravelar maaligai, Royapuram, Tollgate, the north chennai sea shores with thier rocky inroads into the sea, inviting me to stand and stare, the heavy trucks plying on the bumpy road were all treats on the way for i was witnessing them for the first time.
I have recounted my meeting up with Aru.So in an earlier post ' a day of visits'. Drove back home piercing the chillness of the late hour and carrying a bagfull of books.
A news item in the Hindu took me to Tara books that morning. I had already heard about this place and had wanted to visit it.( In the course of these four days i managed to visit many of those places and met many of those people, the desire for which had been sown some time in the past.) The news item talked of an open house with a Ni pachedi Artist. These are the artists from Rajasthan who decorate the clothing that adorns the Goddess with fine paintings with natural colours, but the sad thing is that they are tribals prohibited from entering the temple, explained one Mr. Manivannan a staff of the publishing house. He took me through all the different books and works of Tara. They had a series of models that helped one understand how hand made paper was made the unique method of printing in Tara. To me each and every book of Tara was a work of art.
I had palnned to stop at Tara for less than an hour, but ended up spending more than two hours and a few hundred bucks on the books i found irresistable. I wanted to carry home a piece of their art. A book illustrating the poem ' I saw a peacock with a Fiery tail' was my most valuable pick. i hope to relish that book by sharing it with more and more people who can appreciate its beauty. I wanted to bring my cousins Harsh and Nivi to the place.
My overstaying at Tara tweaked my plans. Enroute to Woodlands dropped in at writer Pa.Ravi's house. He works for a magazine 'Thalam' , a literary aficionado and a distant relative. Picked up two books by Salem Tamilnaadan from him. He also could not help in tracing Aru.so.
Left for Woodlands, caught up with Harsh. i was glad to meet him and learn that he was there interning for The Hindu and reporting about the CIFF. While chatting, he suggested i watch ' Like father like son' that was to play at Casino the next day. A segment of my plan for the next day thus got made up. It was good to see him there all alone and standing tall in the middle of that maddening crowd working with resolve, buzzing around to theaters like a man on mission.
Left Harsh alone with his mission, as Dept of Archaeology was calling me. I had to buy a book, Oviya paavai by R Nagaswamy. This book was introduced to me by a talk at Tamil heritage center. It is about sculptures found in different temples. I had heard from Vijaybaskar Vijay that this place is behind the Museum at Egmore, i imagined that this was probably a part of the permanent book exhibition behind connemara but it was not to be. a person at the counter of this perm. exhibition guided me that the Dept. was on Halls road. The person sounded very knowledgeable about books and i wanted to try my luck inquiring about Aru.so. To my surprise he lead me to a rack with his books. Gosh! i was surprised by my luck, patted myself for my persistence. The book, a translation of Macbeth, had a number of the publisher. I tried ringing that number was surprised to find Aru.so answering.
I opened my heart out to Aru.So and told him how much i was inspired by his Tamil and wanted to meet him and talk to him. He gave me the address of the place he was staying at and asked to meet up at 5p.m. This was at 1 p.m. Quickly finished lunch and landed at archeology Dept. Chanced upon an amazing personality in Mr.Sreekumar who guided me through the exhibits of the Dept and opened up a sea of information in the field.
Had to force myself out of this raining clouds of knowledge to start off and make it in time to meet Aru.So. he was staying at Thiruvotriyur. The drive took me beyond Beach station for the fist time. Passed thru Singaravelar maaligai, Royapuram, Tollgate, the north chennai sea shores with thier rocky inroads into the sea, inviting me to stand and stare, the heavy trucks plying on the bumpy road were all treats on the way for i was witnessing them for the first time.
I have recounted my meeting up with Aru.So in an earlier post ' a day of visits'. Drove back home piercing the chillness of the late hour and carrying a bagfull of books.
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