Evergreen Devan
July 26, 2012 § 1 Comment
Reading Devan’s short stories was a rewarding experience for me,
when I was a student in the school in the forties of the last century.
Yes, a rewarding experience, literally.
I need explaining this.
My paternal grandmother was fond of reading books. Her reading
habit was not confined to reading the prayer chants dedicated to the
various gods and goddesses, as what her contemporaries were
doing at that time, but to include in her reading schedule
modern Tamil fiction. She gradually got graduated from reading
the shilling shockers and penny thrillers to reading Ananda Vikatan,
and Kalki, the most popular weeklies of that era.
Soon, cataract interfered with her reading habit. She refused to go
for a surgery ,as it was her firm conviction not to interfere with what
had been ordained by Nature. She requisitioned my services at this
stage and I was commissioned to read for her the serials written by
the celebrated writers, Kalki and Devan in those illustrious weeklies.
‘Thuppariyum Sambhu’ by Devan was her hot favourite. My
grandmother, like an American grandma, believed that everything
had a price. She paid me one anna and a quarter for every hour.
This compensation went a long way those days, as it could fetch two
idlis and a masala dosa
This what I meant when I said reading Devan was a rewarding
experience for me when I was young. This was doubly rewarding in
the sense, I got initiated into the world of Tamil literary fiction.
‘Thuppuariyum Sambhu’ was, perhaps, the first Tamil novel, with a
bungling , clumsy, common man as the hero, who gate crashes
by accident into the world of mystery ,thrill and adventure with all
those very blundering qualities standing him in good stand and
accounting for his incredible success in solving crimes. My parents
used to very often call me clumsy and at that age, finding a kindred
soul in Sambhu, I felt proud and optimistic.
‘Thuppuariyum Sambhu’ is one of the masterpieces in Tamil fiction.
Till then, the Tamil fiction was a portrait gallery of inimitable
handsome heroes of noble birth, high learning and chivalry. No one
could have imagined at that time a lowly bank clerk with a face
looking crowded by such a prominent nose would have kept the
readers on their toes every week .Devan, perhaps, hit the jackpot
when in the very first episode Sambhu found the diamond necklace
in the cashew nut cake !
There was no stopping him after that!
I do not know whether those Hollywood guys who produced
Inspector Jaques Clouseau in 1963 could have been familiar with
Sambhu. When I saw Peter Sellers as Clouseau, he strongly reminded
me of our own Sambhu in his injured-innocent looks and other
mannerisms. I recollect in yet another movie, Peter Sellers
imitated the Indian accent while speaking English in the most
brilliant manner.
Later, when I got acquainted with Charles Dickens in the college, I
found there was a good deal in common between Devan’s
characters set in the Tamil milieu and Dickensian portrayals of the
Victorian era.
Eccentric and at the same time pathetically comical and helpless,
many of them provoke our sympathy and laughter at one and the
same time. The common temptation of a Devan reader is to compare
him with P.G.Wodehouse, the British humourist of the 20th century.
No doubt, both of them are great humourists. But the comparison
stops here. Wodehousian characters like Lord Elmsworth, Bertiee
Wooster, Psmith (with ‘P’silent) and the innumerable spinster aunts
are stylised, one-dimensional and static caricatures
indicating no evolving at all, with the progress of the story and they
are predictable. They look like frozen victims caught in a time warp
Devan’s characters,on the other hand, are not stagnated but evolve
gradually, drawing strength from their inner potential and
experiences, evidence for which we see in his ,what I would consider
as his masterpiece ‘Mr.Vedantham’
Maybe, a hard-nosed literary critic would not agree with me in
calling a romantic and sentimental novel belonging to the popular
genre as a literary masterpiece. In fact, we learnt to throw such
literary jargons such as ‘popular writing’ and’ literary writing’ after
westernization. Even in the west, such literary classifications came
only afterthe Industrial Revolution, when the privileged classes kept
their identity alive by such critical branding. So Dickens, because he
was a great hit with the working classes, was called a ‘popular’ writer
and Virginia Woolf ,who had selected readership called ‘a serious
writer’. It may be pertinent to ask at this juncture, whether
Shakespeare was a popular writer or an ivory tower bard condemned
to be read only by a few? Even during the period he lived and wrote
he was extremely popular with the masses. ‘Sweetest Shakespeare,
Fancy’s child’ says John Milton, one of the most learned among the
English poets. So such categorizations as ‘popular writing’ as against
‘serious’ writing’ is of recent origin in the west and imported by the
self-styled intellectual elite to convince themselves of their own
literary credibility.
In the thirties and forties of the last century, the Tamil critics, fed on
a fat diet of western literary criticism, and totally ignorant of our
own Indian poetics, held the view that any work with a
readership of more than five hundred, could not be considered as
‘literary’.
Kalki and Devan, as popular editors of two very popular Tamil
Weeklies had a huge following, a fact that did not go well with the
estimate of these elitist eggheads. Their novels were dismissed by
them as ‘popular writing’ as if ‘popular’ is a dirty word synonymous
with pornography.
Devan wrote “Mr.Vedantham’ as a serial to cater to the hungry
needs of thousands of middle- brow readers belonging to the urban
middle- class. As a non-proprietry editor of a popular weekly Devan
had two commitments; one, to himself that he could feel proud of
what he had written and two, that he had to have an eye on the
circulation of the weekly, conforming to the laws of magazine
economics. Studying all the novels that Devan wrote in this context,
one could say he had done a remarkable job by arriving at the golden
formula to provide good reading for his readers and with
commendable literary flair.
This novel describes the struggles, travails, disappointments and
ultimate success of a rural middle class Brahmin youth Vedantham.
By narrating his story, the author provides subtle, insightful details
of the social, cultural and economic structure of the Tamil society
during the forties of the previous century.
The Brahmin community, caught between two stools of culture
that were at variance at each other during the colonial rule. opted
for their survival by adopting the benefits of a western education
by forsaking their own cultural mores that led to their social
degradation. This is beautifully illustrated by some of the Brahmin
characters portrayed in this novel.
But Vedantham has not set forhimself very big ambitions like
achieving wealth and power to reach the top of the social hierarchy
but, he just dreams of becoming a good journalist and get married
to his aunt’s daughter, whom he loves. The story centres around this
simple theme and within this frame, Devan introduces a panoramic
picture of various characters representing different cross-sections
of the Tamil society, each one distinctive in his/her own way.
Two brothers, Swamy and Singham play a very significant role
in Vedantham’s life. Both are aggressive, egoistic, unbending and
at the same with hearts of gold. They feel too proud even to accept
expressions of gratitude from their beneficiaries. Such characters
may belong to the category of vanishing species in the present
context of values, the bottom line of which assures that there cannot
be free lunches.
Devan was at his creative best in some of his later works like
‘Rajathin Manoradham’, in which the mundane experiences of
constructing a middle class family dwelling brings into focus all
the cultural aspects of such a venture and narrated with such a
delightful humour that only Devan could.
A comprehensive study of all Devan’s works should be undertaken.
Reading Devan’s short stories was a rewarding experience for me,
when I was a student in the school in the forties of the last century.
Yes, a rewarding experience, literally.
I need explaining this.
My paternal grandmother was fond of reading books. Her reading
habit was not confined to reading the prayer chants dedicated to the
various gods and goddesses, as what her contemporaries were
doing at that time, but to include in her reading schedule
modern Tamil fiction. She gradually got graduated from reading
the shilling shockers and penny thrillers to reading Ananda Vikatan,
and Kalki, the most popular weeklies of that era.
Soon, cataract interfered with her reading habit. She refused to go
for a surgery ,as it was her firm conviction not to interfere with what
had been ordained by Nature. She requisitioned my services at this
stage and I was commissioned to read for her the serials written by
the celebrated writers, Kalki and Devan in those illustrious weeklies.
‘Thuppariyum Sambhu’ by Devan was her hot favourite. My
grandmother, like an American grandma, believed that everything
had a price. She paid me one anna and a quarter for every hour.
This compensation went a long way those days, as it could fetch two
idlis and a masala dosa
This what I meant when I said reading Devan was a rewarding
experience for me when I was young. This was doubly rewarding in
the sense, I got initiated into the world of Tamil literary fiction.
‘Thuppuariyum Sambhu’ was, perhaps, the first Tamil novel, with a
bungling , clumsy, common man as the hero, who gate crashes
by accident into the world of mystery ,thrill and adventure with all
those very blundering qualities standing him in good stand and
accounting for his incredible success in solving crimes. My parents
used to very often call me clumsy and at that age, finding a kindred
soul in Sambhu, I felt proud and optimistic.
‘Thuppuariyum Sambhu’ is one of the masterpieces in Tamil fiction.
Till then, the Tamil fiction was a portrait gallery of inimitable
handsome heroes of noble birth, high learning and chivalry. No one
could have imagined at that time a lowly bank clerk with a face
looking crowded by such a prominent nose would have kept the
readers on their toes every week .Devan, perhaps, hit the jackpot
when in the very first episode Sambhu found the diamond necklace
in the cashew nut cake !
There was no stopping him after that!
I do not know whether those Hollywood guys who produced
Inspector Jaques Clouseau in 1963 could have been familiar with
Sambhu. When I saw Peter Sellers as Clouseau, he strongly reminded
me of our own Sambhu in his injured-innocent looks and other
mannerisms. I recollect in yet another movie, Peter Sellers
imitated the Indian accent while speaking English in the most
brilliant manner.
Later, when I got acquainted with Charles Dickens in the college, I
found there was a good deal in common between Devan’s
characters set in the Tamil milieu and Dickensian portrayals of the
Victorian era.
Eccentric and at the same time pathetically comical and helpless,
many of them provoke our sympathy and laughter at one and the
same time. The common temptation of a Devan reader is to compare
him with P.G.Wodehouse, the British humourist of the 20th century.
No doubt, both of them are great humourists. But the comparison
stops here. Wodehousian characters like Lord Elmsworth, Bertiee
Wooster, Psmith (with ‘P’silent) and the innumerable spinster aunts
are stylised, one-dimensional and static caricatures
indicating no evolving at all, with the progress of the story and they
are predictable. They look like frozen victims caught in a time warp
Devan’s characters,on the other hand, are not stagnated but evolve
gradually, drawing strength from their inner potential and
experiences, evidence for which we see in his ,what I would consider
as his masterpiece ‘Mr.Vedantham’
Maybe, a hard-nosed literary critic would not agree with me in
calling a romantic and sentimental novel belonging to the popular
genre as a literary masterpiece. In fact, we learnt to throw such
literary jargons such as ‘popular writing’ and’ literary writing’ after
westernization. Even in the west, such literary classifications came
only afterthe Industrial Revolution, when the privileged classes kept
their identity alive by such critical branding. So Dickens, because he
was a great hit with the working classes, was called a ‘popular’ writer
and Virginia Woolf ,who had selected readership called ‘a serious
writer’. It may be pertinent to ask at this juncture, whether
Shakespeare was a popular writer or an ivory tower bard condemned
to be read only by a few? Even during the period he lived and wrote
he was extremely popular with the masses. ‘Sweetest Shakespeare,
Fancy’s child’ says John Milton, one of the most learned among the
English poets. So such categorizations as ‘popular writing’ as against
‘serious’ writing’ is of recent origin in the west and imported by the
self-styled intellectual elite to convince themselves of their own
literary credibility.
In the thirties and forties of the last century, the Tamil critics, fed on
a fat diet of western literary criticism, and totally ignorant of our
own Indian poetics, held the view that any work with a
readership of more than five hundred, could not be considered as
‘literary’.
Kalki and Devan, as popular editors of two very popular Tamil
Weeklies had a huge following, a fact that did not go well with the
estimate of these elitist eggheads. Their novels were dismissed by
them as ‘popular writing’ as if ‘popular’ is a dirty word synonymous
with pornography.
Devan wrote “Mr.Vedantham’ as a serial to cater to the hungry
needs of thousands of middle- brow readers belonging to the urban
middle- class. As a non-proprietry editor of a popular weekly Devan
had two commitments; one, to himself that he could feel proud of
what he had written and two, that he had to have an eye on the
circulation of the weekly, conforming to the laws of magazine
economics. Studying all the novels that Devan wrote in this context,
one could say he had done a remarkable job by arriving at the golden
formula to provide good reading for his readers and with
commendable literary flair.
This novel describes the struggles, travails, disappointments and
ultimate success of a rural middle class Brahmin youth Vedantham.
By narrating his story, the author provides subtle, insightful details
of the social, cultural and economic structure of the Tamil society
during the forties of the previous century.
The Brahmin community, caught between two stools of culture
that were at variance at each other during the colonial rule. opted
for their survival by adopting the benefits of a western education
by forsaking their own cultural mores that led to their social
degradation. This is beautifully illustrated by some of the Brahmin
characters portrayed in this novel.
But Vedantham has not set forhimself very big ambitions like
achieving wealth and power to reach the top of the social hierarchy
but, he just dreams of becoming a good journalist and get married
to his aunt’s daughter, whom he loves. The story centres around this
simple theme and within this frame, Devan introduces a panoramic
picture of various characters representing different cross-sections
of the Tamil society, each one distinctive in his/her own way.
Two brothers, Swamy and Singham play a very significant role
in Vedantham’s life. Both are aggressive, egoistic, unbending and
at the same with hearts of gold. They feel too proud even to accept
expressions of gratitude from their beneficiaries. Such characters
may belong to the category of vanishing species in the present
context of values, the bottom line of which assures that there cannot
be free lunches.
Devan was at his creative best in some of his later works like
‘Rajathin Manoradham’, in which the mundane experiences of
constructing a middle class family dwelling brings into focus all
the cultural aspects of such a venture and narrated with such a
delightful humour that only Devan could.
A comprehensive study of all Devan’s works should be undertaken.
Reading Devan’s short stories was a rewarding experience for me,
when I was a student in the school in the forties of the last century.
Yes, a rewarding experience, literally.
I need explaining this.
My paternal grandmother was fond of reading books. Her reading
habit was not confined to reading the prayer chants dedicated to the
various gods and goddesses, as what her contemporaries were
doing at that time, but to include in her reading schedule
modern Tamil fiction. She gradually got graduated from reading
the shilling shockers and penny thrillers to reading Ananda Vikatan,
and Kalki, the most popular weeklies of that era.
Soon, cataract interfered with her reading habit. She refused to go
for a surgery ,as it was her firm conviction not to interfere with what
had been ordained by Nature. She requisitioned my services at this
stage and I was commissioned to read for her the serials written by
the celebrated writers, Kalki and Devan in those illustrious weeklies.
‘Thuppariyum Sambhu’ by Devan was her hot favourite. My
grandmother, like an American grandma, believed that everything
had a price. She paid me one anna and a quarter for every hour.
This compensation went a long way those days, as it could fetch two
idlis and a masala dosa
This what I meant when I said reading Devan was a rewarding
experience for me when I was young. This was doubly rewarding in
the sense, I got initiated into the world of Tamil literary fiction.
‘Thuppuariyum Sambhu’ was, perhaps, the first Tamil novel, with a
bungling , clumsy, common man as the hero, who gate crashes
by accident into the world of mystery ,thrill and adventure with all
those very blundering qualities standing him in good stand and
accounting for his incredible success in solving crimes. My parents
used to very often call me clumsy and at that age, finding a kindred
soul in Sambhu, I felt proud and optimistic.
‘Thuppuariyum Sambhu’ is one of the masterpieces in Tamil fiction.
Till then, the Tamil fiction was a portrait gallery of inimitable
handsome heroes of noble birth, high learning and chivalry. No one
could have imagined at that time a lowly bank clerk with a face
looking crowded by such a prominent nose would have kept the
readers on their toes every week .Devan, perhaps, hit the jackpot
when in the very first episode Sambhu found the diamond necklace
in the cashew nut cake !
There was no stopping him after that!
I do not know whether those Hollywood guys who produced
Inspector Jaques Clouseau in 1963 could have been familiar with
Sambhu. When I saw Peter Sellers as Clouseau, he strongly reminded
me of our own Sambhu in his injured-innocent looks and other
mannerisms. I recollect in yet another movie, Peter Sellers
imitated the Indian accent while speaking English in the most
brilliant manner.
Later, when I got acquainted with Charles Dickens in the college, I
found there was a good deal in common between Devan’s
characters set in the Tamil milieu and Dickensian portrayals of the
Victorian era.
Eccentric and at the same time pathetically comical and helpless,
many of them provoke our sympathy and laughter at one and the
same time. The common temptation of a Devan reader is to compare
him with P.G.Wodehouse, the British humourist of the 20th century.
No doubt, both of them are great humourists. But the comparison
stops here. Wodehousian characters like Lord Elmsworth, Bertiee
Wooster, Psmith (with ‘P’silent) and the innumerable spinster aunts
are stylised, one-dimensional and static caricatures
indicating no evolving at all, with the progress of the story and they
are predictable. They look like frozen victims caught in a time warp
Devan’s characters,on the other hand, are not stagnated but evolve
gradually, drawing strength from their inner potential and
experiences, evidence for which we see in his ,what I would consider
as his masterpiece ‘Mr.Vedantham’
Maybe, a hard-nosed literary critic would not agree with me in
calling a romantic and sentimental novel belonging to the popular
genre as a literary masterpiece. In fact, we learnt to throw such
literary jargons such as ‘popular writing’ and’ literary writing’ after
westernization. Even in the west, such literary classifications came
only afterthe Industrial Revolution, when the privileged classes kept
their identity alive by such critical branding. So Dickens, because he
was a great hit with the working classes, was called a ‘popular’ writer
and Virginia Woolf ,who had selected readership called ‘a serious
writer’. It may be pertinent to ask at this juncture, whether
Shakespeare was a popular writer or an ivory tower bard condemned
to be read only by a few? Even during the period he lived and wrote
he was extremely popular with the masses. ‘Sweetest Shakespeare,
Fancy’s child’ says John Milton, one of the most learned among the
English poets. So such categorizations as ‘popular writing’ as against
‘serious’ writing’ is of recent origin in the west and imported by the
self-styled intellectual elite to convince themselves of their own
literary credibility.
In the thirties and forties of the last century, the Tamil critics, fed on
a fat diet of western literary criticism, and totally ignorant of our
own Indian poetics, held the view that any work with a
readership of more than five hundred, could not be considered as
‘literary’.
Kalki and Devan, as popular editors of two very popular Tamil
Weeklies had a huge following, a fact that did not go well with the
estimate of these elitist eggheads. Their novels were dismissed by
them as ‘popular writing’ as if ‘popular’ is a dirty word synonymous
with pornography.
Devan wrote “Mr.Vedantham’ as a serial to cater to the hungry
needs of thousands of middle- brow readers belonging to the urban
middle- class. As a non-proprietry editor of a popular weekly Devan
had two commitments; one, to himself that he could feel proud of
what he had written and two, that he had to have an eye on the
circulation of the weekly, conforming to the laws of magazine
economics. Studying all the novels that Devan wrote in this context,
one could say he had done a remarkable job by arriving at the golden
formula to provide good reading for his readers and with
commendable literary flair.
This novel describes the struggles, travails, disappointments and
ultimate success of a rural middle class Brahmin youth Vedantham.
By narrating his story, the author provides subtle, insightful details
of the social, cultural and economic structure of the Tamil society
during the forties of the previous century.
The Brahmin community, caught between two stools of culture
that were at variance at each other during the colonial rule. opted
for their survival by adopting the benefits of a western education
by forsaking their own cultural mores that led to their social
degradation. This is beautifully illustrated by some of the Brahmin
characters portrayed in this novel.
But Vedantham has not set forhimself very big ambitions like
achieving wealth and power to reach the top of the social hierarchy
but, he just dreams of becoming a good journalist and get married
to his aunt’s daughter, whom he loves. The story centres around this
simple theme and within this frame, Devan introduces a panoramic
picture of various characters representing different cross-sections
of the Tamil society, each one distinctive in his/her own way.
Two brothers, Swamy and Singham play a very significant role
in Vedantham’s life. Both are aggressive, egoistic, unbending and
at the same with hearts of gold. They feel too proud even to accept
expressions of gratitude from their beneficiaries. Such characters
may belong to the category of vanishing species in the present
context of values, the bottom line of which assures that there cannot
be free lunches.
Devan was at his creative best in some of his later works like
‘Rajathin Manoradham’, in which the mundane experiences of
constructing a middle class family dwelling brings into focus all
the cultural aspects of such a venture and narrated with such a
delightful humour that only Devan could.
A comprehensive study of all Devan’s works should be undertaken.
இந்திரா பார்த்தசாரதி 