From: sp2@cec1.wustl.edu (Sundara Pandian)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.tamil
Subject: An interview with Balakumaran - Part 2
Date: 14 Sep 1992 10:49:02 -0500
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

           An interview with Balakumaran - Part 2
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 Taken from    : Subamangalaa
 Conducted by  : Gomal Swaminathan
 Translated by : S.Pandian
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 [ continued...] 

 Gomal :
           You create ideal  female  characters  in  your
          imagination.But  such  female characters do not
          fit into reality. For example, one of your  fe-
          male  characters  dreams  to  conceive  a child
          without a husband. The  female  readers  get  a
          sensation  when they read this story. Can I ac-
          cuse you for  injecting  impossible  dreams  of
          this  society  in the female characters in your
          stories ?
 Balakumaran :
            You are asking about the character Gayatri in
          my  book  `Irumbu Kuthiraikal' [ iron horses ].
          She is a future woman of India. It is my  claim
          that such ideal women who could be counted with
          fingers now would increase in number  to  lakhs
          in near future.
            I feel the rage spreading among the women  to
          fight  against  the arrogance of male dominance
          and to root them out. It is not written to give
          a  sensation  to  my  readers.  Gayatri  may be
          glamorous to foolish women who were not affect-
          ed  in  their life or to rude women. Gayatri is
          the biggest tragedy of this country.  Though  a
          today's  woman  may  not  have  the strength to
          break  the  tradition,  when  her  daughter  or
          grand-daughter  dare  to  break  the tradition,
          Gayatri would boost them  through  the  courage
          that  they  grasped by reading her story. It is
          written with a view to encourage them in  their
          efforts.  At  the same time, I like to warn the
          young men that women like Gayatri have  started
          emerging.I also like to add that when they grow
          in number,  men's  moustache  would  loose  its
          meaning.

 Gomal :
           Isn't  it  clear  that  views  like  `A  woman
          doesn't  need a husband. She needs only a man.'
          are draw-backs for women ? You could have  sim-
          ply  said that she lived without any man accom-
          panying her in her life.
 Balakumaran :
           Why do you say that it is a draw-back for wom-
          en  ?  Like  a  woman  is  a pleasure to a man,
          dosen't it follow that a man is a pleasure to a
          woman  ? Isn't it natural ? Is it correct to be
          against the nature ? Solitude  is  unnecessary.
          It is a sign of mental sickness.

 Gomal :
           You see women's liberation or  male  dominance
          only from the angle of sex. You view it only as
          free sex.
 Balakumaran :
           I can't accept your claim. Sex is  an  outlook
          of love. What is love ? Love is mutual respect.
          Mutual respect means understanding  each  other
          well.  There are many reasons behind if a woman
          goes to bed with a man. If we term it  as  sex,
          it  doesn't mean that she is calling him due to
          her body heat. If a woman is  in  friends  with
          him,  there  is a great deal of research behind
          it. A big calculation is there.She  weighs  him
          on  different  sclaes. Sharing bed comes at the
          end  after  crossing  many  barriers  like  her
          economical  surroundings, her neighborhood etc.
          I am only writing this in my books. It  is  not
          very  revolutionary. Sex  is not very silly ei-
          ther. It is very very important. This  is  dis-
          cussed in many angles without sex in my novels.
          Those who accuse that Balakumaran  writes  only
          on  sex are either ignorant on sex or with some
          weekness.

 Gomal :
           In general, your female characters are  either
          from city are from middle class.  But the women
          who are most affected  by  male  dominance  are
          from villages. Why is that you have not written
          any book on them ?
 Balakumaran :
           I don't know much about villages. I have  been
          writing  only  on  what  I know well. Moreover,
          mostly the middle class or the  cityside  women
          read my books. I make myself clear to those who
          read my books. I don't write  for  wood-cutting
          women or tribal women. I don't care about those
          who claim that they have been writing for  them
          also.

 Gomal :
           Did everyone of your novels give you satisfac-
          tion ?
 Balakumaran :
           Things will stop if  one  is  satisified.  The
          truth is that I am not satisfied with any of my
          novels. I get a   feeling  that  I  could  have
          written  better whenever I read my books again.
          But I work on all my novels with  self  attach-
          ment.  I  am  a  very  sincere and hard worker.
          Whatever I act I take, I work on it like a  mad
          man.

 Gomal :
           Sundara Ramaswamy has said, " First rate writ-
          ers  are  very lazy, whereas third rate writers
          are very busy. " Does it fit you also ?
 Balakumaran :
           Everyone is classifying others  as  first rate
          writers,  third writers etc.  Somebody else may
          come forward and say that Sundara Ramaswamy  is
          a  fourth  rate  writer.  It is pure shame that
          respected writers like Sundara Ramaswamy should
          call other writers as first writers, third rate
          writers etc.,

 Gomal :
           Even T.N. Chidambara Raghunathan has said that
          you are a craftsman but not an artist !
 Balakumaran :
           There were times when I wondered at  T.M.C.  I
          don't  expect  such a silly statement from him.
          He says that I don't  have  social  commitment.
          Does  social commitment mean that one should be
          a member of a political party ? Or  one  should
          be following an ism ? Is it that one has no so-
          cial commitment if he is not a party member  or
          without  faith  in any ism ? I have social com-
          mitment Mr Raghunathan !  You  can  see  it  by
          reading  my books. That is, if you have read my
          books.

 [ To be continued ...]
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 [ Posted by : S.Pandian ( sp2@cec1.wustl.edu ) ]
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Newsgroups: soc.culture.tamil