Ponniyin Selvan

Holidays and what better thing to do than romance with a book. I am completely hooked onto Ponniyin Selvan and am at the peak of my curiosity. The last few volumes are not available. What torture!!! Having started the series I cannot rest in peace without knowing how it will end. I have heard a lot about this book being the classic of classics and had it is on my bucket list.  The book was meant to be read in its intended language, Tamil but ahhh...but why learn Tamil when there is an english translation of the book floating around. So, I got my pretty little hands on the first two volumes of the five volume story (fifth part has been split into two) with the hopes of finding the rest as time went by. At first, I was apprehensive, as I did not believe a translation could match the original flavour of the book but as I read and read and oh my god! The book is too good to left alone even for a trip to snoozyland. It just makes me wonder how well written the original must be if the translation itself is so catchy. And yes Mr. Kalki Krishnamurthy, you have found yourself a new fan. So I have been on a frantic hunt for the complete set and found it here: http://www.indiaplaza.com/books/ISBN-PONSELCOLL.htm for Rs.950 but as Murphy law would have it, it is currently out of stock. So, for the time being, I am left with a microscopic brain and a ton of creativity to imagine the wonderful end rewritten by Maya.

So a brief account of the story so far or more like my thoughts. May contain spoilers. So the story is about the Cholas (The Chola dynasty ruled the region in and around Tamil Nadu from the 3rd century BC to the 13th century AD, for more info check out the wiki page: chola dynasty) and in particular about Raja Raja Chola, the greatest of the Chola Kings. (For people who do not know, I have been a bit of a history buff and love most history that is not Ghandhi's salt march (Dhandi March 12th March, 1930) or satyagraha and all I got while studying history in India was this. A very rare history session at school contained the South Indian history before the times of the English rule, and I was introduced to the Cholas, Cheras, Pandiyas and Pallavas. Till date I remember that class as I had enjoyed it thoroughly, the stories were interesting, the conspiracies were cool, the names were easy (most of the names were Karikala, Soundara Chola, Raja Raja, Verra Pandi and so on and so forth...very easy to remember as they were all similar to the names of my second cousins *jokes*) and the places ruled were relatable to neighbouring cities and states of the present day. Their rule did not last for long, as invasion from the north took over soon but of their short rule, Raja Raja was the most prominent and noteworthy king.) The story is a short long fictionist account of Raja Raja's rise to power despite many odds, I think (cannot confirm as I have not read the end of it). The story follows the adventures of a messenger named Vallavarayan Vandiya Devan who in my eyes is more the hero than the owner of the book’s title Ponniyan Selvan aka Raja Raja Chola. The king himself does not make an appearance till the second half of the second book and all the male leads are meant to be dashing young hot blooded Tamil men :) The coolest thing for me in the book is that the villain is a female :) and the book is definitely gripping. I have gained a whole new appreciation for Tamil literature...only if Mr.Kalki was English, he would be a global sensation.

So what troubles me is... the age old movie of Raja Raja Chola screened in 1973, starring Nadigar Thilagam Shivaji Ganeshan as our dashing young hero, in the fading colour print of those times. Being a young lady, I tend to have a wild active imagination and love to draw up my own picturistic images of the male and female characters that appear in the stories I read. Since I have known the existence of the movie and may have possibly watched in my incomprehensible younger days, I face a road block, a corrupt image of Shivaji Ganeshan never fails to pop up on the mention of Raja Raja Cholas name. I find it hard to get past this imagery and am not satisfied with him playing the role in my head. This difficulty has been faced by my poor mind on numerous occasions such as the creation of the Harry Potter movies before the completion of the Harry Potter book series and so on, where Daniel Radicliff ugly visage popped up at the sound of Harry Potter (though I will have to give it to him, he looked cute in his first movie and then become like a gwaky teenager undergoing puberty). The only character that has been deemed acceptable and I find quite pleasurable imaging when re-reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is Darcy acted by Colin Firth.

Now on to my plea to the Indian education board...I completely and truly understand the importance of the Indian freedom struggle and our fight for independence but we have much more interesting history which will be easily forgotten if not taught in more detail and with greater passion in our schools. So a little less freedom struggle and a bit more Cheras, Cholas, Pandiyas and Pallavas in a similar captivating style as Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan will be perfect. Or maybe even a slight taste of global history such as the World Wars, German history describing the life and times a charismatic but mentally retarded leader, Adolf Hitler.

Stills from the movie Raja Raja Chola, 1973 starring Nadigar Thilagam Shivaji Ganeshan: