Loss of a crest jewel

Eminent Tamil short story writer Chudamani Raghavan's passing is a great loss to the Indian literary scene. C.S. Lakshmi, a close associate and Tamil scholar, reflects on their relationship which grew from a love for life and literature…

She was not unused to physical pain. She had endured a lot in her life and yet when I saw her emaciated body put on a ventilator, I felt she did not deserve this final indignity of clinical imprisonment in an intensive care unit. Sometimes our love for a person makes us do what is advised by doctors as best for them and there is no way this dilemma can be resolved. And I am sure she understood the love and affection that lay beneath these decisions.

She was that kind of a person. In this instance also she surrendered herself to whatever medical treatment was given to her with no complaints. When I bent down and called out her name on the day when she was semi-conscious, she opened those soulful eyes of hers and they slowly filled with tears. I knew the tears were for me; for the deep friendship we shared. It was her way of saying, “Good bye, take care and keep writing.” At least that is what I would like to think for whenever we met, even when she was ill or otherwise busy, she would always ask me what I was writing. She belonged to that era of writers who had great grace and warmth for fellow-writers. My friend, the well-known Tamil writer R. Chudamani, whom I have known for the last forty-five years, breathed her last in the early morning hours of September 13. Come January she would have been eighty.

Full report here Hindu

Challenging the stereotyped woman

Tamil fiction writer C.S. Lakshmi shares with S.S.KAVITHA tips on feminism

The reddish maroon sari, her silky grey hair and the quavering voice lends that unpretentious look to her exuding confidence. When she opens her mouth, she speaks her heart out much like the characters in her fiction. And, that is what sets her apart.

Popular under the pseudonym Ambai, C.S.Lakshmi is a distinguished fiction writer in Tamil. Her works are characterized by a passionate siding with the cause for women and humour. Her profound style is in touch with reality. She is the only Tamil writer to have been included in the recently published Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature edited by Amit Chaudhuri. She is also the founder-trustee and director of SPARROW (Sound and Picture Archives for Research on Women).

Full report here Hindu

SPARROW flies high

Author and researcher C.S. Lakshmi talks about Sound and Picture Archives for Research on Women and the “Songs of Sorrow, Songs of Joy” raffle to be held in Mumbai next week to raise funds for the institution. 

“When SPARROW was started in 1988…it was in my bedroom. So there was a great need to rent space. And, you know, in Mumbai, renting is very expensive.”

The voice quavers slightly as C.S. Lakshmi, (known in the world of Tamil literature as Ambai) writer and director of SPARROW (Sound and Picture Archives for Research on Women), describes its beginnings. Dressed unostentatiously in a cobalt-blue salwar kameez, with a matching bindi and a halo of short silvery hair, Lakshmi exudes a passion for her cause. “In 1992, we organised a painting exhibition where we invited several artists. From this exhibition we raised some money… not much. It was the first time we organised an exhibition of its kind…The artists were very generous; they donated very generously.”

Need for funds
Things have come full circle; there is a need for funds once more. “Recently, in 2008, SPARROW acquired a building of its own and we have spent the entire corpus that we had. ‘Songs of Sorrow, Songs of Joy' is a charity raffle in aid of a corpus fund for SPARROW to be held on March 8. I have a friend who owns a gallery and who is also an event manager, Anupa Mehta, who conceived the idea of inviting only women painters… she contacted the artists and arranged everything. It is basically a way of artists coming together to support a women's organisation.”

Full report here The Hindu