60’s Society in Chithira Paavai
A couple of weeks ago, I read the extremely well known Tamizh novel “Chithira Paavai”. This was written by the eminent writer, Akilan, sometime in the 60’s I think. I read novels mainly for their entertainment value - I am one of those terrible readers who is always impatient to know ‘what happens’. However, I enjoyed Chithira Paavai as much for the language and story, as I did for the window it gave me into life in Madras a.k.a Chennai at that time.
As a Madras girl, some of the stuff was really funny to me. Did you know that in the 50s, the road from Madras to Mahabalipuram was still being laid? The ‘regular’ way to travel was by boat, an overnight journey on the Adayar! Today we race to Mahabs on the swanky ECR Road in 2 hours, while the Adayar river is a stinky mess that no one in their right minds would really consider a river.
The price of a ground (a 60*40 sq.ft piece of land) with a built house, in the Mylapore Tank area, was about Rs. 50,000. Shock, shock, naturally - since at the rate Chennai land prices are moving these days, soon a few feet of land is all that will be available for 50K.
Many of the characters, especially the older ones, still view the city suspiciously - their rural roots are still very visible. I suppose this was the time when the first large scale migrations out of agriculture happened. That’s very clearly reflected in the novel.
Young girls wore saris, and men still wore the traditional veshti (dhoti), some even to college. While I know from my mom that even in the 70s, wearing saris to college was very common, I thought Indian men had already moved to Western clothes.
Some spoilers…
One of the main characters, Anandi agrees to marry a man she feels little for (and dislikes in some ways), because he forces a kiss on her and she has been “spoilt.” Anandi is depicted as the “ideal” Tamizh woman - graceful, soft-spoken, cautious, helpful, sacrificing, ever thoughtful of others. A reflection of the social milieu? The good thing of course is that though she goes through enormous hardship as a result of this marriage, eventually she has the courage to break it up. Commonsense and the emerging feminist stance is showcased through another character, Anandi’s friend Sarada, who declares that it is stupidity to sacrifice oneself to another’s idiocy.
In every sense, I got the feeling that we’ve come a long way.
* When a novel from the 60s could end with such a progressive declaration of Anandi walking out, I wonder why Tamizh films today persist in portraying rapists as just-too-passionate gentlemen who make everything all right when they marry the victim. Grrr.
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am a kannadiga so i read this chitra pavai’s kannada translation chitra kanye.fabulouse,fantastic.after reading the climax you will simply go in the flow of tears.the effect remain in the heart i think forever.the character anandi,annaimalai potrayed so pure and impressive one can feel only reading the novel.realy the novel goes in such a flow that you will read it at a glance.and you will came to know the fact that in such a false world we are leaving,we are taking many bulshits of this world as a inspiration for leaving a good life.one will change by many ways regardin truth of a desire.and for guys the anadi is a vertual divine inspiration and the same anna malai does with young girls.
ho god bess me to have a life partener like divine ANANDI.
Hi,
I was wondering if this book–Chithira Paavai–had been translated into English. I would love to read it but cannot read Tamil.
Thanks
Puneeta - not sure; I haven’t come across a copy anywhere. Akilan’s website - http://akilan.50megs.com/ - mentions that it was translated into many Indian languages, but I doubt that inclues English.