 SHORT
STORIES
V.N.Giritharan
Translation By: Latha Ramakrishnan
Publisher: Sneha Pathippagam
(Madras)
MY STORIES
V.N.Giritharan
Based on my own experiences as a migrant and
at the same time having the plight and problems of my country as the focal
points my writings have taken shape. As regards my Tamil writings of today
that has left its soil and survive in an alien land, it leads a life in
a world that hangs suspended, struggling to come to terms with life in
between the strange climate of the land that has given them shelter and
the memories of their motherland.
As I too belong
to this hanging suspended generation I can not help but depict the living
conditions of the land of refuge' and also the plight and perils of my
motherland. The problem of color is a very important issue that one has
to face in an immigrant existence. It is something that every immigrant
is bound to face. Our generations of tomorrow are also to undergo this
situation. So, my writings while depicting this problem should also deal
with the other issues and problems that the new situation has in store
for us. The problems of the native Indians, problems that are born out
of the economic conditions of this country, their impacts on the day-to-day
life, the condition of women, the influence that the new surroundings has
over the lives and thought-processes of our brethren, its impact on them,
the experiences that they get out of them - all these and more should be
dealt with in my stories. At the same time we are people who have come
running here forced by the ethnic problems of our land. So, we can not
help speaking on this issue again and again. There is nothing wrong in
it and it is unavoidable. Of late some of our fellow men are expressing
such views as 'the works of immigrant writers speak of nothing else save
the sorrows and problems of their motherland. But, this should not be and
that their works should also concentrate on the issues of the land in which
they've sought shelter.' The way they keep saying it, it sounds as though
stories focussing on the living conditions of the immigrant soil alone
can turn out to be works of high literary quality. These lot should understand
one thing. Qualitative writing can be on any issue. The best works born
of the Jewish writers who had borne the brunt of the Second World War have
their motherland's problems and perils as their central theme. For instance,
we can mention the famous work 'Painted Birds' written by Jersey Kosinsky,
a Polish writer of Jewish origin. The works of Kosinsky who committed suicide
in the year 1991 are controversial. In his novel 'Painted Birds' Kosinsky
describes his own experiences as a Jewish boy wandering from place to place
for four years in east European countries in the atmosphere of war. Today
this work stands out as one of the important works of English literature.
We should realize this very clearly. Kosinsky couldn't forget the impact
that the political conditions of his land had on him. And, he couldn't
refrain himself from bringing it all into his writings. My stories are
also no exception to this. I can not forget the travails and traumas of
my motherland. My stories can never escape from their grip. At the same
time I can not free myself from the clutches of my new surroundings. My
stories are bound to reflect it in its various aspects. But, even when
I reflect this new surrounding the complexion of the ethnic problem that
is eating out my motherland would surely reveal itself through all my depictions.
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