Category Archives: Autobiography

An Autobiography

Incidentally, no other Tamil district town, as far as I know, has such a well-built cultural and literary meeting place and in this Salem stands out as a unique society of much literary merit.

There was one more literary meet in Salem.This time it was the invitation of a leading figure in the Salem literary and social circles, Mr. Ezhugnayiru, (a retired Tahsildar) a devoted writer and poet and now widely known, as a patron and promoter of young talents in diver fields. A rare person he must be and Mr. Ezhugnayiru is such a rare personality.

He runs a literary trust that in a unique sort of way, concentrates spotting talents in diverse fields, young men and women who have excelled in some special skills or public service and also older people, couples who have done honest work in their lives. What impressed me was his self-effacing nature.

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Thoughts on class structure, material wealth and cultural attainments.

Creative ideas, creative energy that keeps my enthusiasms alive!

As soon as I finished typing this essay I went out and put on Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony by Herbert Von Karajan. What an impact it made on me, on my mood! There was this sudden reaction and a sobering mood. This beautiful music by such a disciplined orchestra, such people, such culture and a country given to such high philosophies was once a country that also gave rise to Hitler and so much misery to itself and mankind. As I was listening to the music I was also seized of the Israeli bombing of Lebanon and the devastation of the Lebanese people.

So, I was also gripped by a sense of disbelief, in the capacity of all of us to live a more meaningful life and create a safer world. So, it is not just the outward symbols of plenty but also the inward poverty of mind of man that affects me, my way of life.

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My interests, concerns, tastes and temperaments!

Freedoms of man, my critical core belief.

I can’t pretend to be other than what I am!

What am I? Who am I?

Such a question or questions can be posed as a plain simple self-questioning at a more pedestrian life. Or, such a question can be taken more seriously at a more philosophical level. The two levels interest me!

Yes, mere existence or to use a more heavy, philosophical-sounding “existential” questions, the way we live, the way we go about, the way we believe or do’ things’ the more material world of life and living interests me as much as the more sustained self-questioning that comes with a philosophical bent of mind. The subject of what interest me might range over wider areas of one’s life, one’s interests and one’s learning and much more challengingly what one had gone through life, the battles fought and lost and won! Yes, such thoughts and such experiences in this bad world only shape one’s outlook on life and world. I don’t see myself only in one dimension; there are many dimensions to my life and so many wider interests too!

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