I read this book for the first time when I was in grad school. I was thrilled that the school library had tamizh books and went to the remote corner of Memorial library in search of this book. The scary thing about Memorial library is to save space, the book shelves are mounted on a system that stacks them close together. They actually move close together. You have to push a switch to make a gap between two rows and get in and fetch the book. The risk of getting squished between stacks was none, but nevertheless it was scary.
Anyway, I read the book over two semesters and found it pretty entertaining. Last time I was in India I found these bound volumes of the book. Someone had taken pains to collect the story every week as it appeared in Kalki, waited patiently for probably a couple of years and then took the collection to the binding store and made a book out of it. So the book that I have is from the 60s and has a lot of extra pages from the Kalki magazine of those times. There are these funny ads in the pages for cinthol soap, dunlop cushions etc. They are all worded funny. It is incredible to see how much advertising has changed over decades.
Reading from the book is like going back in time and reading the story. More than the story or the fact that you can buy the entire set for Rs 500, this book made from the pages of Kalki is a treasure in itself.
Anyway, I read the book over two semesters and found it pretty entertaining. Last time I was in India I found these bound volumes of the book. Someone had taken pains to collect the story every week as it appeared in Kalki, waited patiently for probably a couple of years and then took the collection to the binding store and made a book out of it. So the book that I have is from the 60s and has a lot of extra pages from the Kalki magazine of those times. There are these funny ads in the pages for cinthol soap, dunlop cushions etc. They are all worded funny. It is incredible to see how much advertising has changed over decades.
Reading from the book is like going back in time and reading the story. More than the story or the fact that you can buy the entire set for Rs 500, this book made from the pages of Kalki is a treasure in itself.
15 comments:
Indha vaatiyavadhu aditya coal legger eppadi sethaar nu kandupidichiya? :)
ippo thaan vandhiyathevan kundavai meet panrar...innum coal legger'e varalai..but isn't that a mystery even historically.
sowmya,
dont u get a the book - paper back . i know it was a sirukathai series. but i thought u get it as a book
you do get the paperback, but this vintage collection has its own charm :-)with pages from kalki magazine etc and i also think it has more illustrations to go with the story than the paperback.
Hi Sowmya..
Mmmmmm I remember the coool space saver shelves of Memorial Library :--)
Played with it, experimented with it too :-)
We bought the Ponniyin Selvan book while in India last year, yet to read it, stashed away in a corner just like many of my 'to-read' books :--(
yeah....My dad did the same thing...bind that copy from Kalki..
and prolly it was one of the very few tamil novels that I enjoyed reading..
I fell so much in love with the characters of tht guy vandhiya thevan and the queen he falls in love with(Kunthavai??)
gosh...I shud prolly try to get hold of that book again..:-)
SK, you should read it. you will surely like it.
gi, it was the only book that i could discuss with a lot of my relatives from the previous generation. they would all get excited and tell their favorite parts and somehow would be able to relate to me more because I had read the book.
The marvellous thing about that book (actually it's an epic) is the moment you finish it, you can start again at the beginning and Kalki would still rivet your attention. I've read it some 5 times, and yes, I too had one old bound version. That is a lot better than the novel alone as a book. Plus, the old series as it came in the magazine has better caricatures every episode.
Since I can't read tamizh properly, I went got the translated version. Its pretty gripping but I guess its nothing like the original. I fell in love with vandiyatheven and I have been threatening my husband to name our future offspring either that or kundavai :)
Hi, I am new to your blog, i blog hopped, skipped and jumped my way to you :)
jinguchakka, the bound version sure has more illustraions!
the inquisitive akka, I haven't read the translation, but I am sure the original is better. Thanks for hopping by!
hi i would love to discuss abt novels.i am new to ur blog.keep in touch
Excllent book.I first read this when i was in my 9th std ( that was when it appeared in Kalki.. and any magazines was a strict NO at our house.. so i had to sneak into my neighbour's house over the pretext of babysitting and read it there)
Later i used to try and remebr the details of the story.
Its then,(2003) i saw the paperback (tamil version) of the book at chennai-Landmark...Well.. i barely stpped myself from screaming out of exitement (like seeing a long lost friend) and bought all 5 volumes.Seeing me reading them so sincierly( as though studying for exams) my husband wanted to read as well.. but alas..
his tamil-reading-velocity is very slowly and would take him atleast next 5 years to read all the volumes( belive me i am not exaggerating)..
so what do u think he did...
..one fine eveing he came with the paperback of the same book in English.. Now.. we have 2 set of the same book..
( just as they say in hindi"EK SE BHALE DO")
There was a time for me
where i was even not allowed to have a magazine in my school years...now after reading them several times...each time i see the book in my shelf..i could not help being nostalgic..
For me this book is more than jsut a story.. its a memmory
Hi Sowmya,
The bound volumes are indeed a treasure. I lost mine unfortunately.
Are yours with Vinu's or Maniam's drawings?
Will you offer it for sale?!
Ananths
There are lot of articles (facts & fictions) regarding this novel available in ponniyin selvan yahoo groups. http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/ponniyinselvan
and the archive is also available at http://www.ponnihyinselvan.info.
There are lot of articles (facts & fictions) regarding this novel available in ponniyin selvan yahoo groups. Yahoo Groups
and the archive is also available at http://www.ponnihyinselvan.info.
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