Cut-outs, Caste and Cine Stars
by Vaasanthi
Cut-outs, Caste and Cine Stars
by Vaasanthi
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Language: English
Pages: 299
Introduction
I got to write this book quite by accident. It would not have occurred to me write in English, in the first place. I have been writing in Tamil for quite some time, and worked as the editor of the Tamil edition of India Today magazine for nine of the most exciting years of my writing career. It was David Davidar who flung down the gauntlet most unexpectedly when I met him two years ago at his office in New Delhi. As I was casually narrating to him my journalistic experiences in Tamil Nadu, he suddenly asked me, 'Why don't you write about the oddities of Tamil Nadu politics for Penguin?' I was not prepared for such a proposal and therefore did not know what to say. 'There has been no such book written as yet,' he insisted. 'I cannot write an academic book,' I said, horrified at the thought of a voluminous book with footnotes. 'We do not want academic stuff,' he said, 'Write from your experiences as a journalist.'
So in a moment of weakness I agreed to write. Though the subject has always fascinated me, it was challenging. I was a Tamil writer and journalist who had always lived outside Tamil Nadu until I went to Chennai for the India Today assignment. I had grown up entirely in Bangalore at my grandparents house, and visited Tamil Nadu frequently to attend weddings of my numerous cousins, who mostly lived in Chennai, and every summer also to visit my parents who lived further south, in a small town, kovilpatti, near Ettayapuram, the birth place of poet Subramanya Bharati.
I have long nursed a great fascination for Tamil Nadu the splash of colour and vibrancy that saw in the attire of Tamil women, the glitter of jewellery, the heady smell of jasmine adorning the hair, was all v
Pages: 299
Introduction
I got to write this book quite by accident. It would not have occurred to me write in English, in the first place. I have been writing in Tamil for quite some time, and worked as the editor of the Tamil edition of India Today magazine for nine of the most exciting years of my writing career. It was David Davidar who flung down the gauntlet most unexpectedly when I met him two years ago at his office in New Delhi. As I was casually narrating to him my journalistic experiences in Tamil Nadu, he suddenly asked me, 'Why don't you write about the oddities of Tamil Nadu politics for Penguin?' I was not prepared for such a proposal and therefore did not know what to say. 'There has been no such book written as yet,' he insisted. 'I cannot write an academic book,' I said, horrified at the thought of a voluminous book with footnotes. 'We do not want academic stuff,' he said, 'Write from your experiences as a journalist.'
So in a moment of weakness I agreed to write. Though the subject has always fascinated me, it was challenging. I was a Tamil writer and journalist who had always lived outside Tamil Nadu until I went to Chennai for the India Today assignment. I had grown up entirely in Bangalore at my grandparents house, and visited Tamil Nadu frequently to attend weddings of my numerous cousins, who mostly lived in Chennai, and every summer also to visit my parents who lived further south, in a small town, kovilpatti, near Ettayapuram, the birth place of poet Subramanya Bharati.
I have long nursed a great fascination for Tamil Nadu the splash of colour and vibrancy that saw in the attire of Tamil women, the glitter of jewellery, the heady smell of jasmine adorning the hair, was all v
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Paperback
ISBN13: 9780143063124
Penguin Books, 2008