"A person sitting next to you has a story that you don’t know anything about" ❤️

Shreekumar Varma

Author, Blogger, Critic, Columnist, playwright, poet

On Song @ The 13th Edition of the TG Narayanan Endowment Lecture

Today | 5th December 2024 | CMS Auditorium

Mr. Shreekumar Varma releasing Cornucopia

An eminent MCC-ian of the 70s, Shreekumar Varma, [who had his schooling in MCC School, Chetpet, and later went on to do his BA, MA and MPhil in English at Madras Christian College, and also taught in the Dept of English for one year] – was the speaker for the 13th Edition of the TG Narayanan Endowment Lecture today.

He spoke on the topic, ‘Writing to Live: Stories within Stories’.

Here goes –

Dr. Manohar Samuel, my classmate in BA and MA, Dr. Franklin, the gracious young man then, who remains gracious even today, Dr. Ganesh, Mr. Keshav, an active Alumni member, the grandguru – Prof. Cherian Kurian, my MA English classmate - Mr. Kantharaj Jude Sekar, IFS, Director General of Forests, New Delhi, (Retd), my BA Classmate – Anand Ponniah, who was responsible for ‘driving’ me here today and to all my good friends... and I have a special word of appreciation for the excellent rendition of the State Anthem of Tamil Nadu - thamizh thaai vazhthu by the Dept Choir. 

I first stepped into this beautiful campus 50 years ago, and I did my PUC, BA, MA, and then  went to Bombay – I was a journalist – I came back did my MPhil for one year, and afterwards I was called back to teach English Literature in the Dept of English.

Two weeks ago, there was a book release – that had a lot of old faces from MCC around me – and there was this girl – who is now a famous film director, who was an assistant to Maniratnam, and who later went on to do her own films, and now she’s done a serial too. She came up to me and said, Sir, you were the one responsible for my interest in creative writing. It’s an amazing thrill that you feel – any teacher feels – when a student comes back and tells you that!

And this is what we do! You take stories from someone else and pass it on to others. This is what we do in class, and this is what a writer does as well.

Beyond the rhetoric and intellectual and critical discourse, there is the very core of our literary pursuit that we often tend to forget: The story. 

Not the story in the book, but the stories of the world and the stories of you and me – without which the story in the book would be orphaned.

Mr. Shreekumar Varma on Song...

There are two ways of writing –

Doing the done thing all over again. You follow the masters – whether it’s literature, or architecture, or mathematics or public administration. In the case of literature, if you are a writer, you study the great writers, the thinkers, the classical masters the modern writers, and then you write a beautiful poem, novel, play or essay that will fit the same mould, flow in the same waters, and be true to what you were taught.

Then there is the second way – the yet to be done thing that you create.

You read the masters, you research a field, you look around and see the people, the neighbourhood, and finally, you look within yourself to find the story that needs to be written by you.

In the second case, you know your art. But when you begin your creation you do according to your experience, your mind, your heart, or rules. It may have been done before, but the world sees a difference in it – a creativity, a freshness, a new quality that can be named after you!

I’ll give you an example. I will show you two pictures – both are self portraits by Picasso the Artist. The first one was painted by him – his self-portrait when he was 15 years old, in the year 1896. He must have studied the masters, and wanted to paint a lot when he was young.

Then he grew and he grew and he grew. Out came cubism. The masterstroke of Pablo Picasso. And then when he was 90 years old, he painted his last self-portrait.

The first and the last...

Now just imagine if he had painted this self-portrait the first time. Would he have got this recognition. They’d have called it nonsense.

He studied the masters, had his creativity, went into the route which no one else had taken, led these people through that path and showed them what he’s capable of. And cubism is a recognised, big part of the art scene today.

That’s because you have to learn to be simple. You have to learn everything else to be able to know yourself. Your art grows within you, watered by the stories around you, and the stories that came before you.

Many of you must have been familiar with Arunagirinathar - a Tamil saint and poet who lived in the 15th century and is known for his devotional hymns to Lord Murugan.

There are a couple of stories about his life – one miraculous and the other, more matter of fact.

In the film version, Lord Murugan appears before him, and Arunagirinathar (played by TMS) asks him, what should I do to attain you, my Lord?

Lord Murugan simply replies, Chumma iru. (do Nothing). It means, be still.

That doesn’t actually mean do nothing. It means, you have to look at the world, study everything, you have to go through that process. You cant simply paint your last portrait and say, this is me!

You have to go through all that. Only then your path will be recognised.

So that I think, being still, is the primary way to what’s lying inside you. There’s so much within you.

Each of us – sitting here – looking and admiring other people’s works, movies, reading books, new discoveries, you have so much to offer, if only you look within yourself and see the stories around you.

In an art school for example, the students are taken on little excursions and told to paint what they see! - the trees, the skies, the birds, the flowers, the animals, etc.

They are also taught the techniques of art and the process through which a thought or an idea can be turned into a piece of art.

In the study of literature, that little excursion of discoveries would be about stories.

Along with our own personal stories, our most important stories include those of our families, our friends, our neighbours and our colleagues.

Two, three, four decades from now – those college friends, with whom you are sitting today! Just look at them and see, how much of friendship there is now, and how much of friendship was there in the past! will they be sitting with you today like the way my friends are sitting here. Those are the stories. 

A person sitting next to you has a story that you don’t know anything about. Those are the stories you grow up with. And that energises you – while you are learning all these technical things – the intellectual discourses and critical studies, etc.

The more stories we have, the more we can understand other people and the world. The more we understand and welcome, the less we will condemn and reject. And this an important lesson for a writer.

More than any creative writing techniques or templates, this is the important thing – to understand and try to get into the mind of another. In my life, the process began with my years in this college. The train rides, the people I met, my fellow students, my teachers – everyone had a story. I only had to listen. And because I listened, my own story was enriched.

And then I became a journalist in Bombay. Imagine the number of stories I was exposed to.

So many interviews added more and more stories. And in Bombay I also worked in a magazine run by the film industry. So I can go anywhere – any film party, any shooting, go and interview any producer, director, and so during that time I was in close contact with the story tellers, the actors, the musicians.

And I was getting my dose of life in various forms. Most important thing is – life is a changeable thing. It doesn’t stay the same forever. We are constantly evolving and our stories are growing. 

We are a work-in-progress, until the day we die. We are not finished products. That’s one of the most important things for a writer to learn. That’s why you find this self-portrait of Picasso when he was 15 and that one when he was 90. When you can trace the first book of an author and find the progress when you read the last book of his.

Everybody has a story. For example, Charles Dickens earned money to get his father out of prison. At twelve, he worked in a shoe-polish factory, and you know what he wrote. Whatever you experience goes into your creativity.

Ken Kesey, who wrote his novel titled, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1962, was janitor in a mental hospital. The novel is also set in an Oregon psychiatric hospital, and the narrative serves as a study of institutional processes and the human mind, including a critique of psychiatry, and a tribute to individualistic principles.

What he experienced went into his creativity.

Perumal Murugan, closer home, born into a family of farmers in Tiruchengodu – his father was a farmer and so he couldn’t earn enough to support his family. So he ran a soda shop in a cinema theatre in Namakkal district. And Murugan became a Professor in Tamil Literature. See the deadly combination of theory and the lived life which is obvious in his writings.

To be continued…

Our Lovely Band of Professors - Past & Present

The lecture was well-attended by all our students, and faculty and students from other city colleges as well.

The Q & A Session was highly engaging with thought-provoking questions donning the post-lecture session.

Student authors including Shreya, Lekhaa, Ganga Santhosh and Gracelin were honoured by Mr. Shreekumar Varma. He also took a photograph with them.

Cornucopia, the exclusive Literary Magazine of the Dept of English, designed by Prof. Christina Dhanasekaran a.k.a. DeeCee was released by Mr. Varma on the occasion.

A host of our past professors and former Heads of Department graced the occasion – including Dr. Mekala Rajan, Dr. Ganesh, Dr. Azhagarasan, Head, Dept of English, University of Madras, and other luminaries. 

Our Vibrant Student Authors with Author Shreekumar Varma

Dr. Franklin Daniel, Head, Department of English, was at his wittiest best, while welcoming the gathering - that had us all in splits – setting forth the tone and the tenor for what’s to follow.

Dr. Rufus while introducing Mr. Shreekumar Varma, was highly appreciative of his friends who’ve been with him right from his school days in the 1960s up until today – seated proudly in the first row to listen to their classmate’s lecture. He then quoted from Mr. Varma’s blog (thinkopotamus.blogspot.com) – On his tryst with writing.

Here goes – (from Mr. Shreekumar Varma’s Blogpost)

Sensitivity and a sense of self does strange things to you sometimes. You are aware that you - this being on two legs, seeing the world through two small pin- holes in your face - are living an entire life, making things happen and impinging on other people’s lives. One day, you’ll close those eyes forever, and life as you know it will end.

My wife says that I get so involved in my writing that I reflect every emotion I write about. She’s wary about my subjects and gets jittery when I write dark events.

Invariably, some of it seeps into real life. My third play, Platform, lay waiting for some months before a director picked it up.

The play was appreciated and drew some brilliant performances. During the cast party at the director’s house one rainy afternoon, the male lead (who’s now gone on to do feature films) took me aside.

He said, “I’ve been wanting to tell you this for some time. It’s amazing, there’s such a marked resemblance between my life and that of the character you wrote for me. No one knows that part of me, but you’ve been so accurate!”

I patiently explained to him that I hadn’t written the character for him. I hadn’t even known who was going to direct the play, much less who was going to act in it!

After the Lecture - Meeting with our I MA Students

I have now got used to the fact that my writing may precipitate or reflect events without any help from me. I’ve come across people who’ve lived the lives and moments that I’ve described while sitting in the privacy of my room. I think creativity is a link between ourselves and the universe. What awakens in us might have gone to sleep in some part of the universe, or vice-versa, quoted Dr. Rufus, from Mr. Shreekumar Varma’s blogpost.

Overall, the programme was highly rewarding in every way to all of us who had gathered together to listen to our own fellow MCC-ian!

Viva la MCC!

Photos Courtesy: Therese Maria | Painting Courtesy: rarehistoricalphotosdotcom