THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Cooperation Minister G Sudhakaran released a collection of verse written by the late M P Appan at a function held at VJT Hall on Tuesday. Food and Civil Supplies Minister C Divakaran inaugurated the function at 5 pm, when the hall was packed by admirers and acquaintances of the remarkable personality. The collection, ‘Amritabindukkal’, which has 501 poems by the great writer, has been brought out by the Sahithya Pravarthaka Sahakarana Sangham (SPSS).
Divakaran, who was a student of the poet at the SMV School, shared fond memories about the dear teacher who made poetic elucidation of mathematics.
“I adore M P Appan the person more than his poetry”, he said while remembering that the poet harboured a simple yet enlightened soul.
George Onakkoor, who now heads the publication committee of SPSS, while welcoming the audience, said that M P Appan had developed the sonnet as a major genre in Malayalam literature.
Puthussery Ramachandran introduced the book to the audience and shared his memories about the late writer.
He said that he considered the duty bestowed on him to write a preface to the collection as a golden opportunity to study the poet and his works in depth. He added that Appan was a poet who lived and wrote in an age pervaded by the dominating influence of Changampuzha and yet maintained a style of writing with a stamp of individuality.
The collection also has translated works by the poet among which ‘Rubbaiyath’ has been acclaimed as one of the best Malayalam translations ever done of the work, “even surpassing that of Changapumzha”, according to Ramachandran.
M P Ayyappan, the writer’s son, said that the poet had left behind him a pile of almost 1,500 poems, published and unpublished. “It was Kuryas Kumbalakuzhi, former director of Bala Sahithya Intitute, who sifted through the drafts and selected the 501 poems in the collection,” he said.
The first copy of the book was handed over to cardiologist Dr G Vijayaraghavan. G Karthikeyan spoke on the occasion.
trivandrum@expressbuzz.com