CHENNAI: “Have you seen a student of Chemistry laugh or a Physics student cry, reading their syllabus? It’s a luxury reserved for students of literature,” said Tamil writer Imayam, speaking at the silver jubilee celebration of his book Koveru Kazhudaigal (translated to English as ‘Beasts of Burden’ that he wrote when he was 19.)
The celebration was held in his honour by the English Department of the University of Madras.
Speaking to the students, he said, “Only literature has the power to make you fall in love with a person you have never met – to feel sympathetic towards his plight, to root for him. For this you read and for this, I write.”
The book, which was the first of five novels that he has written so far, traces the life of a Dalit washerwoman and her struggle to save a community of agricultural labourers. The book is being digitised by the University of Chicago and Columbia University. He attributes the book to the words of an old professor who said, “Write what you know.”