NAMAKKAL: After remaining aloof for more than a year, Perumal Murugan, the author of ‘controversial’ novel Madhorubhagan, is set to hog the limelight again, with a collection of essays penned by his students set to be released in the third week of April.
It is a collection of 42 essays written by his loyal students apparently eulogising their teacher’s service to the student community. Maybe an attempt to purge the Kongu Chronicler of the aspersions cast on him, following the fiery protests against Madhorubhagan in early 2015.
The book titled Engal Aiyya (Our Teacher) is published by the Kalachuvadu Publications.
“We are going to publish the collection of essays written by Murugan’s students. It will have 42 essays,” Kannan Sundaram, the publisher of Kalachuvadu Publications, told Express.
The book release is scheduled to be held at the ICSA Centre at Egmore in Chennai, on April 23.
The secretary of Tamil Development and Information Department, Udayachandran, is expected to release the first copy, which will be received by Sahitya Academy award winning writer Su Venkatesan.
Murugan, the author of several novels and compilations, was forced to leave his home town in Namakkal in January last year after coming under attack from certain forces over his portrayal of an ancient custom believed to be in vogue during a temple festival in Thiruchengode in Madhorubhagan, which was translated into English as ‘One Part Woman’.
The attack was so overbearing that he could do nothing to protect him, but tender an ‘unconditional apology’ under inimical situation during a much criticised ‘peace meeting’ called by a top government official in Namakkal district.
Subsequently, the author renounced his literary pursuit announcing that the “writer in him was dead”.
He left his home town to lead a secluded career in Chennai, serving as a faculty in the Tamil Department of the Presidency College.
In this background, a few of his students have come forward, to author essays aiming at showing him in good stead and highlighting how he has been helping his students to develop themselves and scale new heights as a teacher of Tamil in certain colleges.
“Some of Ayya’s students have clinched the highly competitive civil services examinations and become IAS officers. He showed the way to develop a better career, apart from teaching what is prescribed in the textbooks,” said Nallusamy, a student who supported Murugan in his hard days.