At MGR Janaki College on Monday morning, there was no loud rendition of ‘happy birthday’ for writer Indira Parthasarathy. There was instead a dignified vanakkam to the acclaimed author entering 94 years by launching the different editions English translations of his works Ramanujar and Aurangzeb — based on two towering yet vastly dissimilar characters in Indian history.
This is not to say that the celebration for the Padma Shri award-winning writer was dim. Writers, translators, politicians, all admirers of the author’s work, had gathered at the event to speak not just on themes like existentialism and extreme individualism, which are dealt with in his books. They were also there to share their personal and heartening anecdotes of a man they consider to be among the sharpest Tamil literary minds of our time.
Take for instance Member of Parliament (MP) Thamizhachi Thangapandian, a Tamil scholar and dramatist herself, who dissected Ramanujar: The Life and Ideas of Ramanuja (published by Oxford University Press) written by Parthasarathy. Fondly calling him ‘Ee.Paa.’, the politician said that the author has the ability to seamlessly raise questions regarding the political discourse of today through the lens of two diametrically opposite characters — a saint who popularised Vaishnavite philosophy and a Mughal emperor who is said to have failed his illustrious ancestors.
