Chennai Colors: N Lingusamy - Haiku Writer, Director and Producer of Tamil Movies

(Chennai Colors is a section of my blog in which I share the colors and hues of creativity from the thought leaders of the city who make our Chennai, a beautiful place to live in.)

 

Digital Art by Lingusamy

Pebbles reflect

The cutting edge power

Of the stream

 - A Haiku by Lingusamy

When the famous Tamil Movies director, producer and scriptwriter N Lingusamy called me to meet, I was sure that it would be a short curtsy visit to discuss our mutual passion of writing Haiku. But as the day went by, I realised that its going to take some time. He has a disarming charm that makes the words flow and time moved on swiftly. Our interaction went on like his words above, which some times floods the banks with its powerful surge and some times shape large boulders into beautiful sculptures. In the end, it proved out to be a wonderful sharing of thoughts with one of the creative personalities of Chennai. 

Few days earlier, I had received Director Lingusamy's call. He had heard about my own passion for Haiku from our mutual friend Ashwin of Odyssey Book Store. He wanted to have some views on his Tamil Haiku, which was translated into English by one of his friends. After the call, he sent me some of his Haiku and as I liked most of them, I was looking forward to meet him.

As we sat down to share our mutual experience on writing Haiku and discuss the beauty of world’s shortest poetry form, I could feel Director Lingusamy’s enthusiasm and focus on all things creative. He had also  called some of his colleagues and a little later his fellow Director, scriptwriter and poet - Brindha Saarthy also joined in, which made it more like a poetry session.

But before I go further, here is a little information about this very creative Chennai personality - N Lingusamy. Personally, I believe he has added a spark to the Chennai city with his smart, action oriented, story based movies which has captured the imagination of movie goers across the state.

A Brief Note about Director N Lingusamy

Narain Linguswamy made his directorial debut with the Mammootty starrer family-drama Aanandham in 2001 and followed it up with films Run (2002), Sandakozhi (2005), Paiyaa (2010) and Vettai (2012). He and his brother N. Subash Chandrabose have also produced films through his production company, Thirupathi Brothers.

Lingusamy hails from a village Lakshmipuram in Tamil Nadu. He joined as an assistant director to director A. Venkatesh for his Tamil film Mahaprabhu and followed in his next film Selva. He had also assisted Vikraman in Vaanathaippola, a family drama on brothers.

Although Lingusamy has worked in Tamil only, his films have been dubbed or been remade in other languages too. Dubbed Telugu versions of Run, Sandakozhi and Paiyaa, titled Run, Pandem Kodi and Awara, respectively, were released in Andhra Pradesh and also became commercially successful.[33][34] Aanandham was remade in 2005 as Sankranti by Muppalaneni Shiva in Telugu, while Jeeva remade Run in Hindi under the same title in 2004. His Paiyaa was remade in Bengali in 2012 as Jaaneman, while in 2013, a Telugu remake of his Vettai titled Tadakha was released.
- From Wikipedia

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As the morning progressed, I noticed the subdued beauty of the living room. Dir Lingusamy usually has his creative sessions with his team and informal discussion with his friends in this room, where many of his digital paintings added to the color. The little butterflies on the French window, opening out to the little ‘Buddha’ kind of garden gave a feeling of serenity. As an interior design professional I liked the place. I could also feel the inherent energy of the room, which I am sure added to his creative out put.

Director Lingusamy started writing his poetry from college days and without realizing that he is writing world’s most popular form of poetry -Haiku, he stuck to the style. His first Haiku, which is reproduced below, was published in a famous Tamil Magazine as well.

 

Digital Art by Lingusamy

To the Man

Ironing the cloth

Wrinkles in his belly

This Haiku was inspired by watching an old person, who was ironing shirt in the by lanes, around his college. He still remembers the day clearly, as he was spending some free time with his college friends. The image stuck in his thoughts as he realised that the old man was in the process of removing wrinkles from the clothes of others, while incapable of removing creases of poverty and deprivation from his own life.

 

An English translation of Lingusamy's Haiku is going to be published
shortly by one of the new and upcoming publisher from North Indian
"Story Mirror"

Writing Haiku is meditation for me and that’s what comes across from Lingusamy thoughts as well. During our discussion, as we shared our Haiku and creativity in general, it was quite clear that in those inspired moments of creativity, he needs to be alone. With the seed of a thought growing into a sapling of creativity, he shuts himself away from the entire hustle bustle around. He likes to be alone to focus on capturing those  images of life within his words.

 

Some of the Tamil Haiku - Translated into English

Over the years, Lingusamy has written 100s of verses and shared with me a beautiful Haiku, which was an outcome of a particular moment while he was constructing his house.

He told me that as soon as he entered the half constructed house, few of the sparrows who had made it their home, flew off in a flutter of activity…

 

Digital Art by Lingusamy

Still unfinished

Building my home

Sparrows already moved in

As the day moved on, we had a beautiful connection through our own mutual passion. Brenda Sarathy also shared some of his poems as well as explained in detail what he thought of Director Lingusamy's Tamil Haiku. After a while, I realised that Lingusamy was like a friend, with whom one can go on talking and sharing thoughts to understand our own expressions in deeper way. He was like a friend, who instinctively understands and appreciate the subtleties and depths of one's creative outpouring. Looking forward to many more such sessions of creative discussions and sharing of thoughts.

As I prepared to move on, he presented his special Edition of Haiku, to remember the lovely day spent with him. I look forward to the English Edition of his verses - Linku II.

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Some of the personalities featured in Chennai Colors section of the blog...
Dr. Anita Ratnam
Dr. Chithra Madhavan
Anitha Guha
Renie Ravin

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Shashi 

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

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IndiBlogger's Renie Ravin                        

Chennai Colors: Dr. Chithra Madhavan and 9 tips on writing about Temple Architecture and Heritage buildings

Chennai Colors V: A series about amazing and creative people of Chennai.

Dr. Chithra Madhavan - A Leading heritage historian and Authority on Temple Architecture & Heritage from Chennai adds to the colors of Chennai by revealing ancient sculptures and uncovering amazing stories found hidden in the sanctum sanatoriums of popular as well as lost Indian heritage sites.

 

Dr. Chithra Madhavan (Picture Curtsy FB)

For years, I have been attending Dr. Chithra Madhavan’s lectures due to my passion for spirituality and architecture. Recently, in the popular series ‘Writing about Arts’ curated by Apparao Gallery, Dr. Chitra Madhavan explained how to look at ancient sites and write. It was an eye opener for dozens of enthusiast like me as well as journalists and writers / bloggers, who attended the lecture. I must congratulate the Sharan Apparao of Apparao Gallery, who has conceptualised the lecture series, for consistently brining out amazing 'Chennai Outreach' programs with great speakers like Dr. Chithra Madhavan.

In this post of the series -Chennai Colors, I am featuring Dr. Chithra Madhavan, who by her sheer passion and expertise in detailing the history of temple architecture and heritage, constitutes the beautiful and rich shades of Chennai. I am happy that there are influencers like her, who have the safety and security of our ancient heritage and culture foremost in their mind. There are many online lectures of her talking about the same, so here in this post I am focusing on her capacity as a trainer/speaker, imparting essential knowledge and tools to appreciate the beauty and the rich history behind our ancient Temples. But before I take you through the number of points that she made in the learning session, here is a brief introduction about her.

Dr. Chithra Madhavan and Sharan Apparao at Hindu Lit Festival

Dr. Chithra Madhavan has a Ph.D. in Ancient History and Archaeology from the University of Mysore. She is the recipient of two Post-Doctoral Fellowships, author of seven books and several research articles. She frequently delivers public lectures on temple architecture, sculpture and inscriptions and leads heritage walks in Chennai. Chithra is guest-faculty at several institutions including Kalakshetra Foundation.

Now lets get back to her lecture on “Writing about Temple Architecture and Heritage” as Dr. Chithra Madhavan started with the basic things. 

1) In any kind of report about any specific place, art, dance or Music, the first thing is to keep audience in mind.

2) Read some background on the temple and structure etc. so that you will be able to relate to the things that you are seeing and know the historical back ground.  

3) And the last thing to remember in writing a book or an article, never write in hurry

4) If you are visiting a temple and want to write about its rich heritage and exquisite sculptures, start with the main deity as temples are essentially about God. Notice the specific deviations from the usual practice like the black mark on the forehead of Ranganatha, in Sri Ranganatha Temple, which is Kasthuri hence it is also called Kasthuri Ranganatha. A very important thing to remember is that you write what you notice immediately, preferably within the temple as you will not be able to remember everything later. Dr. Madhavan said that this important thing she learned the hard way. She remembers calling the temple priest after the visit, trying to find that one particular thing that she had noticed in the temple and it was a hard task to find that out again.

Madurai Meenakshi East Gopuram @ Shashi 2002

5) Dr. Chithra Madhavan cautioned against writing anything about a temple, architectural heritage sites etc. without visiting the place you are going to write about. Please don’t Google for information. If you need some background information on the subject you are writing, please check the libraries. She suggested that, ‘In case of Temple architecture and heritage,’ Theosophical society is the best library in Chennai.

6) Capture the flavor of the place, talk to the local people and ask them about the temple or the place. They can give you a humane story or interesting anecdotes. All sculptures are reflection of times.

7) Notice the detailing of the sculptures, structures that is the beauty of Indian Temples. While visiting Museums, read the plaque under the sculpture to know where it comes from. It will give you more understanding of its story and history.

8) Know the traditions of the temple. In every temple there’s a unique ritual. Find the same for flavor e.g. Pancha Vadya, Nalayira Divya Prabandham. Every temple has its Religious, Historical and Architectural perspective.

Finally after 2 hours of engrossing talk with beautiful pictures and lovely presentation, she went on to talk about something that has been very close to her heart i.e. upkeep of the heritage sites and its gradual destruction in name of progress and renovation.

9) She requested all of us to notice and write about the damages, shabby restoration efforts or renovations of such rich places that are treasure house of our culture and tradition.

Leaving you with a wonderful talk Dr. Chithra Madhavan gave at TEDx IIM Shilong..

Hope you have enjoyed this series of Chennai Colors...

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Shashi 

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

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Chennai Colors: Anita Ratnam            Key to South Indian Sculpture - Vijay Kumar