Thamizhachi Aandaal

If anyone can read the title correctly at first go, well, you do know your way around tanglish for sure. When the Aandal controversy, kindled by the pompous and arrogant ass of the movie song lyricist Vairamuthu, was at its peak, probably that was the trigger point for this series or maybe it was initially on the pipeline and its release was a mere co-incidence, I would never know. But this story about Aandal starting from the time of her birth and events preceding it has been progressing beautifully in the tamil weekly magazine Kumudham. Every week, I eagerly watch out for this particular piece, written by Priya Kalyanaraman, on that magazine. I’ve been a big time fan of this author for his previous work about temples and stories associated with them. Not sure if it had come out in book format, but it would serve as a fantastic guide to know about south Indian, especially Temples of TamilNadu, for any casual tourist, or those on pilgrimage, as it tells the story of origin for each of those temples in a simple and casual format along with the deities, way of worship along with route map for the location as well.

Coming back to the series, “Thamizhachi Aandal”, is a pleasant read for the sheer casualness associated with it. It encompasses not just the devotional aspect but solely from a girl child’s point of view. The conversations that happen between Aandal and her dad and the story telling sessions between her and her mom has driven the story till now. Such is the beauty of the word play that, in many a places, it would be really heartwarming and touching. The dialogues written as spoken by baby Aandal are so sweet and yet profound that, it brings out a genial yet gentle kid, querying her parents and the sweetness with which the proud parents respond has been brought out beautifully. You could sense the glee with which the kid cross questions them and cross references across previous stories and it takes you right into the setup. Plus the “Paasuram” in chaste yet simple to follow tamil. It’s such a delight to read through the series and hope that it comes out as a book sometime pretty soon.