SAMAS' KADAL: THE VOICE OF EMPATHY FROM THE PLAIN OF APATHY

Workshop Lecture: 'Our Sea-coasts Through the Eyes
 of Maritime Artisans.'Fisheries College and Res.
 Instt., TNFU., Ponneri. Sep. 2016.

Book Review:
Samas’ KADAL:
THE VOICE OF EMPATHY FROM THE PLAIN OF APATHY

For the last ten years I have received a multitude of calls with request to find them a story on coastal people for making some TV serial or movie and I was skeptical about their interests. For, I knew what will be its fate at the end of the day. Without exception, everyone was keen on a ‘single story’ that will become a box office hit, and never the ‘complete story’.


In June 2015, a journalist from the plains approached me with a proposal of bringing the coastal people in to media focus. As our conversation continued over a couple of minutes, I got the feel that this man means it. Not that there is no literature available on fisher folks. But most of them are either distorted, mutilated or partial. And bitter enough, partial truth is far more disastrous than a blatant lie. A few coastal literature are genuine, but remain little noticed in Tamil literary space. This man called Samas has got a way with him. His dictum was empathy and the dialect he chose was humanism. And it caught up like wild fire. Middle class families made it a habit to sit around in the living room and read these episodes with the curiosity of reading a science fiction.

Samas has written 48 episodes in Dhi Indhu (Tamil) on the marine science and maritime life under the section ‘Neer Nilam Vanam’. As researcher-writer myself, I could weigh what it takes- spine breaking journeys, hard labour, unending search for finer details and, above all, genuine concern for the marginalized. And, providentially, his health has permitted him to accomplish this mission in a record time of four months! I telephoned him and said, “This is the great tribute you have paid to the fisher folks in the decennial year of Tsunami!”

On my first visit to Sivaprakash, one of my friends’ home at Madurai, it was a pleasant surprise to see a collection of 38 clippings of Samas’ episode along with some written notes for a detailed write up (he regretted over the 10 missing episodes). A man from the plains- and a Dalit writer himself- Sivaprakash was trying to form a picture of today’s coast based on Samas’ writings. This is what an empathetic writing is capable of. During these days I had to attend frequent calls from well-wishers of our coasts sounding so excited about these writings. Some were emotional. They were overwhelmed for one simple reason: Samas’ writings brought the attention they were craving for over centuries. The writing has really made history. And the daily that readily provided the space for free and fair (and bold) reporting deserves high appreciation. Alex (Publisher, Ezhuthu) says, it takes exceptional valor to record the victims’ side of the mineral mafia in southern districts. Of course, detailed reports including that of fact finding missions are available on the subject. Yet, the way Samas has brought it out in a daily like Hindu deserves commendation, says Alex. His unadulterated concern over the ill attended communities is an act of empathy, says Malathi Maithri. Something the fisher folks had been waiting for the past fifty years. They are fed up with the sympathy/ pity/ charity/ catchy political statements and elite judgments on their life. Samas has done justice to the cause of the coastal people, I believe. The focus he made on Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi and thereby inviting the attention of policy makers and political stalwarts to the coastal reality is an example of what committed journalism can do. He has tread the unfathomed sea of owes along Tamil Nadu coast and, in effect, has generated an awakening on the connection between the maritime and land life. It was only after traveling along the TN coast myself, was I able to appreciate the heaviness and vastness of the mission Samas embarked on.

Samas has generated a renewed interest among the readers in coastal literature in a way that appears casual. But the amount of energy and labour vouch for his devotion to the mission he chose. The time relevance of this series can’t be over emphasized. Instead of the TN fishermen choosing their politics, they continue to be pawns in regional and international politics. In this context, Samas’ effort assumes geo-political significance too. You may call it humanitarianism at play. As for me, this is the biggest event of its kind in Tamil maritime literary space since tsunami 2004 and Samas will be eternally remembered for this great ‘labour of love’- love for fellow being.


Vareethiah Konstantine

Samas/ Kadal /Indhu Tamil Dhisai/ 2016.