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Neela Padmanabhan (b.1938) is a leading figure in the arena of Tamil literature, but writing in Malayalam and English too. An engineer by profession, a humanist by instinct, he has straddled the scene like a Colossus, creating novels (20), short stories (170) and poems (160) and critical essays (150) that have found warm reception from the readers. He wrested from unwilling hands recognition for the Tamil of Nanjil Nadu, a variant from the Tamil spoken in the districts of the former Madras Presidency and hence considered to be hybrid. From then on, he never looked back. His pen responded to the outpouring of a pained heart lacerated by a million wounds, troubled by a trillion aches, not necessarily his own, but of society at large. If these are not the ideal spirit of great literature, what else is!
Awards and honours (Sahitya Akademi award, Annamalai Chettiar award, Tamil Nadu Govt award, Basha Bharathi award of Central Institute of Indian languages etc) he has reaped in abundance. But, at 74, he stands at the height of his power. His thin frame and pinched face, with a flowing beard, set with burning eyes, give him the image of a Karma yogi. In fact he is just that. |
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