Krishnan Nambi
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இந்தப் பக்கத்தை தமிழில் வாசிக்க: கிருஷ்ணன் நம்பி
Krishnan Nambi (ஜூலை 24, 1932 - ஜூன் 16, 1976), is a writer who had written short stories in Tamil language. He had also written literature for children. His language diction is soft and teasing. He and Sundara Ramaswamy were known as the Literary twins. His stories construct the inner world within children with subtlety.
Birth and Education
Krishnan Nambi's original name is Azhagiya Nambi. He was born to Krishnayyar - Kamalatchi Ammal , on July 24, 1932 at a hamlet called Azhagiyapandiyapuram. This hamlet is situated around eight miles from the city of Nagercoil in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu state, India. He had two sisters and one brother.
Krishnan Nambi's father whose profession was agriculture, started a fertilizer business in Nagercoil in the second half of 1939. The family relocated to Nagercoil in 1940 when Krishnan Nambi was eight. In Nagercoil, he cleared his eigth standard and school final year on his second attempt. He joined intermediate at the Hindu College in Nagercoil. There he discontinued his studies as he could not clear the examination.
Private life
Krishnan Nambi started looking after his father's fertilizer business after stopping his education. On August 20, 1958, he got the job of an editor in the magazine "Navasakthi" in Madras based on the recommendation by Congress freedom fighter Kodumudi Rajagopalan. As his health continued to deteriorate in Madras, he quit the job and returned to Nagercoil. He looked after agriculture for some time. When his father fell sick, management of the fertilizer business fell on Nambi's shoulders. As the business was not doing well in Nagercoil, he shifted with family to Boothapandi in the second half of 1963 and opened a shop there. When his father's health further deteriorated, he returned to his native hamlet Azhagiyapandiyapuram.
Krishnan Nambi married Jeyalakshmi and they had three sons and two daughters namely Muralikrishnan, Raghuraman (died - 1986), Seenivasan, Kamali and Seetha.
Literary life
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Krishnan Nambi's entry into Tamil literature started 1948 via his essay titled Naattuppadalgal published in Sakthi magazine belonging to Vai. Govindan . He was sixteen years old and studying in the tenth standard at that time. His first short story that came in print was "Sudhanthira Dhinam" (1951). Krishnan Nambi's early writings were published in magazines "Santhi", "Saraswathi" which were run by Communists Tho.Mu.C Raghunathan, Va. Vijayabaskaran. Subsequently he started writing in magazines like Thamarai, Kalaimagal, Sathangai, Ananda Vikatan, Kanaiyazhi, Deepam etc.
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Krishnan Nambi wrote children songs in the magazine Kannan which was owned by the Kalaimagal company. He wrote these songs under the pseudonym of "Sasidevan". His early attempts in literature were mostly in the genre of children songs. Krishnan Nambi's first short story "Sudhanthira Dhinam" was published in August, 1951 in the Independance day issue of Saraswathi the magazine which was started by Va. Vijayabaskaran. Krishnan Nambi has written around eleven children poems in Saraswathi.
In 1965, Tamil Puthagalayam compiled thirty nine of Krishnan Nambi's children songs and released the edition with an introduction by Azha. Valliappan. The book was titled "Yanai enna yanai"
Krishnan Nambi is supposed to have started writing the story "Neelakkadal" at the age of eighteen and completed at the age of twenty eight. The story was published in the Saraswathi magazine in the year 1961. Sundara Ramaswamy has said "This story is the one closest to his heart"
After a long interval, in 1995, Sneha publications came out with a compilation (Krishnan Nambi kathaigal) of 19 stories picked out from the earlier compilations Kalai mudhal and Neelakkadal.
The twenty five year friendship between Krishnan Nambi and Sundara Ramaswamy started around the time when the latter published "Puthumai Pithan Ninavu Malar". They both were known to be as close as twins. Sundara Ramaswamy has written a memoir on Krishnan Nambi.
Death
Krishnan Nambi's left leg was amputated in 1974 due to cancer. He lived for another one and half years. His lungs were affected and on the morning of June 16, 1974 , he passed away in Mathias hospital in Nagercoil. He was forty four years of age at the time.
Aesthetics in Literary works
"I am one of the persons who ruin their worldly life living in imagination and prattling beautiful dreams. But I don't have any trace of self-pity in this" was Krishnan Nambi's assessment of himself. Sundara Ramaswamy says Krishnan Nambi's literary life as a journey that was terminated mid-way. Krishnan Nambi had dabbled with all forms of literature like short stories, poems, children songs, essays, literary notes, prefaces and letters. According to critic R.V, Krishnan Nambi's strength is in depicting the internal struggles of men who have failed in life. This comes out clearly in all the stories that are considered to be his best. Krishnan Nambi's story world is a world of scarcity. There are few happy people in it. Nambi's second strength is in his description of children. His ability to bring out their refreshing nature and their cruelty.
Sundara Ramaswamy was Krishnan Nambi's close friend from 1952 until Nambi's final days. He has written a good introduction to Krishnan Nambi in the "Indhiya Ilakkya Sirppigal" a series of books published by Sahitya Akademi. He was more excited to advertise the criticisms against him than the praises. He did not have the habit of writing for a length of time without break. He had the nature of putting lot of thought, delaying and postponing before sitting down to write one day. Hence, he could write very little only. "The desire to create quality works was triggering him continually" says Sundara Ramaswamy. Writer Ka.Na.Su writes, "Though he had attained good quality in his short stories, he could not improve beyond the level he had reached due to his progressive thought process". The short story "Thanga oru" written by Krishnan Nambi is considered to be the first magical realism creation in Tamil language.
Work
Essays
- Folk songs - Essays - 1948
Children literature
- Yaanai enna yaanai? - Children songs - 1965
Short stories
- Kaalaimudhal - Short stories collection
- Neelakkadal - Short stories collection - 1961
- Marumagal Vakku - Short story - 1974
- Krishnan Nambi kathaigal - 1995 - Sneha publications (selection of nineteen stories from two short story collections , Kaalai mudhal and Neelakkadal)
Complete collection
- Krishnan Nambi aakkangal - 2009 - Rajamarthandan (Editor) - Kalachuvadu publications
Biography, Memoirs
- Krishnan Nambi - Ninaivodai (2003)
