Its a long time I wanted to write this, but was too busy to do it. Hope you all remember the mention of 100 year old books obtained from Devakottai, by our beloved friend Venkatesh.
He invited us for a splendid breakfast meeting a couple of weeks back, thanks to his wife, who literally gave us a chettinadu feast. SPS, Swetha, Muruganandam, Sivaram and I and later Chandra dropped to look at the books. After the lavish breakfast and heated debates, we took whatever books we needed.Also heard Natarajan and VK also dropped in later.
It was really a treasure trove. I am not sure about what books others took, but just giving a brief of what I got. I took nearly 10 books out of which two were published in 1887, exactly 120 years old. Whether I read it or not, when i look at those books, it really gives me a nostalgia. One of them is Seevaka sinthamani, edited by U.Ve.Sa, and is the second edition of the book. Still in very good condition. Another one is a book on saiva siddhantham. A couple of books published in 30's and others in 40's. u.ve.sa - nallurai kovai part 1 and 2, omkara vilakkam by arunagiri mudaliar, One book is Bharatiyars prose published in 1940 etc were among the collection.
The beauty is all the books are one mans collection and incidently the label says 'Arunachala chettiar' who has collected all these books.
Venkatesh has promised to get more such books and we are sure to find many unheard treasures amongst them. The page numbers are written in Tamil and its a bit difficult to follow the 'nadai' of the writers of y ester years.
Thanks a lot Venkatesh, for bringing out such treasures. Whether I read it or not, I shall atleast have them as valuable possessions :).
It would be great, if SPS, Swetha, Muruganandam,Sivaram, Chandra, VK and Natarajan share what treasures they looted from Venkatesh's house.
chandra seems to be the most motivated of the lot. he made a trip to devakottai . met my dad and sorted the books there itself. he has got some books on suddhananda bharathi who incidentally was for sometime a teacher in devakottai. it was a pleasure havingyou all over and for some one who is not allowed to have old books at home ( on account of my asthma) i am happy the books have reached owners who cherish them.