Hi everyone, I'm Gayathri from Malaysia and I've just joined the group a few days ago.
How did I came to know about this group? Well, I was chatting with a good friend of mine one day when the topic of Ponniyin Selvan came up. And all through the chat, my friend could be seen raving about the epic novel and its beautiful characters...while I just sat through, with my mouth open, not knowing what to reply. Truth is, I never heard about Ponniyin Selvan prior to above-said conversation and by the end of the chat, my friend came to know of my ignorance as well.
I was then lectured for hours on how I missed reading the wonderfully crafted novel. By the end of the day, I was totally intrigued with the tales of Ponniyin Selvan and like many others, I longed to read the same. But there lies a big problem...I can hardly read Tamil to save my life :( I'm a product of a mixed parentage. Thus, we hardly communicate in Tamil at home (since my mom doesn't understand a word in Tamil). My dad on the other hand, speaks fluent Tamil but has a problem in reading and writing the same. I guess, I follow my dad in this department.
Nevertheless, the idea of reading Ponniyin Selvan has always interested me from the day I heard about it. With my friends' help, I found a couple of website which had the English translation of Ponniyin Selvan...Project Madurai and our group member Ms. Pavithra's blog are the two sites which had the translation. Unfortunately, after reading two volumes, I found that the rest of the volumes have yet to be translated.
It was then I came across this group. I thought I would be able to get the rest of the translations here. I didn't of course, but then, I found out that there's a whole lot more about this great epic than the novel itself. I was deeply fascinated with the topics discussed here...religion, culture, historical evidence and even about minorities' plight. Very impressive.
What do I say? I'm truly glad to be a part of this group. I might not be much of a help with regards to topics focusing on Ponniyin Selvan (the novel) but I would love to express my thoughts on the other topics though. Hope I'm welcomed to do so here.
P.S: I found out that Ponniyin Selvan was translated in English (in the form of a book) by Mr. Karthik Narayanan. I couldn't get the books here in Malaysia. Does anyone know the best and safest website which allows us to purchase the same online? Thanks in advance.