A Magazine from Maddakkalapu
by K.S. Sivakumaran
Let's look at the cultural activities of the Eastern Lanka in particular around the country in general through a Thamil literary magazine (the 3rd issue) published in Maddakkalappu(Batticaloa). Its address: 19, Upstairs Road, Maddakkalappu, Sri Lanka.
Name of the magazine is Senkathir and its editor is 'Senkathiroan'
This is a special issue celebrating the International Women's Day. In the editorial there is an opinion expressed:" it is a historical fact that that only after the admixture of the Aryan influence did the Dravidian civilization embraced male dominated ideas and subjugation of women" Another pointer is that the war and tsunami had made a lot of women widows and what is being done to emancipate them is inadequate.
Maala Sabaratnam is focused as the guest of this month and her valuable contributions to the society at large is mentioned briefly. And she in her article says that the envisaged changes should begin with women. How the IWD evolved is explained by U.L.Aliyaar.There is a reproduction of a short story by Chitra Suthaharan originally published in a journal published in France. A poet of whom the rest of the island have not heard before-Thambiluvil Jega (Mrs Jegatheeswari Naathan- is introduced. Suganthi Rajakulendra, a lawyer, points out the disparity between sexes and argues that the female gender itself should fight to get its rightful rights.
There is also a write up on WERC (Women's Education Research Centre) which celebrates its silver jubilee outlining its activities.
Susi writes about Simone de Beauvoir dubbed as the Mother of Feminism.
S. Ethirmaasingham instances the role played by the Maddakkalappu Women Development Front in the area. Vasanthi Thayaparan writes under the title of Women in Offices.
A popular singer from Maddakkalapu, K. Sujeeva is featured next. She is a graduate in Carnatic music and sings in many languages including Sinhala. She is also a Bharatha Natyam dancer. I have heard her and seen her on the TV Musical programmes in Sinhala but I did not know that she is a Thamilian from the east.
There is also another short story based on the importance of women by Yogeswari Kaneshalingam.
Feminist Prof. Chitraleka Maunaguru also hails from Maddakkappu. She is the Head of the Linguistics Department at the eastern Province. She is a literary critic and author and publishers of anthologies of women poets. Her profile is featured in this issue. Her article on her forthcoming book is published in advance and in that she also lists 22 titles of Poetry by Lankan women writers in Thamil.
An article written by Shaamala Stephen is culled out from a book that speak about the position of women in general
The editor reproduces a short epic written by the late poet from the east-Neelavanan with his note.
"Feminist Thoughts in Islam" is the title of an article by Fareeda J. Sharifudeen.
Ilankovan writes about the greatness of women. Gopi has written about something that provokes amusement. The editor's poem published in" Mallikai" on the subject of the future of women is also published.
A writer and critic from Maddakkalappu is Anbuumani. He shows the changing trends in writing in his article.
N. Sridevi talks about questions that could not be answered. Using the dialect of the area there is an interesting monologue written by Mithunan. The magazine includes other brief items.
Senkathir is one of the quality literary magazines in Thamil
sivakumaranks@yahoo.com
