Chinnasamy - a Poet and Police Officer
Most urban
Coimbatoreans, who have tasted cakes of steamed Tapioca
(Maravalli Kizhangu),
could have hardly seen the edible root with its beautiful leaves divided at the
top into seven forks when it is extracted from the ground. It is suitably
called ‘Eazhilai Kizhangu’ in Tamil. But, Chinnasamy, an IPS officer and
contemporary modern Tamil poet, who hails from an agricultural family at
Pullagoundenpudur in Coimbatore, has seen the tuber, fresh from the ground, that
he even titled his recent book of poems as ‘Eazhilai Kizhangin Maamisam’ (The Meat of the Tapioca).
“I call tapioca,
which is a vegetarian dish, as meat, since it is dead as soon as it is
extracted from the earth. The plant, which requires little water for its growth
and was eaten by the people during famines in Coimbatore, has become a symbol
in many of my poems” explains Chinnasamy, an innovative poet, agriculturist and
superintendent of police ( Battalion) at Manimuthar in Tirunelveli.
Chinnasamy got
introduced to the writings of Mahakavi Subramania Bharathi and Pavendar
Bharathidasan by his Tamil teacher Shanmugam while he was a student at the
Government High School, Devarayapuram near Thondamuthur.
“Also, my father
Kavingnar Vetrivelan, who is an agriculturist and poet, used to take me to
listen to a great number of Pattimandrams in my school days. Later on, when I
became an orator, I spoke even against my father’s views in a Pattimandram”
recalls the poet and police officer.
Chinnasamy, who also
edited and circulated ‘Thendral’ a hand-written literary magazine in his
student days at the Government Arts College, Coimbatore, later, kept himself off
literary activities, as he sincerely prepared
for IPS.
The poems of
Chinnasamy have been widely published in serious literary magazines like Kalachuvadu,
Theeranathi,Pudhuvisai,Yadhumaki, Neetchi and Pasumai Vikadan.
Answering a question
on how he balances to be a poet and police officer, Chinnasamy discloses:
“Writing poetry
refreshes me from great work stress. Whenever I write a new poem, I obtain a new
strength to approach the social issues afresh”
Besides, Chinnasamy
is also doing PhD on the title ‘Caste
Conflicts in Tamil Nadu-Issues & Resolutions’ at Manonmaniam Sundaranar
University in Tirunelveli.
However, the
soft-natured poet in the police officer is felt, as he writes thus in one of
his poems in his book Eazhilai Kizhangin
Maamisam:
The air-conditioned vehicle
With its blaring siren
Takes me anywhere…
A spring drips its wet drops
On the wall of my farm well
When asked about his
flair for becoming a police officer, hailing from an agriculture family,
Chinnasamy compares the similarities between the profession of a farmer and a
police officer:
“Like a farmer, who
de-weeds the ground and converts it to be a cultivable fertile land, I believe
a police officer’s duty is to eradicate crimes in the society and make it a
haven for peaceful living”
B. Meenakshi Sundaram
Link to the article in The New Indian express:
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