About

A birth centenary dedication to Thija

The famous Tamil writer Late T. Janakiraman, popularly known as Thija, is our maternal grandfather.  We did not have a chance to meet him but luckily for us, amma read out his stories even as we grew up in a largely Telugu speaking family. As amma read, we gathered around her, laughing, sometimes choking with emotion and enjoying every bit of the world of colourful characters and the contexts he brought alive in his stories. Thija’s short stories are conversational and easily understood. We delighted in  stories like, “Paappaavukku parisu“, “Sappadu Pottu…“, “Sakti Vaidyam“, “Kalli“, “Silirpu” and so many others. Listening to these stories brought us close to him as we imagined his thoughts and reasons for crafting a story, their social context and the unforgettable characters.

This humble endeavor of ours, on the occasion of his birth centenary, is to share our delight with people like us – who can speak and understand Tamil but are not fluent in reading. The stories are read by our amma, his daughter Uma Shankari. There are several others who have read his stories too, but there is no single website where you can listen to most of his stories.  For the readings, we have curated a list of audio readings of both popular and the not-so-popular ones in an attempt to showcase his vast repertoire. Once a week a story will be read, followed by a short discussion about what we liked in the story.

We know there are many amongst the readers of Thija who delight in his writings and love to discuss his stories and characters. If after reading a story you thought, ‘I wish my children/friend/ partner could also read Tamil and enjoy Thija and share these feelings he provokes’, please do share this blog with that someone so that they can listen to and relish his stories too. 

This project is dedicated to Thija thatha for introducing us to a wonderful and thought-provoking world through his stories.

– Samyuktha and Lakshmi