(3+7) (Q&A) WITH TAMIL POET R. CHERAN ON POETRY IN THE FACE OF OPPRESSION
The Alignist
FAMILIES OF MISSING TAMIL PEOPLE IN THE JAFFNA, SRI LANKA STAGED A PROTEST IN DECEMBER 2015 TO EXPRESS THEIR DISAPPOINTMENT WITH A PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION ON DISAPPEARANCES IN THE COUNTRY. IMAGE COURTESY OF TAMIL GUARDIAN.
BY GOWRI KONESWARAN-
The first of Tamil poet and professor R. Cheran’s escapes was in July 1979, the day the Sri Lankan government enacted the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and immediately began arresting members of the country’s second largest ethnic group -- including him and his roommates. A university student in the historic Tamil city of Jaffna at the time, he addressed the experience and some of its impacts in his poem, “Two Mornings and a Late Night.”
