The Hindu Business Line : Reading market signals

In 1992, a chance meeting with R.V. Chandramohan, Managing Director of Hatsun Agro Products (that makes Arun Ice Cream), took him straight from publishing Tamil books to marketing ice creams. And Ravi Tamilvanan made quite a success of it... marketing along with ice creams, milk and even dhal! But it hardly reduced his passion for Tamil literature and publishing.

The son of Tamil writer and journalist Tamilvanan, who edited and published a children's Tamil weekly called Kalkandu — launched in 1948 and still going strong, selling one lakh copies at Rs 6 — Ravi did his B.Com from Loyola College in 1976. After that he joined a CA course and passed the Inter stage, but with his father's sudden demise in 1977, he had to give up his course and run the family publishing business, Manimekalai Publishers. But over the years, he found to his horror that interest in Tamil writing was waning and so when Chandramohan offered to make him a director at Hatson Agro, he took up the offer. "Somehow he took a liking to me... maybe my energy levels and made me an offer... and I too was looking for an alternative as the Tamil reading habit was anyway going down."

He really enjoyed his seven-year stint as a director of the agro company from 1994 to 2001. "I learnt there what the word `marketing' means! In 1992 the turnover was only Rs 14 crore; it became Rs 18 crore, 20 crore... 150, 400 and now it is Rs 450 crore. I'm not saying I did it but the growth was phenomenal and the Rs 10 lakh I invested then has now become Rs 90 lakh," he says.

That "practical experience" in marketing today helps him immensely in marketing his books overseas. "Even while marketing ice cream, milk and dhal, my publishing business continued... so in a way I was riding two horses, but it was both an interesting and satisfying experience."

Interestingly he goes to north and east Sri Lanka to popularise and market the books he publishes among the Sri Lankan Tamils. "Compared to the Tamils living in Tamil Nadu, Sri Lankan Tamils have more affinity and interest in Tamil language." He agrees that this might be because they have been fighting for a cause and "struggling for Tamil nationalism. Perhaps because of this they have been longing to catch up with their Tamil roots, and after the ethnic problem erupted they have gone all over the world... Canada, US, Europe... It's been established that whenever you go away from your motherland or mother tongue, you develop a stronger affinity to it."

He has published 250 books authored by Sri Lankan Tamils, and these include fiction, non-fiction, poetry and short stories. Only 20 per cent of the authors live in Sri Lanka, the others live abroad.

When asked if LTTE is interested in Tamil literature, Tamilvanan smiles. "Actually Prabhakaran was drawn to my father's writing; my father used to write a lot on self-improvement, how to be brave, etc. Once in an interview to BBC, Prabhakaran acknowledged that he was deeply influenced by an article written by my father on Bhagat Singh." It was easy to zoom in on Sri Lankan Tamils because Tamilvanan used to get letters from them and some even came to meet him. From Switzerland, in particular, he'd get an unusual number of letters and drafts placing orders for his books. But now he goes on an international tour every year to promote his books and "they can buy directly from me."

For the last eight years, the publisher has made it a point to visit the US during July 4, the American Independence Day. "During this period the Tamils in the US hold a Tamil Carnival where about 2,000 of them assemble; this year it was in Texas." Later he goes to other countries where Tamils reside and "I find it useful to continue the dialogue, update my database and strengthen my relationship with my readers."

He is particularly proud that his publishing house has brought out the Almanac in Tamil. "Earlier, it was not available in Tamil and we've published the Almanac from 1925 to 2010. Almanacs are essential for casting horoscopes; they have all the charts of planetary positions, etc, and once the time of birth is given, the horoscope of a person is cast using the Almanac. We worked with four astrologers to bring it out and it was a very nice experience."

Tamilvanan is concerned that television, particularly serials, has cut severely into the reading habit. "Hours are spent before the TV set and in many homes women sit with handkerchiefs to wipe their tears; the serials make it a point to make viewers cry."

He strongly feels that unless parents take special interest in instilling in their children a love for the mother tongue, all regional literature will suffer. "Let children spend about 15 minutes a day to read something in their mother tongue. I'm not against English, but I'm concerned today there are so many Tamil children who have no knowledge of Tamil. So we have published a book on how to learn Tamil through English."

He also feels that schools should keep aside an hour of library time every week for children to read books in their mother tongue.

On the challenge before publishers to make language books interesting with more colour pictures, glossy paper, etc, to tempt a child to pick it up and read it, he says: "It's a vicious circle. If you use colour pictures and glossy paper, the price goes up and if the price goes up people won't buy them. Today it is not difficult to produce such books, but the problem is the cost. Parents too should give their children a couple of hundred rupees to buy books in their mother tongue."

He feels the past custom of gifting books during birthdays, marriages and other occasions should be revived. "Today everybody brings flower bouquets for marriages, birthdays, etc; but about 25 years ago, in the Tamil community people would bring as gifts the Bhagwad Gita, Thirukkural, Bharatiyar poems... all in Tamil. Nowadays that's totally gone, but it needs to be revived."

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