I was questioned by many people about why I should pen about deforestation, especially the deforestation happening in the Western Ghats in India. I don’t have a few but so many reasons to write this book. So, I will be disclosing those reasons one by one in this post.
I determined to draft a story about deforestation whilst writing my first book. And once I released that in November 2020, I began to browse the internet for information on deforestation in India, only to find out that the amount of tree coverage area lost in the Western Ghats is equal to forty thousand football grounds. This is, first and foremost, the prominent reason for penning this book.
Once I made up my mind to pen a book about deforestation that is destroying the Western Ghats, I commenced conducting some research into this topic and came to know that there are thousands of articles on it, but not a single story. Therefore, I determined to create this factual fiction, defining a tree’s perspective on deforestation. To make the story more delicious, I decided to mix a few teaspoons of love.
When it comes to climate science, all the information available is not in Tamil so far, because of which it might have been hard for people, especially those who cannot understand English, to correctly comprehend climatic facts. Written in Tamil, this book has various things unwritten in Tamil. And this is the first book in history that has a tree as its primary protagonist. Can you imagine if I say a tree loves the sun? But that is how this book has been written.
Oh, I am sorry! Have you ever seen the photo, in which Bharathiyar is seen holding his beloved spouse’s shoulders? This photo is considered to be an emblem of modernism. Taking this old photo as my impetus, I have employed ‘Sangam’ words to convey modern thoughts. And I’m deeply indebted to A. R. Rahman for the song ‘Yaakkai Thiri‘ – my other muse, which tortured me to write this book in this way.
I hear you ask, “Then, what’s the reason to write this post in English?” Well, it’s just to show the world that a book like this has been penned in Tamil for the first time in the world.
