When I first met Dhivya Balaji, fondly called as DB in the Chennai Bloggers Club group, I was super impressed with her style of speech, choice of words and quality of clarity when it comes to handling books as an Editor. Siddharth and I initially wanted DB to do the editing of our book "Simply being Sidd", however Notion Press offered it as a package and we went ahead with them, later on to regret not engaging DB in the work
As she pinged me couple of years later, I was amused by her growth as a Author and Book Editor. Her style of editing improved, her writing skills were top-notch and choice of words much more classy and had its own pitch in the readers mind.
She uses Simple words, sometimes in Tanglish - a mix of Tamil and English in her book "Songstress of Srivilliputtur" and it makes the book much more enjoyable. Honestly, every time I visit a 'Sriman Narayana' temple, I used to stand and watch the "Andal" sanithi in awe, admiration and devotion. This book only strengthen my bond with Andal in wholesome
Madurai Artist - Oviyar Maruthi (I dont want to call him Late despite the fact he passed away this year), because there is no real death to an artist. They live on the work they leave behind. The cover page of this book stands as a strong testimony to the amazing art of the Oviyar Maruthi from Madurai. Dhivya indeed made him eternal through her book.
Every chapter takes you one step closer to Kodai and her devotion to Lord Srirangan, Sriman Narayana, Sri Ranganathar, which ever form you want to call him. Trust me, this is the best and probably the only book in English that speaks to you, takes you to the world of Andal. Kodhai.. found under the Tulsi tree, garlanding herself before sending the garlands to her Lord, there are such instances, that touch your heart and soul.
Andal from just being a form of Goddess, Alwar, to us, we find her an angel in devotion to her Lord, a poetess who weaves words to enrich the greatness of her God, and the love that has no parallel. Dhivya manages to keep up the momentum of the story across the chapters of the book. It is very tough to right about this genre in specifically about a character that lived hundreds of years ago, who keeps mesmerizing us with the beauty and her utmost devotion and love. This love makes me compare the love of Radha-Krishna, Ramar and Sabari, Meera and Krishna and every other eternal form of beauty of the heart we have known
Dhivya Balaji succeeds as a writer for the simple reason that she keeps her reader glued to the context of the story. I started it actually months ago and took a break for my daughters marriage and spent last few days after my hectic work schedules as I found this book giving me peace, feeling of satisfaction of reading a great facto-fiction filled with prose and poetry and making my day end with its beauty. The madness of work, used to stress me out and couple of chapters after that used to make me feel stressfree. If that is what this book can do to me, I am sure it would bless all its readers., in its own way
My mom's Tirupavvai singing found a new meaning after I read this book. The love of an young girl touched my heart as she yearns for her Lord. This book made me fall in love all over again with my Sriman Narayana....honestly, I wished I lived like her. The love she felt and showed to her God and the beauty of the poems she weaved for HIM.
Dhivya Balaji, thank you for writing this book. This book is here to stay. This book is a script for a movie. This book reminds me of 'Avvaiyar" movie, and makes me feel, one day, some director will find this and dream this as a worthy project.
Loved reading the "Songstress of Srivilliputtur". Thank you DB!
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