My friend Alex EraviVarma had posted a note on Facebook about a meeting and discussion titled "Ulagaelaam Tamizhosai" (The Sound of Tamil Across the World) with Dr. T. Sankara Saravanan, who is an educationist, writer, translator, and Tamil scholar. In that post, the following statement made by him caught my attention:
"Some writers and publishers there raised a question as to why novels published in Canada or Eelam could not be exported and sold in India."
Before directing this question towards India, please pose this question to the Tamil officials working on our taxpayer money in libraries across areas with a high density of Tamil population, such as Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, and Markham.
Why is it that the enthusiasm they show in purchasing novels by authors like Ramanichandran is not reflected when libraries select books written and published by Canadian Tamil writers? Only the books of a few Canadian writers can be seen. Why don't they hold discussions with local Tamil writers and publishing houses to devise plans for libraries to acquire Tamil books published here? Or why don't they recommend them to the higher authorities of the library system?
These individuals work on our taxpayer money. Yet, while they scramble to purchase books from publishing houses in Tamil Nadu, they fail to recommend books by local Tamil writers and publishers in a way that enables libraries to acquire them. When asked, the higher library authorities state that procedures for this are already in place. However, it is the duty of the recommending officials responsible for selecting foreign language books in those libraries to implement these procedures properly. But they are failing to do their duty.
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