R. Parthasarathy, commonly known as Indira Parthasarathy or Ee. Paa., is an Indian author and playwright who writes in Tamil. He has published 16 novels, 10 plays, anthologies of short stories, and essays. He is best known for his plays, “Aurangzeb”, “Nandan Kathai” and “Ramanujar”. He has been awarded the Saraswati Samman (1999), and is the only Tamil writer to receive both the Sahitya Akademi Award (1977) and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2004). He received Padma Shri in the year 2010, given by Government of India.
I am extremely grateful to him for his below words of appreciation for my recently published book:
QUOTE : “This scholarly book with a Dickensian title of a novel is all about two vaishnava temples situated one in north Chennai and the other in the Southern part of Tqmilnadu. True to the Dickensian title it was ‘the best of times’ and ‘worst of times’ for the vaishnava sect there is deepening divide as ‘vadakalai ‘ and ‘thenkalai’ in the temple practices of Conjeevaram (northern part of Tamilnadu) and the other in Srirangam in the south. The learned author with facts and figures at his finger tips and historical approach as his weapon dismisses this divide as petty squabbles. As in politics all differences arise the bottom line being power (financial and administrative authority) . According to this author Sudharsan it has deepened in the last two centuries kindled and encouraged by the colonial rule whose policy was ‘divide and rule’.
An objective book of great insights and extensive research.” QUOTE
Sudarshan Madabushi