Kannadasan, one of the greatest Tamil poets and writers, wrote thousands of immortal film songs, poems, stories and essays. Though he passed away 25 years ago, he still has millions of fans and die-hard devotees. He was born on 24th June. His birthday reminded me of a Tamil writer who aspires to become as great as the legendary Kannadasan.

A few years ago Guna, a Malaysian friend, wrote to me, “I am an expert in writing Tamil poems. I have been trying to write for commercial weeklies and Tamil movies without any success. Is it possible for me to make money through the Internet?” That email made me do some research on this topic. I met Guna when I visited Kuala Lumpur.

I asked him, “How do you spend your time?” He replied, “I live in the dream world that I have created for myself and write about whatever touches me deeply. One day I will conquer this world.”

I told him, “That’s the perfect prescription for never becoming financially successful. Kannadasan through his simple and immortal songs gave the joy of Tamil literature that had been reserved only for Tamil scholars for centuries, to all Tamilians including illiterates. Had he written just like other poets, no one would have remembered him now. Though he had the capacity to write in sophisticated Tamil, he wrote in simple language for masses without diluting the ideas. In other words he saw things from others’ point of view and wrote for others. That approach brought him unprecedented success and he earned crores of rupees.”

Guna raised an objection, “But he had a lot of financial difficulties.” I replied, “I am sure you have read Kannadasan’s autobiography. He says that his autobiography does not tell how a man should live. Instead it teaches how a man should not live. His strength was in writing and sure enough it brought prosperity to him. He writes in this book that he loved politics and movie production and did things that he liked the most without seeing things from others’ point of view. That approach naturally created countless financial difficulties. My point is if you want to be financially successful, forget what you like or dislike. Find out what others like and dislike. Think from others’ point of view. Give others what they like and help them get away from what they don’t like. If you create a business or service based on this idea, your venture will never fail. What is the most important thing to you in your life at the moment?”

After a brief silence Guna replied, “I would like to have regular income. My family has many financial difficulties because of my way of living. But I would like to do take up a project that is related to the things I love.”

I said, “That’s not a difficult thing to accomplish. If you do a search for the term Kannadasan, you will find that there are only a few websites that give quality information on him. Tens of thousands of his fans will love to visit your website if you provide interesting information on him. Don’t just reproduce his songs. If you don’t want to concentrate on one great person, you can create a website for all popular poets. It will also serve as an outlet for your creative thoughts. After you build up traffic, you can start making money through online ads.” Guna was happy with the idea, “I will certainly take up this project. I believe this is going to be a turning point in my life.”

Recently he sent me an email: ‘Before actually setting up a website, I wanted to make sure that there would be good response to my articles on Kannadasan. I collected a lot of information on him and made some interesting postings on a few discussion boards. Wow! I received dozens of emails within 24 hours requesting for more information on the topic. I replied all the emails and developed friendship with many fans from India, Malaysia, the United States and many other countries. Some of these friends started to give me paid assignments such as translation from Tamil to English and editing in-house Tamil publications of Tamil associations in the United States and the Europe. Within a few months I was able to earn Malaysia Ringgits 1500 (Rs.18,000) a month. I am deeply indebted to this great poet for not only kindling my interest in Tamil literature but also for actually helping me make money. I will soon launch a website on Kannadasan though I don’t have any financial difficulties now.’

Every language and every country has great writers. Who is your favorite writer?