Sangapalagai is a boon to lovers of the language

Online edition of Indias National Newspaper The Hindu

India, Friday, Sep 12, 2008 -  SUGNATHY KRISHNAMACHARI

Sangapalagai is a boon to lovers of the language.

It is a business inspired by the success of Amazon.com, but there is a difference. While Amazon lets you order books in conventional format, Sangapalagai, an e-venture from Chennai, only lets you buy e-books.

Sangapalagai.com is the business venture of M.A. Parthasarathy, a photographer by profession, who is a self-confessed tech buff.

This is how you buy books from Sangapalagai. First, you have to download the SP reader from the website - www.sangapalagai.com. You can order books from the catalogue. The books can’t be printed. The downloaded book or magazine can be used only in that particular machine.

What happens if the buyer upgrades, or if his disc should for some reason get wiped out? Does he then have to buy the same books all over again? “No,” clarifies Parthasarathy. “We have an e-library shelf for each individual buyer that keeps track of every purchase of his. So even if all the books you buy from us get deleted, you can download them without having to pay again.”

Can the SP reader be downloaded on to portable devices, say PDAs? “Currently, it only works in Windows XP and Vistas. But we plan to add other formats in future.”
Photo: K. V. Srinivasan

Tamil for the tech-savvy: M. A. Parthasarathy

The business is only a few months old, having begun only on May 1 this year. Publicity has been through Google Ad Sense. Their target is mainly NRIs, according to Parthasarathy. But surprisingly, they have had orders from customers in India too. People from 56 countries have registered with Sangapalagai, says Parthasarathy.

Payment is through Pay Pal. There is also the option of paying through a Demand Draft, but the books will only be delivered in digital format.
Parthasarathy cites traffic from countries such as Cyprus, Lithuania, Belgium, China and many others to show the popularity of Sangapalagai. “We have books by Na. Parthasarathy, Anuradha Ramanan, historicals by Kalki and Vikraman, besides books by Vaishnavite scholars

Annangarachariar Swami and Karappangadu Venkatachariar. We’re planning to include books on other religions too. There are books on music, for example, T.S. Parthasarathy’s Tyagaraja Keerthanaigal. I want this to be a one stop shop for all kinds of Tamil literature.”

Also on the anvil is a chat room, where authors and readers can interact. Parthasarathy does have ambitious and innovative plans for his business. “I depend on viewers’ patronage for success and growth,” he concludes.

Sangapalgai is a Tamil digital platform that unites the Tamil publishers, writers and Tamil lovers, just as the ancient 'Sangapalagai' did in the Sanga era. Tamilians and Tamil lovers can download and read the latest publications as well as the ancient documented stories, magazines and books using an SP Reader that is specially created for the purpose.

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