Books Read in Feb 2025

My reading for the month of February 2025 shared in pictures. 

A Wedding in Washington

 

Book Review 

Priests chanting Vedic hymns, auspicious musical notes of thavil and nadaswaram, women in crisp silk sarees and grandmas in nine-yard sarees - some sipping their coffee and gossiping away while others draw kolam and bustle about multiple chores, heavenly aroma of food with the fragrance of jasmine, rose water and sandal paste leaving a heady mix, a beautifully decorated platform with the ritual fire in its middle - typical wedding scenes, right? 

What if I tell you these scenes from a Tamil Iyer wedding aren’t from Madras but from Washington DC, you wouldn’t be surprised. A few cousins of mine have tied the knot in the USA in the last two decades, one even jokingly refers to Sunnyvale in California as Surya Nagar for its Indian population. But that the author transported a Tamil Iyer wedding, its rituals intact with much aplomb to the USA’s capital city back in 1963 when migration wasn’t rife is novel and very creative. Inspired by Walt Disney's The Absent Minded Professor and the sight of a few Caucasians at Thiruvaiyaru Tyagaraja Aradhanai, he wrote the novella, first serialized in tamil weekly Vikatan, even years before Tyagaraja musical festival reached Cleveland, USA. But why/how did a Tamil wedding reach the banks of Potomac river?

The Hobbs and the Murthys are family friends in New York, their daughters Loretta and Vasantha best buddies. When the Hobbs attend Vasantha’s wedding in Tanjore in India, they bring home exciting tales and lovely photographs that tempt Loretta’s aunt, Mrs. Rockfeller, a very influential and affluent woman, to host and experience a Tamil wedding in full grandeur on the American soil. And Rukmini’s wedding with Rajagopal is the chosen one. Hereon begins a laughter riot where only logic is harmed and nothing else. As the groom and bride, their relatives, priests, cooks, musicians, even narikuravas (a nomadic, street hawker community) arrive with their paraphernalia in Washington DC, the word pun, wide-eyed/good humored curiosity for a different culture, Gopulu Sir’s gorgeous life-like illustrations enthrall us readers. When the wedding is solemnized and people leave, it’s not just Mrs. Rockfeller who bids goodbye with a heavy heart, we readers feel sad at a hilariously exaggerated journey, well-told in translation, coming to an end.

Additional note - 

“Humour can make a serious difference. In the workplace, at home, in all areas of life - looking for a reason to laugh is necessary” (a popular quote). 

Just as important it is, good humour (not adulterated with crass jokes, shaming/mocking & obscenities) is hard to find - in life, books, movies. That SaVi, the author, the eponymous Tamil weekly’s editor, researcher and overseer, a literary institution himself, transported a whole Tam-Bram wedding entourage to the middle of Washington when migration wasn’t commonplace or destination weddings unheard of is ingenious. The slim book in 11 chapters is dotted with many little hilarious things - boasting that Madras has Georgetown just like Washington DC, thinking of the Capitol Dome as a huge idly pot’s cover, grandmas doing a recce of Washington buildings to find a terrace big enough to roll and dry appalams needed for the wedding.

When some of the appalams fly in the air, they are mistaken for flying saucers and shot down by the Americans. This becomes a local news headline which when translated by a young man to a patti (grandma) leaves her worrying that appalams deep fried would have tasted better than toasted ones. The Tamil word ‘chutta’ means both toasted and shot down. This should give the reader an inkling of how complex the process of translation is. 

Each wedding ritual replete with such terms paves way for word-play/pun, that if hard to imagine and write, is harder to translate. As one hailing from the community, this book was a breezy read for me. But the translator Nandini Vijayaraghavan has worked hard to ensure every reader can understand and appreciate the content with her endnotes - Iyer wedding rituals, wedding food items and glossary. 

The illustrations by Gopulu Sir add vigour to the storytelling, I was busy figuring who’s who in them. The author’s son-in-law in ‘Note on the Author’ writes Savi said “Never be a miser when it comes to appreciating others”. This is my way of keeping in mind what the author said, an ode to him, a note of appreciation for the translator’s efforts and patience for 13 years, the publisher’s penchant to bring forth much-loved novels in Indian languages in translation for readers worldwide. It is of note that two recent releases by Ratna Books - Veerapandiya Kattabomman by Ma Po Sivagnanam, translated from Tamil by Tara Murali and this book are commissioned for TNTB & ESC; under its aegis, these are sure to reach more readers. 

PS: A copy of the book was obtained from the publisher in return for an honest review. Thank you so much Ratna Books for sending me a copy of this lovely book.

Books Read in Jan 2025

 My reading for the month of January 2025 shared in pictures. 

I have begun writing down the books I read in a cute notebook. So this is how the leaflets for January look like -

You

 

You by M Mukundan, translated from Malayalam by Nandakumar K can be approximated as an ordinary man’s life journey; something akin to Upamanyu Chatterjee’s Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life, John William's Stoner or Robert Seethaler's A Whole Life you may think. But CV Unnikrishnan, son of a stamp paper vendor Goyindan and homemaker Lakshmikutty, the fourth born of their five children, the only graduate in the family for whom reading is everything, one wedded to his writing only to divorce it later bitterly, the author of just one novel that earned him both brickbats and bouquets, makes you think otherwise. 

The novel opens with 70 yr old Unnikrishnan announcing in a press conference arranged by him,  attended by only two reporters, that he would die on Dec 16, 2019. Upset at being dismissed as a lunatic, when Paru, a newbie journalist, knocks at his door to extract information on how he can predict his death so accurately, Unnikrishnan, who in his youth had an uncanny obsession for uncovering mysteries, is amused and irritated in equal measure at her curiosity to learn his past - a past he tries hard to shed that clings firmly to his skin. 

‘Listen,’ you say, ‘life is like a detective novel. If the end is revealed at the beginning, who will read it? Where’s the fun in reading it?’ 

And, we trace Unnikrishnan's life as it unfolds gradually, attempting to find answers to the many how s and why s that pop up along the way. 

True to the title, the second person narrative employed here is unique - it lends a certain emotional detachment yet facilitates ‘you’, the reader, to place yourself in Unnikrishnan’s shoes; this is strongest plus of the book. Though Unnikrishnan’s life journey occupies the centre stage, every character is well-written. After all, both the author and Unnikrishnan  believe -“There is no need for any story to have a protagonist, male or female, you thought. Every character is an adjunct”. From the ayurvedic doctor Choyi Vaidhyar who treats Unnikrishnan's scabies and diarrhea bouts to RamanKutty school master who likes to flog Unnikrishnan's bottoms for all reasons and seasons, each character gets ample room, thereby enlivening the storytelling.

‘Shouldn’t one have the right to choose when and how to die?’ , the principal question raised in the novel is not Unnikrishnan's line of thought but one strongly raised and advocated by his close friend Dr. Balan. The novel delves into the need for legalizing euthanasia drawing instances of people who writhe in pain/remain in a vegetative or bedridden state for years before death snuffs out the little life left in them. 

Like in the author's Delhi: A Soliloquy, personal history is intertwined with the country's politics here as well with the Moplah rebellion and Thalassery riots finding a mention. Through Unnikrishnan's burning ambition to become a writer, a writer’s fantasies, apprehensions and ordeals, writer’s block, writing as a process that demands one's solitude and is both rewarding and agonizing are portrayed so well. 

'You wanted to get home and start writing. It was like the urge to pee. When the bladder is full, the lower belly starts to ache. When the urge is to write, the chest aches. You could feel yourself filling up with scenarios, the words gushing forth.'

'You wanted to be a writer, but was writing an occupation?' 

The below lines that sum up the experience of writing a novel are funny and brilliant - 'Writing a novel was like catching a tiger by its tail. You held on to the tail and got dragged to wherever it went. If you let go, the tiger would turn on you and tear you to pieces. So, tail in hand, you stumbled behind as it prowled and dashed around. When it got into the water to drink, you followed. When it clambered up a tree, you were right behind, clutching its tail. When it leaped on its prey, you tumbled after it. When it mated, you did too. When it slept, so did you'.

Wry humour imbued with local flavour, well preserved in translation, makes Unnikrishnan’s life readable and interesting. It's a life filled with questions, one where all those who loved him earnestly were pushed into a pall of gloom. 

'How could it be that you, who ached to write a novel about those in pain, did not see the pain of your own parents? Were you so grossly selfish? Or was life only about writing and you simply failed to pay heed to the lives of others? You continued to struggle with these thoughts.' 

YOU - an ordinary man's earnest attempts to lead a simple and inconsequential life could have been a masterpiece, a perfect ten book if not for an implausible climax, its only letdown.

Books Read in Dec 2024

 

Another year comes to an end.. 

The calendar created by Surabhi (@vapoursofthought) with lovely photographs she clicked has been my prop for every month's reading wrap up in 2024. As sheets of this beautiful calendar turned, some pretty fast and some achingly slow, I realized I stand at the threshold of another new year. There's a  mix of fear, apprehension and hope, a bag of varied emotions swarms my head; but this has been the norm now for last few years.

I stuck to short reads in December as kid's school routine - his exams and year end projects demanded a lot of my time. There was a lovely, short trip to Mangalore around Christmas time. I attended two lit fests in Dec - The Green Lit Fest on Dec 7th and The Bangalore Lit Fest on Dec 14-15. Living close to two decades now in a city known for its wonderful bookshops and bibliophilic crowd, this was the first time I was attending literature fests. Even if it was a meek start and I managed to spend only a little time at the events, I was extremely happy I got a chance to meet Monisha Raman at the The Green Lit Fest and Sayari Debnath at Bengaluru Lit Fest. They are avid readers, fabulous writers and editors and wonderful human beings I have had the pleasure to know and interact with thanks to Instagram/Bookstagram. 

Coming to the list of reads for Dec 2024 - 

1. Lorenzo Searches for the Meaning of Life by Upamanyu Chatterjee (finally finished this book I had half left half completed by Sep)

2. Brightly Shining by Ingvild Rishoi, tr from Norwegian by Caroline Waight

3. The Afterwards by AF Harrold, illustrated by Emily Gravett

4. The Whispering Chinar by Ali Rohila 

5. Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton

6. Veerapandiya Kattabomman by Ma Po Sivagnanam, tr from Tamil by Tara Murali

7. The Wartime Garden by Twigs Way

8. What Child is This by Rhys Bowen (Amazon Short Story Single) 

Two wonderful picture books (The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey and Amadi's Snowman) and two short stories translated from Hindi from the Dec issue of The Bombay Literary Magazine are other additions to the above list. 

I also finished a full year on Good Reads and am sharing my statistics below which clearly indicates my comfort with short reads, books that keep my reading habit going on. Like every year, I have no reading goals for 2025, reading is the only activity I have handy for stress busting and I wouldn't want to do anything that makes it stressful for me. So go with the flow will be my motto :)

The year 2024 presented some wonderful opportunities to share/write my reviews, my first time on Scroll.in and The Green Lit Fest newsletter. I tried to organize my published articles/reviews until now on Link Tree and here is the link - https://linktr.ee/divya.shankar

Here is wishing you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR ! Signing off 2024 and welcoming 2025 with a little wish that may all of us get a little time to do what we earnestly love to until the time it becomes a habit or a comfortable part of our routine.