I enjoyed reading a lot of
Sandilyan’s historical fictions when I was a little boy, way back in 1970’s. Kadal Pura, Raja muthrai, Raja Perigai etc.. etc are my favourites. The prince
travelling in a horse, meeting a beautiful girl in a fountain, or a prince taking a long
voyage, meeting his lady love in secret are real fest to my reading pleasure.
During my college days I became Leo Tolstoy’s fan and loved Resurrection, War and Peace, Anna Karenina
and Father Sergius. Leo Tolstoy was very cruel with the Monk Sergius!!!
Then stopped reading novels and
immersed in Philosophy, Psychology and Religion.
The novel I read after a long gap (last year) was Thoopukari; That too because I
know the author personally. I was curious to know whether
anything that I know about the author is reflected in her novel!!!
The saffron clad moral police
& modern day cultural guardians of India made me read Perumal Murugan’s
English translation One Part Woman. I
did not see any controversy in the novel. Slightly dull novel, moving very
slowly, repeating the same agony that the couple had no children... blah..blah
..blah...
The positive thing I see in the
novel is: ‘the author tells what he wants to tell’- the plight of a childless
couple – probably an ancient cultural solution...an orthodox praxis now sounds
unorthodox.
Sati is a funeral ritual practiced
in India. Nobody approves such a practice today. Can we oppose someone who writes
a novel based on that? Devadasi system is a religious practice in parts of
southern India; no sensible person will approve such a practice today. Does that
mean, if someone writes a novel based on that s/he degrades Indian culture??
Indian psyche has lost its
glorious tolerance and the golden lotus of Buddha is clouded by the present day
lotus. The narrow minded fanaticism has become the symbol of Indian Psyche
today overshadowing tolerant, open minded past.
