Perumal Murugan is one of many acclaimed authors from TN (including Sahitya Akademi award winners) in the regional literature space who have intimately captured the unforgiving absurdities in the lives of ordinary rural folks, boldly exploring a variety of social themes yet remain underrated, unrecognized unlike their peers in Malayalam, Bengali or Hindi due to lack of translations available to reach out to a wider non-Tamil audience (even within India). Indeed, feels wonderful to hear about the International Booker Prize win by Geetanjali. I'm mostly skeptical but what do I know, maybe this will encourage publishers, translators, and readers to seek more vernacular literature by authors from sub-regions not well-known in the mainstream. Have read some of Premchand's but it's been a long time. I'll revisit him and also look for Geetanjali's novels. If you like to check out more translated Tamil fiction, I recommend the works of eminent translator Lakshmi Hölmstrom if you haven't read them already. The list is quite vibrant from classic to contemporary writings. I'm not even midway there myself but most of them are cult favorites, so I guarantee they will be enjoyable reads! Notable are her translations of Tamil modern, feminist authors - Bama (1, 2), Salma, and Ambai.
...If his narratives were visualized? : ) "Seththumaan" (Tamil, 2022) is receiving good reviews currently from all media for its filmmaking and finest storytelling. The movie, I gather, is based on Perumal Murugan's short story "Pork Roast" from his book "Four Strokes of Luck". Surprisingly, Murugan has written the dialogues himself to maintain the original story's authenticity. Nice! I wasn't familiar with the term 'seththumaan' in Tamil. Seems to be an alternative to refer to Pig in the West TN regions that roughly translates to “dirty mud deer” - because the casteists are too noble to call a pig... Pig! The original short story and this movie have dealt with the complex cultural nuances and the caste politics of consuming (beef and) pork meat, and how this society looks down on the oppressed for what they eat. Available on SonyLiv OTT (with subtitles) to watch if interested. I'm planning to catch up this weekend.
Rockford is the first thing that comes to mind when you mention him. And, so many memorable hits in Tamil too. Such sad news. RIP KK. Indian national media is having a field day this week with KK's death news and singer Sidhu Moosewala's murder coverage: "Guns, Gaana & Gangsters". And, I thought Punjab had just drug problems. Damn. So, tell me a joke, please! : ) Yeah, lately the mood around me is so somber (it's #100DaysofWar already! Sigh), I'm turning to the Google Assistant to tell me some quick jokes to cheer myself up. Kind of become my frequently used command now. Google mostly comes up with odd, silly PJs. Lol. So, tell me, what made you laugh hard recently that you forgot the world for a moment? : )
While hubby pretending to be asleep phone buzzed and wife attended the call. After a long chat she was back to bed when hubby asked who was on the line. She responded: “Wrong number. Someone was enquiring whether coast is clear mistaking our number for metrological department”.
@jskls Helloooooo! Epdi erukeenga? In some odd depressive mood, I deactivated Whatsapp and went off the grid. Sorry, couldn't be in touch. All good with you?
hello K, how hv you been. didn’t know it was deactivated. been busy..yes life is going on … next phase of changes / challenges etc.
niceeee! (anyway...I ll reactivate it and maybe we can catch up there sometime when u r free! : ) ). hope ur health is good, take care.