Back Book Review
Sri Lankan stories
KARUMPALAKAI-K-KAVIYANKAL: Padma Somakanthan; Kumaran Publishers, 3, Meykai Vinayakar Street, via Kumaran Colony 7th Street, Vadapalani, Chennai-600026. Rs. 90. THE COVER tells all. An army man with his gun stuck on the back of a prone man, the tear-stained face of a woman. These 30 stories from Sri Lanka torn by an atrocious civil war are reflections of reality, and there lies their strength and appeal. Truth is always stranger than fiction. Padma Somakanthan does not take sides nor does she apportion blame on this or that group, or on any country. Her stories have no irreverent contortions. A teacher for decades, clarity of perception marks her modest style. She does not run away from the problems. So much of death, destruction, and exile and yet men will be men even in Canada and will keep demanding dowry! Articulating the frayed conscience of womanhood whether it is marriage or feeding children and bringing them up as honest, compassionate human beings, Padma repeatedly scores in stories like ‘Kadavulin Pookkal’ (flowers of God) and ‘Karumpalakai-k-kaviyankal’ (epics on the blackboard). It is true she paints the bleak picture of a nation in torment and a people worried about genocide. At the same time, she notes down the silver linings too: the Brahmin priest giving away his food to a marginalised family, and contentedly assuaging his own hunger with water; the girl who says no to the dowry-demanding boy; Vanathi and her friends deciding to rise against the ugly men out to destroy the peace and purity of hard-working women; and the transformation of Subhasinga. It is not mass hysteria through fasts and bandhs, but an intelligent study of recordings like ‘Karumpalakai-k-kaviyankal’ that can compel us to extend a genuine helping hand to our people in Sri Lanka.
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