ExpertDabbler

To say that my reading has taken a backseat because of blogging is an understatement. It had all but vanished in the last six months. I bought one economics book recommended by vatsan and was struggling to read past Chapter 4.

I wanted to see if I can finish a book in one sitting. I could do that with Five Point Something. I chanced upon this novel “Appam, Vadai Thayirsadham” by Balakumaran in Higginbothams a few days back.

The day before yesterday I had to bunk office. Not knowing what to do in the latter half of the day, I took out this balakumaran novel.If I could finish that 360 odd page book in almost a single day, credit should go to Balakumaran.

Balakumaran is brilliant in depicting the travails, dilemmas and struggles of a poor, orthodox brahmin family which is finding life difficult in their vaidheegam and who eventually decide to make it big in the material world. If I could smell that Thayir sadham(aka thachu mammum), appam and could visualize the Mayavaram station of a good hundred year’s time, it’s because he has done a fantastic job. It’s always interesting to read about a community’s way of life, their customs and beliefs etc. And brahmin customs are something I could always identify with and relate to since childhood and this made the novel all the more interesting.

Balakumaran has used one family symbolically to trace the way the brahmin community has grown from Mayavaram to Chennai to Delhi, Mumbai, Gulf, and then to the US. How one community adapts to the changing scenarios and strives to grow legally and ethically with sheer hard work, taking up opportunities wherever they could find one is depicted very well through one family in this novel. And even the professions for the characters are in a manner which we could all relate to.

From vaidheegam to selling Thayirsadham in Mayavaram Railway Station to starting a Hotel business in Chennai and then bureaucracy in Chennai, Delhi and then business in Mumbai and then comes jobs in Gulf and US,It’s one fantastic journey for a family. All this are interspersed with some history (First World War, Second World War, Maniyachi station murder, Independence, Gandhi’s assasination etc)

One thing I did not particularly enjoy is the way brahmin women are depicted in this novel. All those pomanaatis are just doing the “singing, dancing, cooking and conceiving” and supporting their husbands in all the six/seven generations.
I could understand if Samba Siva Sasthrigal’s wife did that. But Shankar’s girlfriend trying to be a good wife and nothing more is … well:)

I thought women had an indiviudal identity of their own. I know several iyer aathu ponnus, my close friends, doing very well occupations as diverse as landscape architecture to Software Engineers in US. My best buddy is making a documentary for a Stanford initiative. It’s hard to imgine her as someone who will just blindly support her husband

If its just a case of a women in a particular family, i dont have any issues. But if the author intended to convey the growth of a community through that family, he falls flat in this aspect.

Another thing i did not like are some sweeping generalisations. “Ozhukama irukanumna life la munneranumna gayathri jabam pannu” kinda messages. Again if its the belief of that particular family for generations, then its fine. But if its an implied message to all and sundry, i do have questions about its validity.
As much as i respect Gayathri jabam, I know several day-light robbers who do sandhiyavandam twice a day and who have nothing to with sincerity, integrity blah blah.

Overall, a good novel which comes with a message “Whatever you do, do it sincerely and in good faith, Learn to adapt to situations and circumstances, Success is all yours”.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 18th, 2005 at 7:02 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.