I have been feeling for a while that I am ignoring some great literature from my own language, Tamil, and so I thought I will read more Tamil books this year. I also thought that I will read more Indian literature in the original (if I know the language in which it is written) or in translation. Sometime back when I was having a conversation with one of my friends, she said that Sujatha’s ‘Karaiyellaam Senbagapoo’ was one of her alltime favourite books. When I had a discussion on this book with another friend of mine, who is a connoisseur of Sujatha books, he told me that it is a wonderful book. After two strong recommendations, I couldn’t resist reading this book. I finished reading it yesterday. Here is what I think.
What I think
Before sharing my thoughts on the book, a few words on Sujatha himself. (Yes, it is a ‘he’). Sujatha is one of the leading authors in Tamil. In these days, when writers stick to writing books in one genre, he was a real allrounder. He wrote crime novels, murder mysteries, literary fiction, science fiction, plays, feminist novels, screen plays, historical novels, short stories, essays on diverse topics, nonfiction books on science, modern translations of classical Tamil literature – in other words, the works. He was an inspiration for generations of young men and women. I have read some of his crime novels and murder mysteries and books and essays on science when I was a student. I didn’t know then that his work was so diverse. All thanks to my friend, the Sujatha connoisseur, for introducing me to Sujatha’s diverse works.
Now about ‘Karaiyellaam Senbagapoo’. I am finding it difficult to translate the title precisely – it roughly translates to ‘Magnolias fill the bank’. The story is about a young man named Kalyanaraman who is different from the average young person. While everyone around him is trying to study engineering and medicine and law and get a good job and get married, he studies literature and music. Then he goes to a village to do research on folk music. While in the village he meets a beautiful, dark village belle called Velli, and falls in love with her. Unfortunately, she is engaged to a handsome young man from the village called Marudhamuthu. Kalyanaraman meets children, old women and different kinds of people in the village and he finds poetry in their everyday conversations – the way they use poetic language to describe everyday things fascinates him. When children play hide-and-seek, they use poetry to decide who will hide and who will seek. When gossiping about neighbours and telling old stories, people of the village use poetry. While Kalyanaraman soaks in the atmosphere of the village and its culture and its folk traditions, a new person arrives in the village. She is a beautiful, young city girl called Snehalatha. She says that she is the local Zamindar’s grand daughter. She has come to see her grandfather’s house and stay over for a few days. Kalyanaraman becomes friends with her. But he also discovers that there is more to her than meets the eye. He finds that she is hiding something from him and is also indulging in mysterious activities with Marudhamuthu. An affair seems to be developing between Snehalatha and Marudhamuthu, which gives Velli a lot of anguish. Then Kalyanaraman discovers a secret diary of the dead Zamindar’s dead wife which seems to talk about a secret treasure. Then the annual village festival happens and the ‘Villu Paatu’ concert, which is about an avenging angel, stretches till the middle of the night. Then there is a murder and all hell breaks loose. Who is killed and why and the identity of the murderer and whether the treasure is real and what is the part magnolias play in the story are revealed in the rest of the book.
It is difficult to classify ‘Karaiyellaam Senbagapoo’. From one perspective it is about folk music and village culture and the contrast between the village and the city. From another perspective it is a murder-mystery. I loved the cultural references Sujatha makes in the story and the way he paints a picture of small-town South India of a particular time. For example, in one sentence at the beginning of the book, Sujatha describes how Kalyanaraman pays Velli, for carrying his luggage from the station, ‘without knowing about the local economy’ – in the sense he pays an amount which is not much for him but which is far more than what a village person would expect. In other places, Sujatha describes how a black swallow’s voice seems to be in F-sharp, how all village street dogs are called Mani, how an old village lady’s sharp nose and toothless smile were attractive. There are other such interesting fine observations sprinkled throughout the book which bring joy to someone who has lived in the India of the ‘70s and the ‘80s. The book is also sprinkled throughout with folk songs. Sujatha has done his research and fills the book with actual folk songs, depending on the context. There are songs for every occasion – love, betrayal, revenge, adultery, family life, the harvest season and every other topic under the sun. I wish the publishers had recorded these songs with folk musicians and sold it along with the book. One of the interesting things that I found in the book was the description of the paradoxical sensibilities in villages, how people are conservative and liberal at the same time. For example, how people value money and power and technology a lot, but they are also very superstitious, how they are liberal about man-woman relations but they are also conservative about women’s clothing.
I liked ‘Karaiyellaam Senbagapoo’. I liked the first part, which is about folk music, more than the second part, which transforms the story into a murder mystery. But I liked the book overall. I wish I had read this book when it came out in serial form.
If you want to buy this book, you can do that here. Unfortunately, it is available only in Tamil.
Have you read ‘Karaiyellam Senbagapoo’ or any other books by Sujatha? What do you think about this book or about other Sujatha books?
This sounds very fascinating, an interesting mix. I would like to read it for the cultural references and the folk songs. Interesting that peolpe seem to embrace techniological progress but be very superstitious. Does this mean, that the way we live changes more easily than the way we think or feel?
Too bad it isn’t translated but I’m glad you reviewed it anyway. I’m often relictant to review books that have not been translated. I noticed people often do not read the reviews.
I have never read a book translated from the Tamil.
Glad to know that you liked the feel of the book, Caroline. I liked your observation about how the way we live might change more easily but the way we think or feel is more constant. It is food for thought and I think probably quite true. I hope Sujatha finds a good translator. I can understand what you feel about reviewing a book which is not translated – sometimes I feel the same way.
Please forgive me for exposing my ignorance about your culture, but I didn’t know Tamil was a language until I read Swami and Friends last week. The language was mentioned in that book a couple times.
Now I’m going to go search around on the internet to see if I can find a video of someone speaking Tamil. I’d like to hear what it sounds like.
It is okay, M—–l
There are so many languages in the world that it difficult to know about all of them. You can find a couple of Tamil movie snippets at these links which will give you an idea of how the language sounds like – Ninaivo oru paravai (a ba,ba song – your favourite type 
) and a dialogue snippet.
How did you find ‘Swami and Friends’? Did you like it?
I I’d like to add that song to my list of ba ba songs. I think the title is probably “Ninaivo oru paravai”, but I can’t quite figure out who the artist would be. Kamal Haasan?
Swami and Friends was great. The author has a wonderful sense of humor. I’ll do a write-up about it (and as many of the others as I get to) at the end of the month.
Glad to know that you liked that song
Looking forward to seeing it in your ‘ba ba’ list. Yes, the title is ‘Ninaivo oru paravai’ (‘Thought is a bird’). You guessed right – the singer and the actor who comes in the video is Kamal Haasan 
The actress in the song is Sridevi. In the other video the actress is Sridevi again and the actor is Rajinikanth.
Glad to know that you liked ‘Swami and Friends’. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it.
I think I would like this book. My first book by an Indian author was “The Alchemy of Desire” by Tarun J. Tejpal and I loved it.
On Friday night I went out with some friends to a sitar concert at the Indian Cultural Center here in Bangkok and then we talked about India and languages – one of the guys there said he spoke Tamil and another Indian language (Marathi perhaps, I can’t remember) but the conversation veered in another direction before I had time to ask any questions. Hopefully I will get to do it next time.
Glad to know that you liked ‘The Alchemy of Desire’, Delia. I loved it when I read it, especially the first part of the book. I still remember the scene where the heroine changes the narrator’s list and the new entry reads ‘Fizz is Fizz’
Glad to know that you enjoyed the Sitar concert in Bangkok. Was it by Pandit Ravishankar?
The way he wrote ….there is so much soul and so much feeling in that book that it left me speechless. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that story.
Ustad Matloob Hussain Khan was the name of the sitar player. Unfortunately I didn’t take my camera with me, I should have taken some photos… The music was like nothing I have ever heard, a little difficult to get used to at first but very interesting.
Glad to know that you liked the sitar concert, Delia. I haven’t heard Ustad Matloob Hussain Khan’s music before. I will look for it in YouTube or at the local DVD store.
a interesting book Vishy have any of the books been translated to english do you know ? if so I d love to try one ,all the best stu
As far as I know none of Sujatha’s books have been translated into English, Stu. But I will do some research and let you know if any of them are. Glad to know that you liked the review.
Wow, this sounds like a really interesting and fantastic book, too bad that it’s not been translated yet. I love the sound of how it explores poems, songs, and etc.
Glad to know that you liked the review, Amy. I wish the book was translated into English with an accompanying folk music CD.
wonderfull review, vishy..! i can see how u liked this book.i havent read any of sujatha’s books..now will get one..can u suggest any ?
Glad to know that you liked this review, Sujatha. If you want to explore Sujatha’s works, you can start with this book. Or you can start with one of his feminist novels – ‘Eppodhum Penn’ or ‘Penn Iyandiram’ or ‘Veniyin Kaadhalan’. If you like thrillers I would recommend ‘JK’. It is wonderful and very literary and gripping. The first page of ‘JK’ is one of the best first pages that I have ever read.