Miscellaneous

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Martyr’s Corner by RKN

An RKN story which was part of the English syllabus in my BSc days. Just being in a textbook took away all the sheen from this brilliant story. So here it is in full glory -- after decades. A fine example of a master's work....

Castor, Pollux and T.R. Rajakumari

One evening, this January, I ventured up to the mottai-madi, the open terrace, to welcome the onset of darkness. The sun was still an orange-red ball. Flocks of rose-ringed parakeets, whizzed towards their nightly roosts, squawking loudly. Lone flying foxes were setting out silently for the...

Cat in the Agraharam

The wealth of contemporary Tamil literature has always been just out of reach for readers like me who speak the mother tongue well enough but tend to stumble over the printed word. But you don't need Tamil roots to appreciate this new collection of translated...

Meenakshi and The Supernumerary Nipple

Legend says that the Pandya king, the ruler of Madurai, rejoiced at the birth of his daughter. She had beautiful eyes, like a pair of chiral fish. So she became Meenakshi (Sanskrit for “fish eyes”). The royal child had another physical characteristic, which the king...

Veet — A Brick

And so the talk turned to sons who don't take as good care of their ageing parents as they should. The blame shifts to the daughter-in-law. The son gets off the hook -- old story. Which reminds me of the "sthalapurana" or origin story of...

Old Masters

T. Janakiraman was born on June 18, 1921, in Thevangudi near Thanjavur.(The T of T. Janakiraman does not stand for Thanjavur, where most of his stories are set. Nor does it stand for Thevangudi near Thanjavur where he was born. ) An analysis of his...