He listens to Tamil film music and Carnatic music. He has composed certain keerthanas specially for T. He desires to be in close communion with nature, in a house that is surrounded by trees and filled with cows and goats. Agriculture is an activity he enjoys and he often thinks that his life would have been happier had he lived it as a farmer.
Currently he works as a professor in a college. Murugan lives in Namakkal. Kalyan Raman is a translator of Tamil writing based in Chennai. He has also translated The Goat Thief , an anthology of short stories by Perumal Murugan in addition to multiple other works of contemporary Tamil fiction.
In February , he received the Pudumaipithan award for his contribution to Tamil literature. Leela Samson is a virtuoso performer and a sensitive interpreter of the nuances of bharata natyam. Spanda , a body of work choreographed by her 20 yrs ago, is still celebrated for its innovations in bharatanatyam traditions. Leela is the author of Rhythm in Joy and Rukmini Devi — a life. In her many roles, she has been the director of Kalakshetra,the chairperson of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and the chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification.
Leela has been the recipient of many awards for her work and contribution to the arts, including the Sanskriti Award, and the Padmashri Award. Sara Rai chair is a writer and literary translator working with Hindi, Urdu, and English. She has published three collections of short stories in Hindi with her first novel, Cheelvali Kothi The House of Kites published in Annapurna Garimella is a designer and an art historian.
Prem Panicker is the editor of Peepli. He has worked as a journalist and editor for over 30 years across print and digital mediums. Prem was one of the team of journalists who helped start Rediff. Prem conducts storytelling workshops, and consults various media houses from time to time.
Amit Varma is a writer and podcaster based in Mumbai. He has been a journalist for over two decades, and won the Bastiat Prize for Journalism in and Amit also teaches the online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Her collection of essays in Chinese, Nationalism Refigured , was re-issued in Ramu Ramanathan is a playwright and director based in Mumbai.
He has scripted notable plays such as Cotton 56, Polyester 84 ; Comrade Kumbhakarna ; and Mahadevbhai. Ramanathan writes on theatre and culture in newspapers and periodicals.
He has been associated with the printing industry for three decades as a journalist. He is the editor of PrintWeek and WhatPackaging? Deepika received her M. Group of Hospitals before pursuing her passion for the arts She has been an independent writer on contemporary art and the city since Anjum was, until recently, Books Editor at The Caravan.
My heart felt heavy at the end after I finished reading this book. It breaks my heart to see how these innocent creatures are treated, just a gentle reminder: Please be kind to animals and make this world a better place to live.
Poonachi is an important book, I'd recommend it for everyone to read once. However, my library was recommending this online as the 'book of the week' and seeing that it was translated from Tamil, I was curious to give it a go. I'm always looking for good translated literature and had never read something translated from Tamil before. I was also intrigued by the idea of reading a book mainly from the perspective of a goat, with this drawing comparisons to Animal Farm in that in functions as a sort of parable or allegory told through the eyes of an animal.
The novel blends this metaphorical storytelling with fantastical elements, as well as draws on religious themes and imagery at times. I'm sure reading this with a much deeper contextual knowledge of Indian historic, politics and culture would be more impactful, but I still found the story both endearing and heart-breaking.
You can see the pointed nature of the author criticizing the government in how they are portrayed in this story as well which I find fascinating. Doing some research, I found that this author had some controversy around his previous novel, so I would be curious to know how this one was received as he originally claimed to be done with being an author after his criticism.
Overall, this is a quick only pages read that is able to capture very deep, human emotions as presented by the story of a goat, as the title suggests. I was uncomfortable at times, which I believe was intentional on the author's part. While it may not be the most impactful read ever, it had strong moments that make the read worth it. Would recommend for fans of fairytales, parables, and mystical fiction, and those that like a weird bent to their literature as this has some inexplicable elements that you must suspend your disbelief for in order to move forward in the story.
I find the writing very interesting with the plot focussing on the lives of the farmers and their livestock.
It's a very simple story with some elements of magical realism telling about the hardships an old couple had to face upbringing a tiny weak black unique kid called Poonachi. This is the story of how Poonachi changed the lives of the old couple being the unbelievable miracle as she turned out to be.
The main highlights of the story include family bond, love and longing, how the simple village lives struggle through times of hardships and how the people bond with their livestock. I loved the second half more. It's heartbreaking at times. At times, it's uncomfortable to read some particular parts dealing with some very realistic details.
Otherwise it's a good read. Perumal Murugan's books are always memorable even if they are not the best stories ever told. I wished I would have liked the story more, I really do. I think it is a good story about a goat only the problem is it isn't in my opinion written for the western world.
This story would do well in India, but it lacks and also the structure is hard to read for when you are Western it might be the translation?? There for it only gets 3 points. This is a ARC from the publisher, which I got for a honest review. Ron Charles. Kalyan Raman, jumps nimbly from fantasy to realism to parable. How much it resonates with you will depend on the breadth of your sympathies and your interest in adult tales that include the thoughts and feelings of animal characters.
The effect is not so much escapist fantasy as existential reflection. In the opening scene, an extraordinarily tall stranger walks up to the old man and announces that he has been wandering from village to village looking for the right person to receive his black baby goat. The old man takes this tiny kid home. His wife names it Poonachi and devotes herself to the difficult job of keeping such a small, sickly creature alive.
In the past couple of years, Murugan has become a reliable and favourite author.. And hence didn't hesitate to pick this from a choice of 5 books in the Amazon ebook promotion scheme for prime members wherein one is allowed to pick a free kindle book every month.
This week the theme was discrimination, and this book fit in perfectly. As the title declares, Poonachi is the story of a black goat who came to be raised by an old couple under mysterious circumstances.
We are exposed to lots of discrimination and troubled lives. The government is troubling the Asuras I assume them to be lower caste community in Tamil Nadu as Murugan is fond of penning down caste based oppression stories and Poonachi represents discrimination based on color and gender, along with caste.
This is not at all a happy story.. It is depressing and morose, but is a powerful story which makes one think and retrospect and be filled with turmoil, if one lets oneself be dragged into the injustices existing in the society. The book has a promising start, the premise and the way the author speaks through the goats, their personification seemed good.
Despite his best judgement to not write about religion and politics and hairy topics like that which he foretells in the preface, there is some socio-political subtext in the world that he writes about. However it all goes south as it gets real old real fast. The rampant personification and the amount of human emotions that the author piles on the animals, that too in a world where humans already exist and interact with them seems hammy. Despite being unabashed in showing the heartache, it seems not believable.
The characters of the owners were much more believable than any of the others. It's a book that had tremendous potential at the start but fizzles out by the end. It's a short and fast read so I didn't really mind finishing it, but it wasn't something that had me hooked. Richa Bhattarai. Author 1 book followers.
So there is a kind of loss inherent in the very act of writing--why should it then come as a surprise during translating? A tightening of structure, erasure of fluff, coat of beauty. I would request you to read the translation as a literary text that is complete in itself. Do not accuse the process of translation of diminishing the value of the original text.
It is all you have, all you need. Forgetting all about the Tamil version, we now have the English rendition at hand. A slim, thoughtful, sweetly-etched life story of a tiny black goat.
Judged only by the style and flow of the translation, it is a smooth, pleasant and heartwarming read. The undercurrents and insinuations, accusations and symbols, though, are both joyful and laborious to untangle. And while its experimentations of merging a fable with contemporary satire are curiosity-rousing, they are also responsible for the muddles they give rise to. The novel leads us to a hamlet, where an elderly couple ekes out a meagre living.
One day, Poonachi enters their ordinary life and creates an astonishing change. The miniscule black goat, likened to a wriggling worm, takes up a huge space in their home and heart h. This bonding between humans and animal is an emotional and intimate relation ingenuously conveyed. As we are lulled by this simple world brimming with affection and bonhomie, the gears start turning beneath our delicately-placed feet.
Suddenly, the reader is made aware of the unforgiving world outside this idyllic microcosm. As the old lady stands in line for hours to procure government identification for Poonachu, the sorrows of the state come pouring in.
No one knows exactly what the identification does, or why a citizen has to face such misery before even getting a glimpse of a taunting, unhelpful, threatening government official.
This is where we realise the story has evolved from an animal fable to a political satire. The rows upon rows of villagers tottering in line to get their cattle verified, and being flogged and punished ruthlessly if they dare faint of hunger or heat, is a direct parallel to citizens outside the novel, of suffering piled on to the already deprived.
Our minds will wander, angrily and fruitlessly, to fellow country people who trudge for days to fulfill an official diktat, but are spurned and ridiculed, and their work left undone. We will be enraged by recollections of students who must pay fines to get their certificates corrected even though the error was not their fault; of officials turning defensive and inserting obstacles in the procedure where there are none. The regime has ears.
The helplessness of the couple will ricochet back, ultimately, to the readers themselves. This simmering resentment, anger and introspection are veiled by the childlike tale of the goat that touches the lives of everyone she meets.
The rural milieu, its very flavour and atmosphere, is captured gorgeously by the writer through knowledgeable insights; it is a timeless representation of fresh pools, tender buds and cud-chewing cattle of a far-flung village. Yet the writer is more than aware of rural hardships, and has stopped short of romanticizing it. It ends up as a hotchpotch, an animal baa-ing for attention while its owner clamours for the same space, of an animal not remaining one and a human rendered useless.
Murugan has humorously described why his protagonist is a goat. The ending, though, is superb. Just a simple sentence, but centuries of myths and cultural complexities layered in it that makes for extensive, and very interesting, background reading. Raksha Bhat. I got an author signed copy of this book at the Bengaluru Poetry Festival. Reading Poonachi was a thought provoking experience, the writing is simple and unpresumptuous but the premise of the book is what shook me to the core.
We humans do a lot of unfathomable things and this story makes you see it through the eyes of a goat. Also the kindly care Poonachi receives from the old couple; the transition of behaviour and emotions in the family, community and village is something which is beautifully described.
I wish I could read the original Tamil version! K aworldinpages. Kalyan Raman, thus begins the life of this black goat named Poonachi. There's a very prominent, recurring and touching theme throughout the book—something we see and witness every day without ever really sparing a thought.
The plot is exceptionally well written and equally smoothly translated. Simple language, funny at instances, and you sail through it, wanting to delve further into the life of this little, inquisitive, intelligent and precious goat. All the fuss around it feels justified and I'm glad I bought this book. Verdict: Buy! The most exciting literature in India is produced in regional languages. So glad I got to read this translation! Need to dig up more of Perumal Murugan's work asap.
After receiving a gushing review from my favourite New York Times book reviewer, Parul Shegul,, I had my local indy thecityandthecitybooks order this in for me and it was the first title I finished in It did not disappoint. A mysterious man carries a baby goat on his shoulders and offers him to an old shepherd, promising an animal certain to carry litters of seven. Skeptical but grateful, the old man takes the baby goat back to his wife, who names her Poonachi.
The kid is a challenge to raise but the wife grows quite attached to the goat, mothering her to good health. What follows is an intimate parable, told through the views of the shepherd, his wife and Poonachi, each telling their suffering as the goat grows into adulthood and fulfills the fate promised by the mysterious man.
Despite this, Poonachi does not bring good fortune as drought means her gift is a great burden. Told in very simple prose, this story is nonetheless a deep and emotional examination into the meaning of family and love and the suffering that often accompanies these. One feels for all the protagonists, who cannot overcome forces beyond their control, despite carrying with them a miracle meant as a gift.
Instead this gift adds to their sadness, feels like an extra misfortune in a life filled with them. Even good luck dooms in the end. The book might come across as if it would like you to believe that it is subtle it's smart that way , but it's not subtle in its criticism and it doesn't want to be - every sentence in the book is hard hitting and remains relevant to current socio-political scenarios in the country.
It is a critique of hierarchies and inequalities around class and gender. It also comes across as a story of struggle and existence. Radhika Roy. Short read which will move you in ways that you will find extraordinary. Murugan has presented a devastatingly raw picture of how hunger, lust, love, and, at times, maternal affection, triumph over everything else.
Would recommend. It's a very sad book. When a series of misfortunes are placed one after another, it becomes Poonachi's life. But it all starts with the most pleasant vibes. A farmer sitting on a mound, enjoying the sunset when he sees a man, half as tall as a palm tree with a small black goat in his hand, as small as a worm; the blackest, shiniest and the smallest goat. A miraculous goat!
It is a book written about women by a man; a remarkably accurate account of women's life by man. I have read many books men write about women, but none like this one. This one is respectful, clear, open and with no loops to bound the nature of women within.
I bow down to this man for creating such a story and smartly linking it at the end to the story of a goddess. So, gracefully has no other writer written about humans through animals. The space one enjoys when talking about humans by dint of animals is enormous- just realised that. All of this is, in true Perumal Murugan style, unsentimental and earthily matter- of-fact, drawing attention to the helplessness of the female body and the multiple and violent demands on it, whether by nature, or the community.
However, despite some similarities between the conditions of goats and humans discernible in the story, Poonachi is not primarily allegorical, but accords animalkind the dignity and depth of feelings that they are rarely manifested with in literature. The reader also catches glimpses of such hierarchies that are an integral part of human society. In one extended sequence in the novel, the author describes the mandatory procedure for citizens and their pets to get their ears pierced and slyly slips in a comment on the surveillance state.
Suppose they get a little angry and point them at the regime? Such goats have to be identified, right? At another place, a government official impresses upon the couple that the superpowerdom of a nation depends upon the fecundity of its goats.
This is the closest the text comes to a satire on the human condition, with generous dollops of the absurd. Though such statements are few and far between and may even appear a tad contrived, they still show that the powerless or the silenced should not be mistaken as acquiescing. There is much to be learnt from Poonachi, whether about the transience of life or the deeply entrenched inequalities within humans, or between humans and other creatures, which are too routine to be majestically tragic.
It is also about the briefness of miracles, miracles turning into curses, and the inevitability of suffering, separation, and death. Through its humble cast of characters, the slim novel, as sparse as its setting, explores needs and instincts essential to all living creatures—hunger, safe shelter, affection, or sex. And in that sense it is not just the innocent story of a black goat, but a moving and universal political story of relevance to all of us.
Perumal Murugan brings his previous strengths as a chronicler of the minutiae of rural life and nature, and the sensitive portrayal of female characters, together in this novel and forays into a new direction marked by a refreshing lack of anthropocentrism that is a fitting need in times when human freedoms and desires are so under siege and humans begin to identify with animals.
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