Alamelu Janaki

   “April is the cruelest month” T.S. Eliot said, I can’t agree more.          It has been a decade since your demise. And life refused to be the same way since then.         Mother is absolutely the dominant force in all our lives, the strongest connection ever. Because they gave us life and laid the foundation of life and knowledge. I have always thought, you unknowingly raised us to be independent and self-assured. I often feel things would have been much different if you were around.       I had   questions like “why it had to be you?” “what next happens to you?” “where did we fail you?” “we abandoned you or you chose it?.” over the years, I understood that’s the course of life. What has to happen will happen and over time, we get used to the pain and navigate the absence in each different ways.       People say my daughter looks more like ...

                                       TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE  by Mitch Albom.                 I have been someone who is haunted by the thoughts of death, the aftermath, the situation of our loved ones, the fear of not knowing what happens next, the purpose of our existence, the things that might possibly go unsaid and lot more. This complicated streak of thoughts and inability to understand the reason behind it has always put me in despair. This book somehow erased the anxiety that surrounds such thoughts. It offered me solidarity, support and comfort around such abandoned areas.  The book concerns an aging, dying professor and his beloved student discussing life, love, death. Questions like 1.                                  ...

  Nobel winning South Korean writer Han Kang’s The Vegetarian (International Booker prize, 2016) rationalizes the inscrutable nature of the black hole kind of thing in every individual, iterating the idea that each one has their own bag of shit to deal with. The book addresses the question of ‘what it takes to be a human?’   and the fragility of the components with which humans are made of.   A woman wants to become a plant, shedding all the human attributes that surround her. Developing from the 1997 short story, ‘The Fruit of My Woman’ this novel is written in three parts narrated by her husband, sister and brother-in-law whose lives are irrevocably altered since the protagonist’ decision to relinquish meat. In the first part of the book, Yeong-hye appears as a normal, insignificant woman marrying a cold and indifferent person; everything about their life follows a monotonous rhythm until she being disturbed by a series of dreams that propel her to become a vegetari...

                    How do you punish or reclaim someone in a wronged relationship?  “A devastated woman’s grief-stricken sigh had the potential to burn down a house.”                                                                                                    (The Poison of love) Love the most debated, celebrated notion has incredible power to replenish, destroy an individual's life, irrevocably. The plot concerns the love of Tulsi, an IIT...

 Pondicherry now feels totally different through Imayam's eyes.  The book Aarumugam  is about the  coming of age of the titular character, born into a oppressed family. The presence/absence of his family has greatly shaped his adulthood, robbing off his innocence. Set in Pondicherry, the book traces the protected boyhood of Aarumugam, his straying away from studies rather life itself by consistently running away from bothersome situations.  The downtrodden people in his society represent the vicious cycle of poverty and the never ending struggle to meet the basic needs. The surrounding he engages in is a microcosm of the real world itself where the fittest and richest survive and the poor, oppressed people run a rat race that sees no light.  Dhanabakiyam, Aarumugam's mother survives him post his father's demise while working at Auroville. she treats her son's wellbeing as the utmost priority and aspires to give him education and all the  opportunities ...

The Birth of a Leader is quite a process.  I wasn't a fan of Vijay as an actor but he got me fascinating since his decision to enter politics. It is obvious that Vijay as a leader will be highly charismatic, hugely popular. Considering the recent stampede, the significant question that lingers around his political future is how will he organize the collective energy of his fans and further navigate the passion of the mob to suit his career, as the recent horror proved that unchecked collective passion is dangerous.      This reminds me of Shakespeare's depiction of Roman crowd during the assassination of Julius Caesar. The play presents the roman crowd as fickle, emotional and easily swayed.  In the opening of Shakespeareian play Julius Caesar, the crowd jubilantly celebrates the victory of Caesar. Ironically, the same crowd accepts Brutus rationale for Caesar's death.  After the talk of Brutus, the crowd believes that Caesar was ambitious and he de...