Indhira Sounderrajan
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Analai Kaayum AmbuligalIt was a pure co-incidence that I mentioned of "Ishtam", a movie about son getting his father married in my last post, which is very similar to what I read yesterday. This post is about Indhra Sounderrajan's latest offering "Analai Kayum Ambilikal", which roughly translates into "Burning moons". This novel is very much unlike Indhra's, because his forte are always Thrillers & historicals. He, as said in his foreword, loves to be associated more with socials than thrillers. He cites some of the critically acclaimed social novels like Krishnadhasi, En peyar Ranganayaki, etc., yet that didn't really add to his portfolio.

In "Analai kaayum ambiligal", Indhra experiments with two things - one with a completely different writing style & with lesser lead characters, to be precise - four. The story revolves around Ramya, daughter of renowned industrialist Ramnath, Aravind, a journalist coming her life and Saranya, Aravind's sister. The supporting characters are Gnanaprakasam, Ramnath's friend, Susila, Ramnath's ex-wife & Yogesh, Ramya's fiancee.

Ramnath, after getting legally separated from his nagging wife Susila, brings up Ramya as a single parent. Ramya grows as a mature, sensitive human being and helps her father in running his business. Ramnath, unable to bear the loneliness when his daughter is married, doesn't want her to get married. Meanwhile Aravind enters in Ramya's life, followed by Saranya, his widow sister. Ramya's marriage with Yogesh is finalized and Ramya decides to get her father married first.

The best aspect of this novel is that every character is sharply & definitely etched. The characters are very simple and almost like you can spot them in your localities easily. The incidents are very realistic and Indhra had tried to minimise the drama that creeps in this genre. Till the very end itself Indhra had left the relationships loose leaving a lot to our imaginations.

The dialogues are simple and precise commanding your attention. Sometimes they tend to be theatrical, but the contexts they mean are really deep and compelling. Except Ramnath, almost everyone including Saranya speaks straight out of books.

The brief conversation between Yogesh & Ramya is easily the pick of the book. They go against norms by Ramya advocating for manhood and Yogesh for womanhood, and the discussions about bra burning feminists, possible cause of chauvinism are interesting not only while reading, worth taking for life also. The ending of Ramnath's marriage is simply practical, taking care of the loneliness the elders undergo in a marriage of single off-spring, but they way it was wrapped up was bit dramatic.

Another refreshing theme of this novel is that it takes into account of the close bonds of single parents that sometimes turn into possessiveness. Also it touches the need of moving ahead in life. The state of "Widow" was elevated to divinity, yet in the changing culture why to live alone is questioned. Actor Sivakumar, who had written foreword substantiates this question citing the tear jerking example of his widow aunt who was married at the age of 7 but widowed at 9 and lived as a virgin widow all over her life.

Writer Indhra would have made it as a classic by delving into the needs of widows getting married, but he lets down by the mediocre reasoning he offers. In fact he had touched many issues then & there scattered among the dialogues, but had chosen the security as a main issue. Is saving the widows from sexual exploitation the only reason to get them married? If a widow is treated well and is safe, shouldn't she get married again? He contradicts it with the quoted thought of Balakumaran that once feminity starts taking care of its chastity, without depending on masculinity for saving it, there will be no sexual crimes in the world. Also the incidents portrayed about Ramya "investigating" are very kiddish and it didn't make any impact over the readers.

Indhra raises a question "Ramakrishna Paramahamsa married 27 years young Sharada Devi and saw her as a form of "Sakthi", but had he ever understood that inside her also there would have been physical desires?" Also he hints at the plight of the widows living as yet another member in their homes, without any of much importance. Had he emphasized any of the above points, the novel would have been still better.

I enjoyed very much what I read. I won't say it is a great novel by the standards Indhra had set himself for other genres like thrillers & historical. Sometimes the style tends to resemble Ramani Chandran's in parts, but you can't help it when attempting a simple social novel. As said earlier the best part of this creation is its simple writing style, which proves otherwise detrimental also meaning easy predictability. That is the main drawback of this novel.

If you ask for a single reason why you should buy this novel, I would say it for the simply superb characterisation of Ramya. The dialogues the character speak are delight to read. Her character simply overshadows everyone in the novel including Aravind. The clarity in her thoughts and dialogues, even though sometimes are too hard to believe is just mind blowing. She is very much feminine but not a feminist.

Publishers: Thirumagal Publishers, 16, Venkatnarayana Road, Chennai.
Price: Rs. 75/-
Edition: April, 2005