The Tamil Story: Through the Times, Through the Tides

621 Pages·2016·4.37 MB·English

by  Dilip Kumar (ed.)

Edited by
Dilip Kumar

Translated by
Subashree Krishnaswamy
TRANQUEBAR PRESS
An imprint of westland ltd
61, II Floor, Silverline Building, Alapakkam Main Road, Maduravoyal, Chennai 600 095
93, I Floor, Sham Lal Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi 110 002

First published in TRANQUEBAR PRESS by westland ltd 2016

First ebook edition: 2016

Copyright © Dilip Kumar and Subashree Krishnaswamy 2016

Copyright of the original Tamil stories rest with the authors

All rights reserved

ISBN: 978-93-86036-11-7
Book design by Art Works

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events or
locales is entirely coincidental.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,
resold, hired out, circulated, and no reproduction in any form, in whole or in part (except for brief
quotations in critical articles or reviews) may be made without written permission of the
publishers.
To
the pioneering stalwarts of the Tamil short story
and
all the other writers who have kept the tradition alive
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Our deep sense of gratitude to Meenakshi Mukherjee, who sadly is no
longer with us today. The fruition of this dream project owes much to her
– when we were scrambling around trying to get support, it was she who
saw value in such a project and persuaded us to write to CIIL.
Prof Uday Narain Singh, the then director of CIIL, appreciated the
significance of our proposal and responded immediately. If this project
has seen the light of day, it is because of him, for not only sanctioning a
grant but also ensuring that the process was smooth and efficient. We
are immensely grateful to him. Our thanks also to Prof K Ramasamy, the
then deputy director of CIIL, and his able staff.
We couldn’t have found a more discerning publisher than Gautam
Padmanabhan of Westland Ltd, who saw the literary value and historical
importance of this project much before the book was ready. His
commitment to and interest in such works was evident even several
years ago when he published a seminal anthology of contemporary Tamil
short fiction. We also thank Jayanthi Ramesh, Westland Ltd, for her
prompt and efficient coordination at every stage.
We are indebted to our resource persons who gave invaluable
suggestions and insights – Ramakrishan of Cre-A, senior writer
Ashokamitran and Kannan M of the French Institute, Pondicherry.
If this book is a pleasure to read, it owes much to the sharp eye and
meticulous reading of Aruna Nambiar, who untiringly and unhesitatingly
went over the manuscript a few times, insisting that she thoroughly
enjoyed each reading afresh. We owe a deep debt to Vidya Mani, who,
despite her busy schedule, offered with great alacrity to pore over the
proofs, asserting that nothing gave her greater pleasure. We are also
thankful to Varsha Natarajan, who volunteered to read the final proofs.
However, mistakes, if any, are entirely ours.
If this book is a pleasure to hold, it owes to the creativity and aesthetic
sense of Malvika Mehra, who immediately agreed to design the book. We
also thank her able assistant R Venugopal. For the beautiful images on
the cover, we have to thank the gifted artist, K R Santhanakrishnan, who
readily gave us permission to use his paintings.
We are also deeply grateful to Gita Krishnankutty for her meaningful
and perceptive comments. Our sincere thanks to A R Venkatachalapathy,
who spared no efforts to provide us with an informative bio-note of writer
Visalakshiammal.
A project of such a scale would not have been possible without the help
and support of friends and well-wishers. We would like to particularly
thank Ahana Krishnamoorthy, Bava Chelladurai, Janaki Neelamani,
Kannan Sundaram, Kutty Revathi, Padma Narayanan, Prapanchan,
Rajagopal, M Ramanathan, Ravi Subramaniyan, Sadiq, Selvi,
Sendhooram Jagadish, Shailaja, Sri Kumar, Dr P R Subramanian,
Thiruppur Krishnan, Seeni Vishwanathan, Dr Ganesh Kumar, Dalavai
Sundaram and Nagam Muthu.
That this project took the avatar of a book is entirely due to the
dedicated efforts of computer expert Ambika Dilip Kumar, who not only
kept the manuscript scrupulously in order but also kept us replenished
with endless cups of tea and snacks. Our very special thanks to her.
CONTENTS

FOREWORD
A NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION
1 EXPECTATION AND THE EVENT
Ammani Ammal
2 PEEPUL TREE BY THE TANK
Va Ve Su Iyer
3 RAILWAY JUNCTION
Subramania Bharati
4 KANNAN’S GRAND MISSION
Aa Madhavaiah
5 SUBBAYYAR
Selvakesavarayar
6 OF THE THREE, WHICH ONE?
V Visalakshiammal
7 THE GREAT GRAVEYARD
Pudumaippittan
8 TRANSFORMATION
Mauni
9 DESPERATION
Ku Pa Rajagopalan
10 THE SURGE
Na Pichamurthy
11 VILLAGE ROAD
Ci Su Chellappa
12 KANNAN, MY FRIEND
Ka Naa Subramanyam
13 THE PASSING OF A DAY
Kumudhini
14 MILK ACCOUNT
S V V
15 A SLICE OF JACKFRUIT
Rasikan
16 POLICE FEAST
Kalki
17 THE FIRST CHEQUE ARRIVES!
Devan
18 CLAY
La Sa Ramamrutham
19 GODAVARI GUNDU
Thi Janakiraman
20 THE CHAIR
Ki Rajanarayanan
21 TWO DIFFERENT ESTIMATES
Ku Azhagirisamy
22 PEACOCK
Sundara Ramaswamy
23 TIGER ARTISTE
Ashokamitran
24 IN DARKNESS
G Nagarajan
25 THEFT
Aa Madhavan
26 FLAG HOISTING IN CHINNOOR
Saarvaagan
27 HUSBAND, HUNGER, HUMAN BONDS
Indira Parthasarathy
28 THE ANTHONI WHO GOT LOST
Krishnan Nambi
29 FIGHT AND RESOLUTION
Neela Padmanabhan
30 DISSONANCE
Jayakanthan
31 DHANABALA CHETTIAR COMPANY
C N Annadurai
32 BEYOND THE BOUNDARY
T K Seenivasan
33 THE FISHER GIRL
Rajam Krishnan
34 OUTSIDE, POURING RAIN
R Chudamani