Saw the movie mogamul . Sure it is slow moving , but makes you think at every twist and turn. The song ‘sollayo vai thiranthu just about sums up the main theme . Archana Joglekar looks beautiful and the mother daughter duo live their roles as tamil-thanjavoor marathi caught in a cleft.
If a movie can be so touching, the book has to be more so. Whoever said, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ ? after all a picture also has to give rise to words, or can we think or appreciate a picture without words, with just visuals; may be the youngsters these days can. Words let you imagine a picture, may be a different picture every time you read the words or reflect on the words, depending on the mood , and your own stage of growth. This is one book of Thi jaanakiraman I had not read. Thanks to flip cart, it is so easy to procure tamil books, even from a town like Mhow.
I took a week to finish the 600 odd pages. In fact , I deliberately read slowly, so that it can be savored for a longer time. A book has to be ‘put downable’ so as to let you chew the cud leisurely, relishing and reflecting on every chapter. Each character has been portrayed so live, complete with warts and all. It is total Thanjavoor and Kaveri; a place I have never been to , yet I feel so much part of. In fact my thanjavoor is as seen through Thi jaa’s books and of course from my father. Some of the words and phrases you come across in the book are no more in vogue. After a long time I came across ‘haithari kodagal’ an exclamation that I have heard only from my father.
Kaveri and Carnatic music gently flow all along the story. There is that subtle humour, characteristic of the region. One can sense the spiritualism, talent and brilliance in individuals and also the appalling cruelty in some of the social customs and practices.
A young girl is married to an old man; then there is the character ‘thaiyyu paati’ who steps off the road, every time someone approaches to avoid bringing bad luck to people. She was married at three, widowed at four and for the next seventy years she has lived like this. This one sentence brings to mind a thousand pictures of cruelty to women in this society.
Predictably, the book is better than the movie. While there is lot of romanticism in the movie, the book is more realistic, may be a little pedestrian, which is what real life is.
Another book that can be read more than once.