Ambai

The process of translation, writes Ambai, in the introduction to this collection of stories, can be likened to transplanting a seed from soil to another. The translator and author together prepare the new soil, soften it, and so the seed takes root. And so, she describes warmly, her relationship with the translators she has worked with over the years, including GJV Prasad, who translated this work: a dialogic process of arguments and resolutions, that ultimately rests on acceptance that show more reading the original Tamil and the English version will be distinct experiences. One of the reasons why Ambai remains a favourite author of mine is that she combines both, the sophisticated intelligence that allows her to step back from her own work, while never losing the angry, immediate and emotional urgency that permeates her writing. Not every one can sustain that balance, nor do it consistently as she has, in this seventh collection of stories.

Ambai's stories in this volume centre around journeys and transitions, set largely in the city of Mumbai. Although Ambai writes in Tamil, the dominant language of Mumbai is Marathi, and phrases in common use drip into her stories, as do Mumbai's massive, overcrowded, suburban commuter trains, the packed chawls, or one-room apartments that families live in. Ambai's stories locate the women that live inside these tiny spaces, and the work they do, amid the big transitions of the city: redevelopment projects, mill closures, social changes, caste and class dichotomies shifting. Her staccato style is brutally effective. In 'The Bird with a Swollen Neck,' she describes the agonizing life of a woman caring for her father who has Alzheimers and forgets his wife has died: "Suddenly one day he asked, ‘It is ten o’ clock. Why hasn’t your mother returned yet? Why so long to buy vegetables?’ Amma was hanging on the wall in front of him." In 'The City that Rises from the Ashes' a woman crumbles under similar domestic pressures, but carefully completes suicide in a manner that minimises the clean-up required after.

These are solemn stories, but they aren't miserable. There's some kind of pragmatic hope that comes through each of them, one that is cognisant of the difficult and intersectional challenges of daily life, and the possibility that it might crush you, but nonetheless persists. In 'The Lion's Tale' a grandmother defines 'love' to the narrator: a 'small child' who might throw tantrums, create messes, get in trouble, "But it would never let go of my hand.” Small kindnesses among strangers and friends stipple these stories: in the 'The Bird with a Swollen Throat' an entire bus attempts to rally and rescue an injured bird, while '1984' creates space for a friendship across communities despite the riots that rocked India in that year. These are unflinching, but not unkind stories. I recommend them so much. show less

It's rare that I give a book of short stories five stars. This one is a cohesive whole. Beautifully translated from Tamil by Lakshmi Holmstrom, Ambai's stories are gentle but astute slices of Indian life. There is a fierce feminism & egalitarianism in her work, attentive to social injustice. Brimming with references to Tamil culture and Indian epics and myths. Lovingly rendered natural landscapes. Generous and compassionate in its depiction of humanity.

Ambai, one of the finest modern Tamil short-story writers, is much read, discussed and written about, and loved for the wit, innovative story-telling, and lyrical grace of her writing. Breaking traditional modes of expression in terms of language and content, In a Forest, a Deer recounts the saga of Tangam Athai, whose husband remarried because she could not bear him a child and Chinthiru's journey to the forest alongside the mythological tale of Sita's exile to underscore Chinthiru's unique show more search for self-identity. Winner of the Hutch Crossword Book Award 2006, this collection is an enduring testimony of the ideology and belief that Ambai's writings affirm-the need to know and be in touch with a stable or 'grounded' self that allows fluidity and change in modern times of travel, dislocation, and exile. show less

Insightful. Two stars for that. Story touches upon a social aspect. Story itself wasn't entertaining.