Meeran’s stories – Thoppil Mohamed Meeran, Translated from Tamil by Prabha Sridevan

Description

Meeran balances sadness and hope, magic and reality, values cherished and values hammered on. He watches greed drying up not just the wetness around us, but even the moisture in our hearts. The words ‘Edukkado…ee…shaitaney’ (cast away this devil) is for all the negativity, exclusion and discrimination around us. He writes about the sensuality of a young girl dreaming of an Arab captain even after her body becomes old, and of the young boy who passes off copied poems as his, rewarded by the teacher for at least dreaming of poetry. A corpse talks to his ungrateful siblings and a Lebbai speaks to mermaids. When there is no water anywhere around, how does it spring copiously in the US soft drink company? The villagers wonder if the water comes from America! Meeran climbs up the Elephant rock in his hamlet and sees the whole world.

Without blaring, Meeran gently whispers into our ears about the lives of his people, their faith and superstitions, the lush fields and the rocks, the women and their children, the prayers and the festivals and even the pickles and snacks.