5/24/2023 0 Comments One part woman by perumal murugan![]() ![]() In the leadup to its climax, the artful narrative is as frenzied as a religious festival present and past come in and out of focus as if to the cue of loud cymbals. When nothing yields fruit, the couple are advised to participate in the festivities of a local temple: for one night the norms of society are relaxed, all men are deemed gods and women desiring children are permitted to have sex with strangers. ![]() Twelve years of childlessness are accompanied by thousands of temple visits, prayers, offerings. Seen by society as a “barren” woman, Ponna is insulted and excluded by the community, while Kali is goaded to take a second wife. Kali treats her with utmost affection, and has a primal, reflexive desire for her that cannot quite qualify as love. Ponna is a doting, obedient, subservient wife, the kind who comes running at a snap of her husband’s fingers, and who only exists in the Tamil male imagination. ![]() The novel, set in 1940s Tamil Nadu, is the story of Ponna and Kali, a farming couple whose happiness is marred by their inability to have a child. ![]()
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