Kavery Nambisan’s poised surgical fingers cut through the heart of rural India in her charming seventh novel, A Town Like Ours. Yes, you read that right. When most people struggle with writing one book (full time), Nambisan has deftly churned out little more than half a dozen books while juggling her day job as a surgeon. If that doesn’t make you envious, then perhaps this will: her last book The Story That Must Not Be Told was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize and the DSC Prize.
In her latest offering, A Town Like Ours, you get the feeling that Nambisan has been mulling over the idea for years—lodged in her subconscious—before writing it all down in one swift sweep. It is a quiet book with an assured, elegant voice. Set in the fictional small town of Pingakshipura, the novel’s narrator is Rajakumari, a retired whore past her prime, who at one time serviced everyone and the local temple priest. This is a town where water runs black—all thanks to the temple priest—and every child’s head is white. Poignant and aching in parts, Nambisan’s motley crew of characters weave a story of love and loss and the desire to succeed in a ferocious world.
There is Saroja and Sampathu who flee a murder most morbid only to land up in Pingakshipura and raise Gundumani and Rukmini (Rukma) in a battered old taxi. No matter how odd this may seem, the two hold onto this semblance of a home. Then there is Gundumani, the boy with the crooked leg, whose can’t seem to understand his love for the woman whom he has treated as his sister, until well…let’s leave that for you to discover. Then there is Lectric Manu, who is a little too keen on Saroja; Kripa and Manohar, the childless couple who discover something unusual about each other after years of marriage.
A Town Like Ours is a sad tale that negotiates all those uncomfortable emotions gurgling underneath. Here is a little sampling of Rajakumari’s thoughts: ‘The very pith of marriage is carnal, you will do it with your husband or wife and no other. The manliness and womanliness with which couples accept this situation while attempting to imitate happiness is enough to make me weep. So it begins, this wedded happiness which is sometimes also a curse. Couples tire of each other’s bodies without realising it. They proceed to make children who grow up and go to school, the bidi factory or brothel, they live normal lives while their vague disenchantment cooks away and bounces off the walls of their cage like tired moths that slowly-slowly wither to dust.’
The writing is measured and the story unravels itself beautifully as you nudge each page. Nambisan’s book is a slow, lilting little gem that is ought to be relished on a long, monsoon-dappled train journey.
A Town Like Ours
By: Kavery Nambisan
Pages: 256 / Price: Rs 395 / Publisher: Aleph Book Company
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> LifeStyle> Books / by Supriya David / August 10th, 2014
