பிறகு(Piragu) - பூமணி(Poomani)

I bought this book long time back, many times i took it ,read few pages but never continued to finish it. At last, few days back i took this book and started reading and continued, i should say i had great time  reading this classic.First , the front cover design is something one will not forget soon. I was really struck by it , well done designer Santhosh.

This books tells the story of Alagiri and his community. Alagiri is a cobbler and earns his daily living depends on the high caste people.His wife died after giving birth to his daughter Muthumaari, after long consideration and compulsion by community, he remarry Aavuda . Aavuda takes care his daughter like her own daughter. I love this character, beautifully portrayed by author.

Alagiri's life revolves around his family and the neem tree. The author characterizes the neem tree which bears everything from the community.The sorrow filled life of Muthumaari makes the reader to feel for her, i was really surprised how Alagiri coped the death of her. Muthamaari was first married to Vairavan , who joined Army and left her. Vairavan is the first one to break out of the community .The gradual transformation of Vairavan was told beautifully by the author. She remarry Muniyaandi but it failed after she left home the child and attend Vairavan's father's funeral. She died by jumping into well. The marriage, the marriage life , the children and the death of Muthumaari was told in a manner one can easily understand the community's way of life.

Kandhaiya , the village guard, is the only man who try to solve issues within the village and he is very supportive of Alagiri. Kandhaiya's death brought tears in my eyes.Two other characters which made impact on the whole story were Sakkanan and Chithiran. Their continues talks about past and present was funny and interesting.Karuppan and his silent romance with Muthumaari, in fact many times i thought he will propose to her but the author knew very well , it should not happen in the community.

The transformation of the village is slow but dramatic.First, the announcement of election and how the rich (Appaiya&Villiserikkarar) instructed Sakkiliyakudi to vote.More lands were bought by the rich and money allotted to the municipality was laundered by the rich.All these transformation did not affect this community much, their life goes on as usual.

"எலே சொதுச்சொகம் காசுனு மனசுல ஒடயிலதான் நிம்மதியே கெட்டுப்பொகுதுடா "

The author has portrayed the suffering and pain of the people born as a result of economic hegemony and more importantly caste.I borrow this from Davind Announsamy - "Hero is not a person, he is a community itself. ' .The author once told “I don’t know where the word Dalit appeared. I have been writing about the poor and marginalised sections of society well before the word appeared. The term is derogatory because many critics use it as a concession to writers belonging to lower castes. There is no concession in Literature.” No where in this novel the author used the word "dalit", which is great. The author knew his role, he did not try do create uproar by his portrayal but he simply tells their way of living.

I will certainly keep this book as one of the Modern Tamil classics and must read.