கீதாரி - சு.தமிழ்ச்செல்வி

This is the story of a nomadic community of goat herdsmen and women. The life of these people is something one cannot easily understand from outside. They keep moving from one place to another in search of food for their goats. For them everything is the herd. They take life as it comes and live with whatever they have . These people work doubly harder for their living. There is no rest for these people. Day and night they needs to be with goats. Even a light mistake will cause them a lot. Apart from the natural calamities there are problems with landlords like payment etc.

The story revolves around Ramu and his families. The story starts with the birth of twin girls(Karicha and Sivapi) to a mad woman .Ramu already have a daughter Muthamma. Vellachamy, one of his relative's son also lives with them.  Ramu and his wife Vellayai pulled the babies out as there was no doctors or neighbours nearby.  The landlords decided to handover the mad woman to the hospital and asked Ramu to take care of them . Initially no landlords came forward to adopt but one of them (Sambasivam) for the sake of his name told he will come and take one girl after few years and he did that  The girls were separated.

Karicha lived with Vellachamy and eventually married him after people started talking badly about their relationhip. Vellachamy loved her so much, apart from childlessness ,everything was fine between them but everything changed after he met his brother's family who convinced him and arranged marriage with sister-in-law's sister. Karicha heart broken left Vellachamy and moved with Ramu and family. After leaving Vellachamy , he came to know that he was pregnant but she decided to stay with Ramu.  On the other side, Sambasivam's two wives did not allow Sivapi to continue the education and was forced to work all day long. Sivapi died in a mysterious way- they did not inform the death to the family. Many suspected the death was due to Sambasivam's misbehaviour. What happened to Karicha ,Ramu and Vellachamy is the rest of story.

The author beautifully explains various customs and habits of these people.The marriage between Karicha and Vellachamy was unique. As Vellachamy was busy with his herd, Ramu took his staff and finished the marriage with that.Others like - arranging marriage with younger brother if elder one dies, bring back the dead body all the way to the native village for the burial. The way the housewives go to the villager's houses to grind their spices and masalas -and how they preserve it -amazing. They way these people prepare for the rainy season is very interesting but its very very hard.

Ramu's entire life is selfless . He did everything for others. He risked his life to bring Vellachamy out of the landlord and genuinely loved Karicha and Sivapi. The way he handles the problems of the people and his understanding of the environment and the goats showed his remarkable character.All the female characters in this story are very hardworking and strong.  One cannot finish the book without tears in the end.

The author said the following about the book:

வெயில், மழை, பனி, புயல் என அத்தனை இயற்கைச் சீற்றங்களை யும் வெட்டவெளியில் எதிர்கொள்ளும் அவர்களின் எளிய வாழ்க்கை என்னை வெகுவாகக் கவர்ந்தது. அவர்களைப் பற்றி எழுதவேண்டும் என்று தோன்றியது. அவர்களுடன் கலந்து பேசி அவர்களின் உரையாடல் களின் வழியாகத் தேவையான தரவுகளைச் சேகரித்துக்கொண்டு எழுதத் தொடங்கிவிட்டேன். எழுதி முடிக்கும் வரை கிட்டத்தட்ட ஒரு கீதாரிப் பெண் போலவேதான் என்னை நான் உணர்ந்தேன். அத்தகைய ஓர் உணர்வு இருந்ததால்தான் இது புழங்காத பகுதி, புதிய வாழ்க்கைமுறை, பார்த்திராத நிகழ்ச்சிகள் என்ற தயக்கங்கள் இல்லாமல் எழுதமுடிந்தது. கீதாரியை எனது படைப்பு மனதுக்குக் கிடைத்த வெற்றியாக நான் கருதுகிறேன்.

Remarkable book!