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Book Review
TAMIL
Satirical stories
C. G. RISHIKESH
PENN PAARTHTHAL ORU PETHAL: Bhagyam Ramasami; Poompukar Pathippagam, 127, Prakasam Salai (Broadway), Chennai-600108. Rs. 50.
TIMES ARE changing, and nowadays more and more men and women in India find their own partners, what with matrimonial websites and reality swayamvar shows. Yet, many matches are made in the conventional mode with parents arranging for a ‘boy-meets-girl’ session. The title play in this book by a master humorist pokes fun at this practice. True, this is a topic that has been explored repeatedly in books as well as films but Bhagyam Ramasami’s treatment, a veritable laugh riot, is refreshing. There may be exaggeration but that is a device for satirising the social system. Lot of leg-pulling happens among the members of the gathering and the proceedings threaten to break down, but all’s well that ends well. Time was when women of the household prepared vadaam during summer and the process was laborious. With more and more people buying branded stuff now, it is a vanishing skill: a play records this recipe in a funny vein. In a novel experiment, an entire story is unfolded through a telephone conversation among different characters, some cross-talk included. Another story pays tribute to our domestic helps whose work is rarely appreciated by the housewives. Other stories, wherever they are set, be it the courtroom or the office, contain sparkling wit. Humour often arises from reference to events or personalities of the times; heartier would be the guffaws from those who know them. If anything stops the reader in this racy book, it’s the printing mistakes.
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