Tales Of Lankan Tamil Diaspora Narrated With Poignancy And Hilarity

It had been a combat-riddled routine for the man right from his late teenage when he joined the militant outfit that was formed in 1976 to secure an independent State for the Tamils in the north of the island-nation. As Seelan went missing and his parents lost hope of tracing the boy, they migrated to Toronto. Then, after the civil war for an Elam ended unsuccessfully for its fighters in summer 2009, Seelan was located in a rehabilitation camp. From there, he has been flown into the multi-ethnic trans-Atlantic country, the world바카라�s second-largest by area.

The mansion his businessman-father has built in Canada astounds Seelan. The parent expects the son to assist him in the factory, but Seelan shows no signs of even acclimatising himself in the 바카라�foreign바카라� country. Chilly Canadian April is when he still goes out to stare at the sky and 바카라�listen to the sounds바카라� of the month that is pleasant in tropical Ceylon. Such ways annoy his mother, who later poses a question that further irks the son: 바카라�What did you do on your days-off?바카라� For, armed fighter has no holidays바카라�anywhere in the world.

Weeks later, the ex-Tiger yet again disappears. This time, never to return. The story ends thus: 바카라�Seelan바카라�s snow-covered body, which was born in Mayillidi, Yazhppanam and which escaped Mullivaikkal and reached here via Thailand, was now laid to rest in Toronto. He finally had a piece of land that truly belonged to him...바카라�

바카라�The Good Earth바카라� is among 19 such stories by Appadurai Muttulingam, who was born five years after an American novel by the same name won the Nobel Prize in 1932. The Toronto-settled Sri Lankan Tamil바카라�s collection has recently been published by Delhi바카라�s Ratna Books as After Yesterday, translated by Chenaiite Padma Narayanan.

The title-name short story has its main character바카라�again a Lankan Tamil in Canada바카라�contrasting in its character(s). 바카라�After Yesterday바카라� is far from misery바카라�and chiefly portrays a woman, who is elderly as well. Yet, she somewhat smoothly adapts to the conditions of the new country she seems destined to live in. Mama (or mother, as the character is referred to) is 바카라�baffled바카라� that, say, no device or facility at her new home in the continental-climate country has locks바카라�something so essential to the gates, doors, table-drawers and storage-boxes back in her Colombo.

Such an opening account sets the kind of intended humour, which sustains suitably with the progress of the story. Evangelists, who had managed to make certain advances into the old soul with their successive visits where Mama treats them with oriental courtesies, finally face a snub바카라�from none other than her son: a seasoned Canadian Lankan. He first sent his mom back to Colombo and now smartly packs off the gospeller trio. The parting shot is witty: 바카라�After Mama left, for the first time I locked the door and secured the bold before I went to bed.바카라�

Even more chucklesome is 바카라�Use Your Brains바카라�. The story sets eyes on a Lankan Tamil-origin mid-teen schoolgirl, who is eager to win over her Ukranian classmate, a stunner who enjoys the fanfare of several female students in the campus. The divorcee mother of Anashuya바카라�called Ann by her friends including the tall and blue-eyed Alec from the eastern European country bordering Russia바카라�would constantly advise the daughter, with a cryptic end that Muttulingam encapsulates, 바카라�If a girl needs to get things done, she had two choices: one was to use her brains, and the other was, well, to use another part of the female anatomy.바카라�

Ann does snatch Alec바카라�s love from her 바카라�rival바카라� Samantha (who, as if for a change, isn바카라�t a refugee in Canada). The boy was to learn more about isotopes from science-loving Ann, and together they sit for a debut 바카라�class바카라� in the basement of her home one day at a time she knew the mother would be away. Just as there emerged a chance of Alec getting physical with Ann, she hears someone opening the front door. The stealthy steps were of her mother바카라�s바카라�and there is a 바카라�male form, too바카라�. Amid Mama바카라�s 바카라�laughter바카라� from upstairs, the Ukranian boy manages to flee.

Again, opposing the above spirit comes 바카라�The Witch바카라�s Sister바카라�. It바카라�s the tale of a rich book-editor woman, who finds a likeable a Lankan in Canada where both happen to meet. The refugee impresses the 바카라�madam바카라� with her efficiency as a help at her home for tasks starting from making furniture to laying tiles on the kitchen floor바카라�where, by then in love, they end up lying in a passionate embrace. Only to soon suffer the pangs of separation following the man바카라�s unexpected deportation to his native island.

Such a climax juxtaposes with that of the central young man and the woman in 바카라�The Girl On The Train바카라�, which ends merrily. The two had met a couple of times on a suburban train in Milan where they were struggling to make both ends meet, but the impressions of those unsure and fleeting glances are now brightened as they potentially unite as citizens of Canada, where they had just sung together the national anthem at a public gathering.

Perhaps a more sublime worldview of Muttulingam comes subtly yet strikingly in 바카라�Bodyguard바카라�. A chunk of the story is on a boy바카라�s fascination for a same-age girl, who he would follow her harmlessly on her return from school to home in their Lankan village for a year. Over no less than a decade later and living in the West as a man who married another female, his little son asks with a world map in front of him, 바카라�Papa, have you ever travelled?바카라�

In tacit reference to his islander-time romance as a 17-year-old, the father replies 바카라�1600 miles바카라�. The toddler is curious: 바카라�How long did it take for you to get there?바카라� The man바카라�s reply is sarcastically philosophical: 바카라�Twelve days, my son, is not all that long a time to discover truth.바카라� In front of them, there is an ant crawling on the map. It 바카라�without taking part in our conversation, all by itself...was crossing the Atlantic Ocean.바카라�

Muttulingam, now 81, was born in Jaffna바카라�s Kokuvil바카라�and had emerged on the Tamil literary scene in the 1970s, only to take a quarter century바카라�s break and come back even more impressionably. 바카라�The American Girl바카라�, which Penguin Books had published in its 2014 anthology and is the last story this 200-page book (Rs 299) that views at settlers round the globe, exemplifies the ability of the writer to treat mankind with a saint바카라�s compassion as well as detachment simultaneously.