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Conversations Regarding the Fatalistic Outlook of the Common Man
Conversations Regarding the Fatalistic Outlook of the Common Man is a collection of 40 dialogues that melds the classical philosophical tradition of Plato and Socrates with the anarchic freedom of a mid-1990s chat room, and tops it all off with a dash of Senthil-Goundamani comedy. Not really, but anyway.
In this book Kuzhali Manickavel interviews children on the subject of ghosts, shoeracks, and gender-neutral pronouns. She speaks to adults about Hindi imposition, hipster racism, and iskisk deospray. She chats with Niira Radia about banana cabinets. She pesters anyone who will listen about Bollywood movie tropes and babies raining from the sky. Puzzles are posed, hypocrisies exposed, awesome bargaining strategies disclosed. Come listen.
In this book Kuzhali Manickavel interviews children on the subject of ghosts, shoeracks, and gender-neutral pronouns. She speaks to adults about Hindi imposition, hipster racism, and iskisk deospray. She chats with Niira Radia about banana cabinets. She pesters anyone who will listen about Bollywood movie tropes and babies raining from the sky. Puzzles are posed, hypocrisies exposed, awesome bargaining strategies disclosed. Come listen.
- GenresFiction
241 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 4, 2023
7 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
About the author
Kuzhali Manickavel
29 books81 followersKuzhali Manickavel (Tamil: குழலி மாணிக்கவேல்) is an Indian writer who writes in English. She was born in Winnipeg, Canada and moved to India when she was thirteen. She currently lives in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu. Her first book - Insects Are Just Like You And Me Except Some Of Them Have Wings was published by Blaft Publications in 2008. Her short stories have also appeared in print magazines like Shimmer Magazine, Versal literary journal, AGNI, PANK, FRiGG and Tehelka.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 26, 2023
Few authors make me laugh, spontaneously and out loud, with nearly every paragraph. Kuzhali Manickavel does.
Fewer still can transform that light, insightful humour into the absolute gut-punch that is “The Girl”. The humour isn’t lost, but it is suddenly drawn in relief of a different kind of insight entirely. A four-year-old has to drag us, the adults — with no cooperation from us — through the mud of reality.
The best parts of this book are impossible to describe. Each one is something lived, previously or currently, and represents more the sense of something than that thing itself.
I wish I spoke Tamil, but I never will.
Fewer still can transform that light, insightful humour into the absolute gut-punch that is “The Girl”. The humour isn’t lost, but it is suddenly drawn in relief of a different kind of insight entirely. A four-year-old has to drag us, the adults — with no cooperation from us — through the mud of reality.
The best parts of this book are impossible to describe. Each one is something lived, previously or currently, and represents more the sense of something than that thing itself.
I wish I spoke Tamil, but I never will.
March 1, 2025
should’ve read this long ago, so good
July 9, 2025
-Irerevent humour that's relevant-
Review of 'Conversations Regarding the Fatalistic Outlook of the Common Man'
Quote Alert
"𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐭! 𝐈 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞' 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞! 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠."
Conversations Regarding the Fatalistic Outlook of the Common Man is one of a kind book, brimming with dry wit and in-your-face humour. If the issues subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) raised here were not so pertinent and prevalent in the cultural milieu today, I might have called it black humour. But this is so much more.
It's irerevent humour is so relevant, and the need of the time. These conversations, something as prevalent as Hindi imposition, are so common in various geographical pockets hence the book speaks out to multitudes of people on a same wavelength. The author talks about something crazy like Squirrel AIDS to something ordinary like government offices and how everyone hates them.
Have a look at this conversation -
S: OK enough. What games did you play today? Did you play Run Up And Down And Up And Down The Building Signature Hunt?
K: No, that was last time. And a very invigorating game it was too because one person absolutely refused to sign anything unless I bought them
samosa and tea, sang their personal top ten hits of MGR while standing on one leg, and promised to bring them four bottles of authentic Andhra mango pickle.
S: So what was today's game?
K: First we played Repeat After Me Because You Are Stupid.
Conversations, high on humour, is a dialogue based book. It's basically a medley of 40 dialogues that melds the classical philosophical tradition of Plato and Socrates with the silliness of a mid-1990s, chat room powered by a stumbling (and expensive) internet connection. The translation of 'Munni Badnam Hui' song is also explained and discussed.
Have a look at this- 'Now the first step in attaining your elephant would be to manifest
your elephant reality in tandem with the elephant vibrations of the elephant universe.'
The premise of the book is that the author Kuzhali Manickavel goes on to interview kids, asking them questions that range from as absurd (but hot favourite of kids) like ghosts to as mundane as shoeracks, and something as pertinent as gender-neutral pronouns. A very effective tool to expose and lay bare the societal hypocrisy.
Come, let's listen and read.
Review of 'Conversations Regarding the Fatalistic Outlook of the Common Man'
Quote Alert
"𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐭! 𝐈 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞' 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞! 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠."
Conversations Regarding the Fatalistic Outlook of the Common Man is one of a kind book, brimming with dry wit and in-your-face humour. If the issues subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) raised here were not so pertinent and prevalent in the cultural milieu today, I might have called it black humour. But this is so much more.
It's irerevent humour is so relevant, and the need of the time. These conversations, something as prevalent as Hindi imposition, are so common in various geographical pockets hence the book speaks out to multitudes of people on a same wavelength. The author talks about something crazy like Squirrel AIDS to something ordinary like government offices and how everyone hates them.
Have a look at this conversation -
S: OK enough. What games did you play today? Did you play Run Up And Down And Up And Down The Building Signature Hunt?
K: No, that was last time. And a very invigorating game it was too because one person absolutely refused to sign anything unless I bought them
samosa and tea, sang their personal top ten hits of MGR while standing on one leg, and promised to bring them four bottles of authentic Andhra mango pickle.
S: So what was today's game?
K: First we played Repeat After Me Because You Are Stupid.
Conversations, high on humour, is a dialogue based book. It's basically a medley of 40 dialogues that melds the classical philosophical tradition of Plato and Socrates with the silliness of a mid-1990s, chat room powered by a stumbling (and expensive) internet connection. The translation of 'Munni Badnam Hui' song is also explained and discussed.
Have a look at this- 'Now the first step in attaining your elephant would be to manifest
your elephant reality in tandem with the elephant vibrations of the elephant universe.'
The premise of the book is that the author Kuzhali Manickavel goes on to interview kids, asking them questions that range from as absurd (but hot favourite of kids) like ghosts to as mundane as shoeracks, and something as pertinent as gender-neutral pronouns. A very effective tool to expose and lay bare the societal hypocrisy.
Come, let's listen and read.
June 10, 2023
Before this book, my friends and I would (lovingly) describe Kuzhali Manickavel's work as "that weird fiction book". Because that seemed most apt. But Conversations provided lovely new terminology for Kuzhali's writing: "what-the-fuck stuff". And it's some of the most hilarious what-the-fuck stuff I've read.
A collection of over forty dialogues – most of which are between Kuzhali and her friend S, or her niece – this book reads like a lot of what-the-fuck things: certain twitter or tumblr threads; conversations you might have with close friends very late at night; conversations you might have with close friends while drunk; and so on. I always think literature is in conversations as much as it is in writing, and Kuzhali's book is an oddly-shaped veryfunny wack-package which plays with that idea. The topics of conversation are varied, ranging from That One Friend Who Hates You But Still Calls You to Niira Radia's telephone controversy, with recurring motifs that include Bollywood song lyrics, fish, bananas, and shoe racks.
Reading it got me thinking (and laughing) about an assortment of what-the-fuck stuff from my own life. Like explaining gender to my younger cousins to make them progressive, but not wanting trouble with their less progressive parents. Or letting narratives on social media dictate how I talk to my friends. Or what criteria do I have to fulfill to Be Indian other than just being Indian?
Reading this book also turned me into a slightly more insufferable conversation partner. I found the book to be a varied and (in its absurdity) real look into what it's like to live in India today. That is not to say that all the dialogues offer a deep insight or holistic commentary on this experience. Some are just records of triviality, of funny lil moments. And the book overall is a whole lot of fun. I loved it.
A collection of over forty dialogues – most of which are between Kuzhali and her friend S, or her niece – this book reads like a lot of what-the-fuck things: certain twitter or tumblr threads; conversations you might have with close friends very late at night; conversations you might have with close friends while drunk; and so on. I always think literature is in conversations as much as it is in writing, and Kuzhali's book is an oddly-shaped veryfunny wack-package which plays with that idea. The topics of conversation are varied, ranging from That One Friend Who Hates You But Still Calls You to Niira Radia's telephone controversy, with recurring motifs that include Bollywood song lyrics, fish, bananas, and shoe racks.
Reading it got me thinking (and laughing) about an assortment of what-the-fuck stuff from my own life. Like explaining gender to my younger cousins to make them progressive, but not wanting trouble with their less progressive parents. Or letting narratives on social media dictate how I talk to my friends. Or what criteria do I have to fulfill to Be Indian other than just being Indian?
Reading this book also turned me into a slightly more insufferable conversation partner. I found the book to be a varied and (in its absurdity) real look into what it's like to live in India today. That is not to say that all the dialogues offer a deep insight or holistic commentary on this experience. Some are just records of triviality, of funny lil moments. And the book overall is a whole lot of fun. I loved it.
May 20, 2023
I don't know why everyone in the world isn't reading this book. It's funny and disturbing and unexpectedly sweet. Read it in public and laugh loudly. Give someone you want to impress a copy immediately.
May 28, 2023
this was a bit boring at times but super funny too XD the conversations with her niece killed me, maybe it was extra funny because I understand the kind of English spoken in tamilnadu it made it way funnier for me
Read
November 16, 2024I thought the conversations with Niece were the best!
March 5, 2025
This was way too much fun!!!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews