Panikkar Pethi

by Sharmila Seyyid

Writer Sharmila Seyyid's second novel after her well-received debut Ummath. Panicker pethi is the story of a woman stuggling amongst men to establish herself. Sagarwan, calls herself as the granddaughter of Panicker, the mahout. She leaves her husband, who insulted her, and works hard to care for her family and gather wealth. Panicker's elephant was a living animal, and Sagarwan's elephant is invisible, with many names like hard work and hope.

104 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2018

About the author

Sharmila Seyyid is a journalist, poet, writer and activist from Eravur, in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province. She has been working as a journalist and a writer since 2001, and as an activist for women in the Batticaloa District since 2006. In 2009, she founded the Organization for Social Development, a community-based organization in Eravur. She has been working closely with the minority women in the east, for the last several years, following the war. Her interests include printing, writing and media collaboration about women, child issues, humanitarian issues, youth activism, women rights and gender.

Sharmila is the author of a poetry collection called Siragu Mulaitha Pen. She received two awards for her contributions to literature: the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writer and artists association's Master Gorkki Memorial Award for Poetry Literature, and the Tamiliyal Award, presented by the Writers Motivation Centre. Ummath is her first novel.

Reviews

[P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

'உம்மத்'தின் மூலம் அறிமுகமான ஸெய்யித்தின் எழுத்து இந்நாவலில் கூர்மை அடைந்திருக்கிறது. செழிப்பும் வேகமும் கவனமும் இக்கதையில் கூடுதல். ஒரே அமர்வில் வாசிக்கக்கூடிய நீளமும், சுவாரஸ்யமும், பாத்திரங்கள் மீதான அக்கறையும் இங்கே கைகூடுகின்றன. சகர்வான் என்னும் ஆற்றல் மிகுந்த, வியப்பூட்டும் பெண்ணின் கதை. வாழ்க்கை தன்னை நோக்கியெறிந்த சோதனைகளை அவர் எதிர்கொள்வது இலங்கையின் வரலாறும் அவரது குடும்ப வரலாறும் கலந்த பின்னணியில் கூறப்படுகிறது. ஸெய்யித்தின் வருங்கால எழுத்துக்களை ஆவலுடன் எதிர்நோக்குகிறேன்.

[Sidharthan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

There is a lot to like about this book. The tone of the book is nice and the descriptions were very evocative. It starts off very promisingly as the reminiscence of Sagarvan. She sounded like a person who had a fresh and youthful perspective of life, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that she was actually a very old grandmother (of 19!!).

The story then shifts in time as we learn about the past and the present of Sagarvan and how she stood resolutely against everything that she had faced. I loved the story of the Panicker and his exploits and the joy Sagarvan had in relating these stories. The reaction that her granddaughter had to these was very grounded and I could relate to that a lot. There are also a lot of great instances of female solidarity. I especially loved the character of the helpful next-door neighbour, Mariyam maami, and the unity of the angaadi women as they fought the government. It was a pity that the ideas and the characters here are a little underexplored.

This was a major problem for me with the book. It felt like we were getting only the highlight notes of the occurrences and we were not actually exploring anything in detail. I would have loved if Sharmila Seyyid had delved into everything. The fight of the angaadi women could have been a novel by itself - there was so much in it. Instead we get like one page that summarizes everything.

It also felt like an oversimplification when Sagarvan's solution to most problems is to just accept them as they are and work hard and move forward. I wanted her to be more angry about things and I wanted her to question things more.

Overall though this is a short and easy read. I hope Seyyid's future works go deeper.