The Tami writer Ambai describes Imayam’s Pethavan as a story “snatched from the center of many happenings”, and this is true not only for the way it begins: right in the middle of a caste panchayat discussion, but also for the very character of the novella --- it is stripped of many specific details, Imayam lets the story hang bare. The novella does not deal in physiognomy, the reader is free to imagine; and yet, I found myself drawing familiar faces, or at least vaguely familiar outlines unconsciously gathered from newspaper reports, and it became clear to me why Imayam writes (in the introduction): it is more important why he wrote the story than how.
The novella follows the tragic after-life of an inter-caste love story, of Bhakkiyam and Periyasami, a Dalit sub-inspector. In pieces, we are also briefly informed of the origins of this love, and the surrounding social context; death or rape awaits any woman who dares to love outside her caste, we are told. “Pethavan” also highlights the ways in which persons with disabilities are looked at, specifically in rural Tamil Nadu, but also I would say most parts of India. These details make Pethavan difficult to stomach. It is not in any way an enjoyable read, and yet I would not call it raw, because there is definitely an element of literary sleight at work here, there are some clever manoeuvres, most importantly the deliberate blankness at its core. I wasn’t a fan of the translation, it felt awkward in many places. A slim, violent, deftly written novella that brings to light a terrifying reality that has definitely not gone unnoticed but could do with a lot more attention.