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The Binding
In a small town in Tamil Nadu, Rasangam lives with his widowed mother and aunt, and siblings and cousins. Thrust prematurely into the shoes of the patriarch and keenly aware of the need to protect the family’s standing in their conservative society, Rasangam abandons his dreams of higher education.
When great misfortune befalls his beloved elder brother and then his younger sister, Rasangam is heartbroken. However, the foundations of their ties and resilience as a family run deep, nurtured by the meticulous yet overlooked care of the women. He turns to his faith – surrendering to the will of Allah, devoting himself to religious service and undertaking the Haj – which earns him the respect that had eluded him all his life. But history appears to repeat itself years later with Imran, Rasangam’s dutiful son, whose love is thwarted by political propaganda, throwing up questions about the reality of societal progress.
In this sparkling narrative, celebrated Tamil author Salma grapples with the many forces that shape our faith, family, tradition and the complicated bonds that link us to one another. Brought to life for English readers by award-winning translator Janani Kannan, The Binding is a quiet meditation on how that which tethers the human heart can also fetter it.
When great misfortune befalls his beloved elder brother and then his younger sister, Rasangam is heartbroken. However, the foundations of their ties and resilience as a family run deep, nurtured by the meticulous yet overlooked care of the women. He turns to his faith – surrendering to the will of Allah, devoting himself to religious service and undertaking the Haj – which earns him the respect that had eluded him all his life. But history appears to repeat itself years later with Imran, Rasangam’s dutiful son, whose love is thwarted by political propaganda, throwing up questions about the reality of societal progress.
In this sparkling narrative, celebrated Tamil author Salma grapples with the many forces that shape our faith, family, tradition and the complicated bonds that link us to one another. Brought to life for English readers by award-winning translator Janani Kannan, The Binding is a quiet meditation on how that which tethers the human heart can also fetter it.
224 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 23, 2025
5 people want to read
About the author
Salma
39 books46 followersSalma is a writer of Tamil poetry and fiction. Based in the small town of Thuvarankurichi, she is recognised as a writer of growing importance in Tamil literature. Her work combines a rare outspokenness about taboo areas of the traditional Tamil women’s experience with a language of compressed intensity and startling metaphoric resonance.
With the film, she thinks that she has truly arrived. Salma the film, through a series of interviews, tries to bring to light the realities that have shaped the poet, of how she would write hiding in the toilet because she could not pick up a pen outside.
With the film, she thinks that she has truly arrived. Salma the film, through a series of interviews, tries to bring to light the realities that have shaped the poet, of how she would write hiding in the toilet because she could not pick up a pen outside.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 12, 2026
Rating 4.25 stars
Review -
Love that makes you whole, also shackles you;
family and society that give a sense of identity, also thwart one's dreams and desires. The tug of war between personal choices & societal expectations is a fixture in every life lived. This is the bedrock of the novel Binding by Salma, tr from Tamil by Janani Kannan.
Rasangam prematurely steps into the role of breadwinner and family patriarch, casting aside his aspirations for higher education and govt. job, after his father’s demise. Even as he toils hard at his brother-in-law's grocery store, his uncommon ‘non-Muslim’ name and his family situation - two widowed ladies (his mother and his aunt), an elder sister abandoned by her husband, his cousin brother Hanifa (unable to come to terms with his failed love with a Hindu woman) who has fallen into depression - are fuel enough for mockery & contempt. Self respect and family prestige that are dear to Rasangam elude him for years until one tragedy after another push him to travel to Haj & a life dedicated to serving God and humanity.
Those who mature early on in life are harsh on themselves, inadvertently on others too. The dreams that Rasangam has for his son Imran, Imran’s inner turmoil as he is torn between his religion & his love, personal freedom & familial duties, show how stifling and overbearing the schemes of patriarchy, social expectations, even political propaganda can get.
That the author highlights this with equal focus on men & women is a striking aspect of the novel. Even though father-son (Rasangam and Imran) & brothers (Rasangam and Hanifa) relationships take the centrestage, the women impress with their quiet power and pragmatism. As in her earlier works, the author deftly pulls us into the claustrophobic lives of her characters. The short chapters, leap in time between them make the read quick-paced & engrossing. The translation, retaining the original terms for kinship & cultural references, allows intimacy and authenticity.
‘Writing is an extremely political act’, says Salma in an article on The Hindu dated Feb 11,2019. The Tamil poet and novelist, a fiery voice for the marginalised, is currently a Rajya Sabha MP. Politics, therefore, has a defining place in the novel. The subtlety in storytelling falters a bit around the story of Imran and Anita, where there is more ‘telling than showing’. That is the only glitch. That orthodox and unmindful adherence to religion pushes a community backward, that education and equality for women is the way forward are other strong messages the author shares in the novel. What truly sets apart Salma in her feminist stand is that she doesn't fail to address how the society that suppresses women, crushes men too under lofty expectations.
With a few lines from Thirukkural (the inspiration behind the original title - adaikkum thaazh) in the epigraph, ‘Binding’ quietly indicates how family and faith can work like a gradually tightening noose around one's neck. Loved this!
Note: A review copy of the book was provided by the publishers Pan Macmillan India in return for an honest opinion.
Review -
Love that makes you whole, also shackles you;
family and society that give a sense of identity, also thwart one's dreams and desires. The tug of war between personal choices & societal expectations is a fixture in every life lived. This is the bedrock of the novel Binding by Salma, tr from Tamil by Janani Kannan.
Rasangam prematurely steps into the role of breadwinner and family patriarch, casting aside his aspirations for higher education and govt. job, after his father’s demise. Even as he toils hard at his brother-in-law's grocery store, his uncommon ‘non-Muslim’ name and his family situation - two widowed ladies (his mother and his aunt), an elder sister abandoned by her husband, his cousin brother Hanifa (unable to come to terms with his failed love with a Hindu woman) who has fallen into depression - are fuel enough for mockery & contempt. Self respect and family prestige that are dear to Rasangam elude him for years until one tragedy after another push him to travel to Haj & a life dedicated to serving God and humanity.
Those who mature early on in life are harsh on themselves, inadvertently on others too. The dreams that Rasangam has for his son Imran, Imran’s inner turmoil as he is torn between his religion & his love, personal freedom & familial duties, show how stifling and overbearing the schemes of patriarchy, social expectations, even political propaganda can get.
That the author highlights this with equal focus on men & women is a striking aspect of the novel. Even though father-son (Rasangam and Imran) & brothers (Rasangam and Hanifa) relationships take the centrestage, the women impress with their quiet power and pragmatism. As in her earlier works, the author deftly pulls us into the claustrophobic lives of her characters. The short chapters, leap in time between them make the read quick-paced & engrossing. The translation, retaining the original terms for kinship & cultural references, allows intimacy and authenticity.
‘Writing is an extremely political act’, says Salma in an article on The Hindu dated Feb 11,2019. The Tamil poet and novelist, a fiery voice for the marginalised, is currently a Rajya Sabha MP. Politics, therefore, has a defining place in the novel. The subtlety in storytelling falters a bit around the story of Imran and Anita, where there is more ‘telling than showing’. That is the only glitch. That orthodox and unmindful adherence to religion pushes a community backward, that education and equality for women is the way forward are other strong messages the author shares in the novel. What truly sets apart Salma in her feminist stand is that she doesn't fail to address how the society that suppresses women, crushes men too under lofty expectations.
With a few lines from Thirukkural (the inspiration behind the original title - adaikkum thaazh) in the epigraph, ‘Binding’ quietly indicates how family and faith can work like a gradually tightening noose around one's neck. Loved this!
Note: A review copy of the book was provided by the publishers Pan Macmillan India in return for an honest opinion.
January 19, 2026
This might be my first time reading a translation work and the experience was great. I had read this as a buddy read and i highly suggest you do the same. Because it really helped talking to someone whenever I felt confused by the writing style, the events occuring, and even the cultural doubts.
The Binding is a tamil literature translated by Janani Kannan. The book is in a style of...how do I put it? A storytelling? Yeah you could say that. It has the story of 3 generations, how they struggle, navigate through their society, beliefs, relationships and much more. This is a fast paced book in which we notice the change of timeline by the changing movies, and major life events. It gets a little getting used to but once you get the hang of it, you can read fast and understand what's happening more clearly.
Tbh, idk what the author was trying to convey through this book. I mean, in the beginning, i thoight she was trying to educate us on strengthening our faith, then towards the middle, she was telling us not to be too conservative and live according to the times, all the while keeping our faith strong. But when the ending drew near, it felt like she was criticising living a life in faith? Does that make sense?
The character was going astray from his faith and felt like it was all a facade. So the message given is quite unclear here.
But the best thing about this book would be the portrayal of the struggles of ancient times. Idk if ancient is the word for it cuz there are still women struggling like the characters in our society. There are still conservative families who marries their girls off before they even complete their teenage and doesn't let them acquire education or even inform them about the vast world outside. About the women in the book, I could talk for hours. But I think it's best you read it yourself 😌❤️
The Binding is a tamil literature translated by Janani Kannan. The book is in a style of...how do I put it? A storytelling? Yeah you could say that. It has the story of 3 generations, how they struggle, navigate through their society, beliefs, relationships and much more. This is a fast paced book in which we notice the change of timeline by the changing movies, and major life events. It gets a little getting used to but once you get the hang of it, you can read fast and understand what's happening more clearly.
Tbh, idk what the author was trying to convey through this book. I mean, in the beginning, i thoight she was trying to educate us on strengthening our faith, then towards the middle, she was telling us not to be too conservative and live according to the times, all the while keeping our faith strong. But when the ending drew near, it felt like she was criticising living a life in faith? Does that make sense?
The character was going astray from his faith and felt like it was all a facade. So the message given is quite unclear here.
But the best thing about this book would be the portrayal of the struggles of ancient times. Idk if ancient is the word for it cuz there are still women struggling like the characters in our society. There are still conservative families who marries their girls off before they even complete their teenage and doesn't let them acquire education or even inform them about the vast world outside. About the women in the book, I could talk for hours. But I think it's best you read it yourself 😌❤️
January 15, 2026
The Binding is a novel about a family (men and women alike) and about how circumstances, more than choice decide the course of their lives within a conservative Muslim community in Tamil Nadu. Here, men are portrayed not merely as enforcers, but as products of expectation. Masculinity is framed as responsibility towards family and community, coupled with a persistent longing for social reputation.
And women? They are shaped by expectation as thoroughly as men, but differently. Their lives are governed by norms so deeply internalised that harm often appears ordinary. What is most unsettling is not coercion, but normalisation. Practices persist not because they are questioned and defended, but because they are never questioned at all.
The narrative focuses on interior lives, saturated with unsaid things, unexpressed longings, muted anger, and hidden grief. Across communities, social norms have survived by assigning responsibility to men and endurance to women, while discouraging both from asking whether what is inherited is also just. There are no “what ifs.” Lives unfold without the luxury of imagining alternatives. Just conditioned acceptance.
For women, silence often protects dignity. For men, silence protects authority. For both, it preserves social continuity. In this way, the author explores how human beings live with responsibility, and how responsibility, when left unquestioned can become its own form of bondage. And sometimes, the bravest act is not breaking free, but naming the binding itself.
P.S. Some narratives are so heartbreaking, some so infuriating, and some so exquisitely written that I can feel the wind blowing, hear the water flowing… and I just can’t stop thinking about the characters in this novel.
And women? They are shaped by expectation as thoroughly as men, but differently. Their lives are governed by norms so deeply internalised that harm often appears ordinary. What is most unsettling is not coercion, but normalisation. Practices persist not because they are questioned and defended, but because they are never questioned at all.
The narrative focuses on interior lives, saturated with unsaid things, unexpressed longings, muted anger, and hidden grief. Across communities, social norms have survived by assigning responsibility to men and endurance to women, while discouraging both from asking whether what is inherited is also just. There are no “what ifs.” Lives unfold without the luxury of imagining alternatives. Just conditioned acceptance.
For women, silence often protects dignity. For men, silence protects authority. For both, it preserves social continuity. In this way, the author explores how human beings live with responsibility, and how responsibility, when left unquestioned can become its own form of bondage. And sometimes, the bravest act is not breaking free, but naming the binding itself.
P.S. Some narratives are so heartbreaking, some so infuriating, and some so exquisitely written that I can feel the wind blowing, hear the water flowing… and I just can’t stop thinking about the characters in this novel.
January 16, 2026
It begins with a painful crab bite that lingers in your senses. If this were real life, one could argue it feels like an omen of something even more painful to come, and then it does, somewhere between the blank spaces of two chapters.
The pacing shifts constantly, moving from the slow, rhythmic act of making dosai to moments that feel fast and overwhelming. The local lingo is woven into every page, almost like watching a regional film where you are grateful that even the smallest details have been captured.
The societial truth that constantly craves to marry off young girls is not lost on me. I know the truth behind those words, yet it still infuriates me every time I read them. It is even more painful to see how someone you once spoke up for as a child, to protect their freedom, can grow up to hold you back from doing something greater. Choosing a secure job over pursuing higher studies, not by choice but by pressure, feels deeply disappointing.
The book is filled with moments that made me hold my head and ask, why are you doing this, why does it have to be this way? The story does not really have an ending. Much like life, it simply goes on. People continue to live in places, in memories, in thoughts, and in lingering touches as the narrative moves forward.
This is a soul-moving story steeped in emotion, resilience, and the act of starting over after every setback. It carries the weight of dreams that may or may not come true, and the quiet anger of living with things beyond your control. Read this if you are in a strong state of mind or if you are completely falling apart. Either way, it will touch your heart.
The pacing shifts constantly, moving from the slow, rhythmic act of making dosai to moments that feel fast and overwhelming. The local lingo is woven into every page, almost like watching a regional film where you are grateful that even the smallest details have been captured.
The societial truth that constantly craves to marry off young girls is not lost on me. I know the truth behind those words, yet it still infuriates me every time I read them. It is even more painful to see how someone you once spoke up for as a child, to protect their freedom, can grow up to hold you back from doing something greater. Choosing a secure job over pursuing higher studies, not by choice but by pressure, feels deeply disappointing.
The book is filled with moments that made me hold my head and ask, why are you doing this, why does it have to be this way? The story does not really have an ending. Much like life, it simply goes on. People continue to live in places, in memories, in thoughts, and in lingering touches as the narrative moves forward.
This is a soul-moving story steeped in emotion, resilience, and the act of starting over after every setback. It carries the weight of dreams that may or may not come true, and the quiet anger of living with things beyond your control. Read this if you are in a strong state of mind or if you are completely falling apart. Either way, it will touch your heart.
January 20, 2026
Our actions are never fully our own. They are measured f
against the family’s honor and weighed heavily against the pride it carries in the eyes of the community. Every step is taken with an awareness of being seen, remembered, spoken about. We learn early to move cautiously, to align desire with duty, because reputation is not our own but a collective - fragile and inherited.
The Binding is about a conservative Tamil Muslim family sustained largely in the absence of men. It is the women who hold the fabric of this household through restraint and emotional endurance, because necessity leaves no choice. Rangasam, the protagonist, has to step into shoes larger than his own as responsibilities arrive before readiness. And with time grows into a man of respectability and great social standing.
What binds this family is not just love, but an ongoing negotiation with norms that leaves little space to breathe. Yet within this binding, life continues in quiet resilience and governed by honor. Individual lives bend to maintain this illusion of stability as the chokehold of society tightens through expectation.
Salma shows how norms live inside people, narrowing dreams before they can fully take shape. And so history repeats itself. Salma’s meditation is devastating precisely because it is calm. She makes no spectacle of suffering, only a soft persistence of it.
She writes as life is narrated. Events do not build toward an solid resolution. The ending does not conclude with strings wrapped up because lives do not conclude neatly. The book stops, while the people within it continue life, bearing the same burdens and repeating patterns.
A big shoutout to Janani Kanan whose translation kept the essence of the original. There was wide usage of local dialect brought the text to life.
against the family’s honor and weighed heavily against the pride it carries in the eyes of the community. Every step is taken with an awareness of being seen, remembered, spoken about. We learn early to move cautiously, to align desire with duty, because reputation is not our own but a collective - fragile and inherited.
The Binding is about a conservative Tamil Muslim family sustained largely in the absence of men. It is the women who hold the fabric of this household through restraint and emotional endurance, because necessity leaves no choice. Rangasam, the protagonist, has to step into shoes larger than his own as responsibilities arrive before readiness. And with time grows into a man of respectability and great social standing.
What binds this family is not just love, but an ongoing negotiation with norms that leaves little space to breathe. Yet within this binding, life continues in quiet resilience and governed by honor. Individual lives bend to maintain this illusion of stability as the chokehold of society tightens through expectation.
Salma shows how norms live inside people, narrowing dreams before they can fully take shape. And so history repeats itself. Salma’s meditation is devastating precisely because it is calm. She makes no spectacle of suffering, only a soft persistence of it.
She writes as life is narrated. Events do not build toward an solid resolution. The ending does not conclude with strings wrapped up because lives do not conclude neatly. The book stops, while the people within it continue life, bearing the same burdens and repeating patterns.
A big shoutout to Janani Kanan whose translation kept the essence of the original. There was wide usage of local dialect brought the text to life.
January 22, 2026
📍Book Tour Stop
The Binding – Salma
“Anbirkkum unode adaikkunthaazh aarvalar Pun- kaneer poosal tharum” — Thiruvalluvar
“Tell me, who gets the life they want? Family, circumstances, opportunities — all of this comes first. Living for yourself comes much later.”
The above line fits 100% with our lives. We never get to live for ourselves, even in the 21st century. We put our family first in most places. Likewise, that’s how Rasangam’s life has been shaped — he wants to study further, but he has to look after his family. His sister has been left behind by her husband, and his mother and aunty also need to be taken care of. When his younger sister gets married, he is forced to leave his town and work at his brother-in-law’s grocery shop.
What I loved about the whole story is how a person who badly wants to study is pushed away by life’s situations, and how he grows along with life’s hard times. Hailing from an orthodox Muslim family in Tamil Nadu.
Though the story is told mostly about men, I found the strength of women to be very strong in it. The best part is the translation. You’ll never feel that it has been translated from Tamil-Arabic words. Kudos to the translator. Found my new favourite author this year ❤️ looking forward to read her other books too.
I personally loved Rasangam’s aunty and her love for movies. I did hate a guy in the book. And while reading the climax, I was looking for closure. But you know what? Life sometimes doesn’t have closures or explanations.
The Binding – Salma
“Anbirkkum unode adaikkunthaazh aarvalar Pun- kaneer poosal tharum” — Thiruvalluvar
“Tell me, who gets the life they want? Family, circumstances, opportunities — all of this comes first. Living for yourself comes much later.”
The above line fits 100% with our lives. We never get to live for ourselves, even in the 21st century. We put our family first in most places. Likewise, that’s how Rasangam’s life has been shaped — he wants to study further, but he has to look after his family. His sister has been left behind by her husband, and his mother and aunty also need to be taken care of. When his younger sister gets married, he is forced to leave his town and work at his brother-in-law’s grocery shop.
What I loved about the whole story is how a person who badly wants to study is pushed away by life’s situations, and how he grows along with life’s hard times. Hailing from an orthodox Muslim family in Tamil Nadu.
Though the story is told mostly about men, I found the strength of women to be very strong in it. The best part is the translation. You’ll never feel that it has been translated from Tamil-Arabic words. Kudos to the translator. Found my new favourite author this year ❤️ looking forward to read her other books too.
I personally loved Rasangam’s aunty and her love for movies. I did hate a guy in the book. And while reading the climax, I was looking for closure. But you know what? Life sometimes doesn’t have closures or explanations.
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