சிறகுகள் முறியும்

அம்பை சிறுகதைகள் #1

by Ambai

'சிறகுகள் முறியும்' தொகுப்பின் கதைகளோடு, மற்ற கதைத் தொகுப்புகளில் வராத இரு கதைகளையும் இணைத்த மறுபதிப்பு. ஒரு களத்தில் நிற்காமல் பல களங்களில் நடைபெறும் கதைகள் இவை. 1967 இல் சென்னையில் தொடங்கி 1976 இல் தில்லியில் முடியும் காலகட்டத்தை உள்ளடக்கிய கற்பனைப் பதிவுகள். இந்த காலகட்டத்திற்குரிய கேள்விகள், பதில்கள், ஐயங்கள், உறவுச்சிக்கள், சமரசங்கள், பிரச்சினைகள், குழப்பங்கள், தெளிவு, பிரக்ஞை, தனிமைப்படுதல் இவையெல்லாவற்றிலும் கட்டப்பட்ட கதைகள்.

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Ambai (nom de plume of C. S. Lakshmi), is a historian, an independent Women's Studies researcher, and a feminist writer in Tamil. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts from Madras Christian College and MA in Bangalore and her PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her dissertation was on American policy towards refugees fleeing Hungary due to the failed revolution of 1956. After completing her education, she worked as a school teacher and college lecturer in Tamil Nadu. She is married to Vishnu Mathur, a film maker, and lives in Mumbai.

In 1962, Ambai published her first work Nandimalai Charalilae (lit. At Nandi Hills) – written when she was still a teenager. Her first serious work of fiction was the Tamil novel Andhi Maalai (lit. Twilight) published in 1966. She received critical acclaim with the short story Siragukal muriyum (lit. Wings Will be Broken) (1967) published in the literary magazine Kanaiyazhi. This story was later published in book form as a part of short story collection under the same name in 1976. The same year she was awarded a two-year fellowship to study the work of Tamil women writers. The research work was published as The Face behind the mask (Advent Books) in 1984. In 1988, her second Tamil short story collection titled Veetin mulaiyil oru samaiyalarai (lit. A Kitchen in the Corner of the House) was published. This established her reputation as a major short story writer.

Her work is characterised by her feminism, an eye for detail, and a sense of irony. Some of her works – A Purple Sea (1992) and In A Forest, A Deer (2006) – have been translated to English by Lakshmi Holmström. For her contributions to Tamil literature, she received the 2008 Iyal Virudhu (Lifetime Achievement Award) awarded by the Canada-based Tamil Literary Garden. She is currently the Director of SPARROW (Sound & Picture Archives for Research on Women).

Reviews

[Girija Govindaraju · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would say it is by sheer luck that I discovered Ambai. And what a luck. Ambai does not exaggerate. Ambai does not put on a show. She tells stories. She tells stories of everyday women, of you and me, of your mother and my sister. Ambai makes you feel the clutches on you, she makes it tighter as her stories progress and finally, she breaks those clutches for you. Loudly. Stubbornly. Sometimes, quietly.

Ambai has her own style when it comes to writing, a style that grows on you as you read more and more of her. And when all the stories end, you look up, wanting for more.

This collection of short-stories by Ambai is one of the finest examples of modern Tamil literature. Suddenly driven by an impulse to read regional language, after getting sucked into the world of Perumal Murugan, I started hunting for stories that bring back the nostalgia of the ones I read as a young adult and stumbled upon Ambai. Ambai shows how a female narrative can be nonchalant,yet powerful. Thirteen stories in the book and not all the stories make an impression. But the ones that do, do so powerfully, making up for the weaker stories. And you are content.

Books like these are the reason why my apprehension to read translated books are still strong, because, it takes the beauty of a language to bring out the beauty of a story.

[Shantha Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the first set of stories I heard/read centered around female characters, hitting out their emotions and what not. Easily, a must read and a must to know author.

[Aarthi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a really long time since a piece of fiction made me emote.For a person who believes in the ultimate power of words , it is strange that only rarely they hit you so hard and make you feel the pain.This has happened today after I read a short story by writer Ambai. Ever since I started venturing into non-fiction books (that too mostly in English) I didn't much check out authors that I wanted to explore in Tamil. But I made it a point that atleast from this year , I would read and explore more female authors in both English and Tamil.The first name that struck me when I thought of female authors in Tamil was Ambai.I had read her short story called "Clear Sky" during school days.Also she had written both in Tamil and English. All these thoughts culminated in me buying a short story collection of Ambai during Chennai Book Fair 2020.Quarantine just gave me the serenity to slowly savor her writing. Turns out , she is an ultimate feminist. Her stories speak about women,their emotions, struggle,their thoughts and their yearning for freedom. Everything beautifully put down in words that would slap you on the face and question what you have been doing all this time.All these thoughts were written during the 1970s and that's what baffles me even more. A well educated and well formed mind of an Indian woman who voices out the problems of her gender in her language and literature.Absolutely mind blowing.

#Ambai #NewFoundLove

[Ashok Chemarx · Rating 5 out of 5]

நான் வாசிக்கும் முதல் தமிழ் பெண் எழுத்தளர் நாவல் சிறகுகள் முறியும். வசித்த என்று சொல்ல முடியாது கேட்ட கதை என்று சொல்லவேண்டும். இன்னும் நிறைய அம்பை எழுத்துகளை வாசிக்க வேண்டும். மிக மிக நேர்த்தியான உண்மையான படைப்பு.

நன்றி :- வித்யாவுடன் கதை கேளு(podcast)

[Divya Priyadharshini Mohan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short story reflects the lives of so many house wives.