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Devakiyin Kanavan

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Kalki was the pen name of R. Krishnamurthy (September 9, 1899 to December 5, 1954), a noted Tamil writer, film & music critic, Indian independence activist and journalist from Tamil Nadu, India. Krishnamurthy's first attempt at writing fiction also came during that period. In 1923 he became a sub-editor on Navasakthi, a Tamil periodical edited by Tamil scholar and freedom fighter V. Kalyanasundaram, known as Thiru Vi. Ka. Krishnamurthy's first book was published in 1927.In 1941 he left Ananda Vikatan and rejoined the freedom struggle and courted arrest. On his release after three months he and Sadasivam started the weekly, Kalki. He was its editor until his death on December 5, 1954. In 1956, he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award posthumously for his novel Alai Osai.

94 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1950

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Kalki

33 books

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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
492 reviews7 followers
September 21, 2018
The protagonist meets his old friend Devaki, from his youth years, in a Swadeshi Products Trade Fair. She asks him to come over to her place with the same friendliness with which she used to ask him to come over to her house in their youth.

He reminiscences about his youth and his relation with Devaki. Devaki was the daughter of the headmaster of his school. He had been an poor student and the had lost a few years of his study. He had rejoined school and the wife of the headmaster took a liking to him as he had helped them settle down in the village.

One day their daughter, Devaki, comes from Madras and the headmaster makes her study in the boys school where he is the headmaster despite protests from his wife. The protagonist continues to go to his headmaster's house and the tongues of the townsfolk start wagging. He is provoked by one of his bully classmates regarding his relation with Devaki and he gets into fisticuffs with the boy. Not wanting to tell the headmaster what the bully said he gets rebuked by the headmaster. His relation with the headmaster slowly changes.

In time the headmaster identifies a groom for Devaki. But Devaki is not inclined to get married. One thing leads to another and based on an anonymous letter sent to the groom the groom refuses to get married to Devaki and much to anguish of the headmaster the marriage is called off. The protagonist gets blamed for this and he runs away and establishes himself as a good businessman in Kolkatta.

He comes back to Madras after a decade or so and that is when he meets Devaki at the Trade Fair. He goes to Devaki's house with much trepidation and discovers something completely unexpected.

Read to know what he finds out.

A nice book to read.
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23 reviews
December 7, 2023
Classic novel! Unable to understand how selfish a few characters were and how their fun had spoiled a person's happiness in life. Shocking to see the existence of these type of characters in 1950s.

Lesson learn by the protogonist at the ending is a lesson for all; Do not judge a book by its cover; Anything that is white is not always milk.
28 reviews2 followers
November 1, 2018
Suspense story

Starts as a ex love story, carried over with suspense. Good one to read on the go. Short and sweet.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews

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