Writer and activist Meena Kandasamy releases her first novel titled
‘The Gypsy Goddess’ at the International Centre, Goa
The novel, which focuses on caste annihilation and inequality, has been widely anticipated with just a hint of trepidation
For avid readers who spent many an hour poring through Soviet literature that was freely available until the late 1980s, Meena Kandasamy’s debut novel ‘The Gypsy Goddess’ will be a throwback to the days when reading was carried out of a battered copy of Tolstoy.
In Goa to launch her latest offering, Kandasamy spoke on her choice of venue, saying, “My initial plan was to present the book to the public during the Goa Arts and Literary Festival last year. However, there was a slight hitch in the publication of my work. I did not want to go back on my word as both Vivek Menezes (Curator of the Goa Arts and Literary Festival) and I were very keen on the book being released in Goa,”
she says.
Padmashree Advocate Norma Alvares, who launched the book, emotionally said, “This is not a novel that aims to entertain. It is very difficult to even recommend, as it entails the mammoth task of writing a novel about a real-life massacre.”
Kandasamy’s novel deals with a
massacre that took place in 1968 in
Kilvenmani village, in the Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu. The focal point of her work is how something as simple as a
demand for an additional half-portion of rice could escalate to the point that the protesting labourers could be brutally
‘disposed of’. As the novel has it, 44
landless Dalit agricultural labourers,
including women and children, were locked in a hut by a group of landowners and burnt alive.
Shedding light on her reasoning behind the topic for her work, Kandasamy
highlights the difficulties in portraying a heinous crime. “The novel delves into the area of fictionalising the events that led up to the attack. The principle issue was a long-standing battle between the
powerful landlords of the time and the Communist party. The latter would
organise forms of resistance against the landowners and demand better wages and working conditions. These struggles and battles interest me. However,
Kilvenmani massacre is a part of Indian history that is swept under the rug. It is a story that goes untold. I don’t quite agree with that point of view because it is
tantamount to saying that the one thing that remains in our collective conscience is the Indian independence, after which our history had no landmarks. Owing to the fact that the book is a murky topic in itself, there is little room to lighten the mood. The darker humour in the book was an attempt at maintaining focus and keeping myself going,” the
author explains.
While the book has been looked
forward to on literary fronts, Kandasamy’s work has also received criticism and taken a toll on the author, who has faced
constraints from both, a society that does not seem to wholly embrace her point of view, as well as the fact that she is a
member of the fairer sex. “A major hurdle is the desire to make waves in a sea of profound social casteism and misogyny. Keeping every other female hurdle aside, I believe that the biggest obstacle in a woman’s life as a writer is having people treat your work with respect. Being taken seriously or having your work treated as proper literature is almost a challenge in itself,” she says.
At the end of the day, her book might have Kandasamy possibly offering her
victims even a semblance of justice in the form of closure through her tale. This in itself is a point in her favour and one against her critics. As for the author,
getting her message across is what truly matters. Her work speaks for itself and whether one is a capitalist, socialist,
communist or a random bystander
watching on as the plight of the poor in India plummets to new depths, one needs to see the Kilvenmani massacre victims through Kandasamy’s eyes to truly get to grips with this author.
