Page 174 - EW November 2023

Books

Ramaswamy, the pe- used the Bonded Labour
riod also brought her into (Abolition) Act, 1976, to HELP ME WITH THIS TRICKY
contact with Cyril Reddy, liberate bonded labourers CASE: STORIES
the younger brother of in the area. The activi- C.N. Annadurai (Translated
the slain student activist ties of the Sangam and from the original Tamil by
Ramakrishnan V.)
George Reddy. Ramas- Ramaswamy’s pivotal role
wamy met him while she comprise the final part of BLOOMSBURY
was underground and this memoir. Rs.599 Pages 224
after a few months, they Written lucidly, with
were married. Cyril in due some rare black and white
course, as the book shows, photographs, the book screenplays — a prodigious CN Annadurai, the
became a strong supporter provokes interest from output, given his active, first chief minister
of women’s causes. beyond the circles of Left prominent political life and of Tamil Nadu after
The volume outlines intellectuals and activists. the role he played in shap- it was renamed, was
at length, Ramaswamy’s Given that memoirs of ing the political scenario in also a literary giant
underground days. She, Indian women revolution- Tamil Nadu. His writings with a prodigious
her husband and fellow aries and activists are not were imbued with passion output
comrades, were forced to easy to come by, Ramas- for bringing about change,
remain underground for wamy’s Land, Guns, Caste, dealing with subjects like
long periods of time due Woman: The Memoir of poverty and its links with tion of Anna’s distinctive
to government repression. a Lapsed Revolutionary crime and the legal system, style, including his ironic
However, they also became will have wide appeal as widow remarriage, social- rhetoric. The differences in
aware of the violent up- an important contribution ism, rationalism, upper syntax between languages
heavals and reign of terror to Indian Left intellectual caste oppression, and have been bravely and ef-
that the CPI-ML had un- history. moral and ethical ques- fectively handled. Ramak-
leashed in the forest areas AMOL SAGHAR (The tions. rishnan modifies certain
located in different parts of Book Review) Help Me with this titles to capture the spirit
Andhra. Tricky Case is a collection of the original. ‘Upagari
These developments Anna's literary of 22 short stories in Tamil Ulaganathan’ in the origi-
resulted in Ramaswamy written between the years nal becomes ‘Charitable
ing disillusioned with the legacy 1934-1965, translated into Chellappa’, and ‘Sumaar
and her group becom-
Subbaiah’ becomes ‘Ap-
English by Ramakrishnan
party and eventually in V, for whom Anna was the proximate Arumugam’—
November 1976, a chunk, N ANNADURAI point “…at which all the showcasing clever puns
comprising 20-30 student (1909-1969), contemporary branches and alliterations for which
activists, including Ramas- Cpopularly known as of Dravidian ideol- Anna was famous.
wamy and Cyril, resigned ‘Anna’ (elder brother), is ogy converge”. This book Such born-from-this-
from the primary member- one of Tamil Nadu’s great- showcases Anna’s literary particular-soil idioms are
ship of the Party. est icons. His charisma legacy, his belief system a tough challenge, but
A new chapter in the au- and ideology resonate in and insights on all aspects Ramakrishnan finds solu-
thor’s life began after she Tamil politics to this day. of the prevailing social tions by using words and
left the party. She was the ‘Arignar Anna’ or ‘Per- and cultural milieu. Rich metaphors closest to the
driving force in initiating arignar Anna’, meaning with irony, humour, and original, providing foot-
a militant but nonviolent ‘Anna, the scholar’ served poignancy, these stories notes to explain the ironic
struggle of Dalit agricul- as the last Chief Minister present the different social play of words in certain
tural labourers against the of Madras State (1967-69), issues he explored. From a places.
feudal Reddys in Ibra- and subsequently became literary viewpoint, the col- Anna the rationalist
himpatnam, a suburb of the first chief minister of lection displays not just his comes through incisively,
Hyderabad. Subsequently, Tamil Nadu after the state clever power over words, with the subject being
in 1985, she established of Madras was renamed in but also his clever under- written about used to
the Ibrahimpatnam Taluka 1969. standing of the essence of a convey the message within.
Vyavasaya Coolie Sangam Anna was also a literary well-told short-story. He questions blind faith
or Ibrahimpatnam Taluka giant who wrote over 100 The editor/translator in divinity that seems
Agricultural Labourers’ short stories, in addi- should be highly com- absent just when most
Union. The organisation tion to plays, novels and mended for his transla- needed; the futility of

174 EDUCATIONWORLD NOVEMBER 2023