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Sonal Dharmadhikari

@readeatviewrepeat

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Imaginer, Aspirant, Language lover

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When we first chose Raag Darbari ( by majority vote) for the BOTM, I admit I was skeptical. I hadn't read a Hindi novel, or its translation, since school. I wasn't sure what to expect anymore. I began with the translated version. Big mistake. I think, until now in our Anuvaad reading, we had never come across a bad translation. And this was it. Gillian Wright categorically fails to capture the bite and snap of Shrilal Shukla's humor and satire, to the point where I put the translation aside, and actually debated whether reading the Hindi original would be worth it. And when I did begin reading it, it was begrudgingly, as the host of a book club, and not a reader.

And then Shrilal Shukla's Hindi original had me raptured by the very first page. Before I knew it, I had laughed my way through a hundred pages of this brilliant writing, I was immersed in the world and petty politics of Shivapalganj ( the village and the main setting of the book). I was interested in his extremely incisive, unsparing, and delightfully humorous critique of human nature, the Indian bureaucracy and the harsh nature of life in rural India. At some point in my reading, I realised I was reading the work of a genius. Shrilal Shukla is just consistently witty throughout the novel., which is SO hard to do for 400 pages! There isn't any part of the novel which you want to skip. Every character is fleshed out, the web of village politics and social life is threaded superbly, and every single arc is brought to a fitting conclusion. It's as if he took his daily experiences as a bureaucrat and poured them onto paper and brought them to life all over again. You can sense his frustration at the way things work, at the corruption, inaction, and at the apathetic nature of things around him. He takes that frustration and turns it into this masterpiece.

Don't read the translation. Ham-handed, word-to word, and ineffective. Read the original. You will thank yourself, just like I am.

As always, thank you to everyone who came, took the time out to read and discuss the book. Anuvaad is because of you. by @readeatviewrepeat

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4 months ago

I absolutely love what Anuvaad has become in the space of three meets. A group of people who can have extremely varying opinions about the same book, and can laugh about them, while also accepting the validity of said views. Previously, we had travelled to Bengal through Pather Panchali, and into Southern India ( Tamil Nadu) with One Part Woman. This time, we ventured closer home, into Maharashtra, with Cobalt Blue. Written from the perspectives of two siblings, Tanay and Anuja, whose lives in a traditional Maharashtrian household are upended with the arrival of a mysterious, alluring paying guest, Cobalt Blue sparked quite a few dissenting opinions! Both Tanay and Anuja's characters, their portrayals by Kundalkar, and of course the haunting spectre of the paying guest, his role and his fleeting, ephemeral nature were hotly debated. But one universal opinion was that Kundalkar's novel was crucial in the fact that it is one of the few Marathi novels that portrays the suffocation of a closeted queer person, and that more literature like this needs to be written. Jerry Pinto's translation is of course, impeccable, but there are those inevitable losses of nuance in the translation from Marathi to English that are inescapable. A novel that is a pleasure to read, and a joy to discuss.

Thank you as always, to everyone who came and made the discussion so enjoyable. To ask people to give up their weekend evenings feels like quite an ask, and when the discussions end up being this lively, it makes me absurdly happy! by @readeatviewrepeat

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5 months ago

Today, Anuvaad met for the second time, to discuss Perumal Murugan's One Part Woman. A novel set in rural Tamil Nadu, about how patriarchy and the relentless pressure from society for people to have children, come together to push a perfectly happy marriage to the brink. The novel focuses on a couple, Kali and Ponna, who love each other intensely. They truly don't need anything other than each other to be happy.The fact that it's been 12 years, and they still don't have a child matters more to society and their families than it does to them. And yet, the fact of their childlessness is the ultimate test of their relationship.

This novel led to such wonderful and engaging discussions on culture, patriarchy, motherhood, and being childless or child-free. Does Ponna truly want to become a mother, or is she forced to want to become one by society? How does the fact of being childless affect society's perception of Ponna's masculinity? And how are the decisions taken in the wake of social pressure truly one's own?

It makes me so happy to engage in such interesting conversations, and to truly read a novel, look at it critically and come away with new insights when I discuss it with amazing people!

Thank you to everyone who came. I'm truly grateful ❤️ by @readeatviewrepeat

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7 months ago

Women in male dominated fields, home edition 😎

[Women, Men, TMKOC, Daya ben, Jethalal] by @readeatviewrepeat

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2 years ago

Pyaar 💛🌻

#love #aesthetics #books #paintings #charliechaplin #flowers #garden by @readeatviewrepeat

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3 years ago

The Promise called Love.

(Disclaimer: no copyright infringement intended. All video/audio belongs to the rightful owners.) by @readeatviewrepeat

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4 years ago

by @readeatviewrepeat

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5 years ago

by @readeatviewrepeat

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5 years ago

Always a pleasure 🌺 by @readeatviewrepeat

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6 years ago

Be the #rain to someone's #flowers 🌸
#pretty #pink #green #fresh by @readeatviewrepeat

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6 years ago

The #outside is still #beautiful
#roadside #trees #flowers #greens #white by @readeatviewrepeat

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6 years ago

It's been 6 months since I was there, but this town called #Maheshwar has made a place in my heart.
Quite like the charming simplicity of its #weaves, Maheshwar has its own beauty. It seems like the legacy of a shining beacon of courage and stoicism - a lady respectfully known as 'Devi' #Ahilya to this day.
From holding court at home instead of an expansive fort, creating amenities for the common man from the North till the South of India, to patronizing and nurturing the art of the land and even entering the battlefield when the need be, her many aspects are still recounted in numerous stories. When I saw this final resting place of hers at the banks of river #Narmada, my heart was filled with immense #respect.
Salutations to 'Punyashlok' #Ahilyabai Holkar. taken in Narmada Ghat Maheshwar by @readeatviewrepeat

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6 years ago