‘A Red-Necked Green Bird’: Her point of view, straight & simple

Ranjit Powar

“That world continues to fall on my mind like sunlight in geometrical shapes falling on the ground.”

Ambai (pen name of CS Lakshmi) uses metaphor and allegory with consummate skill to fly effortlessly like a bird through barriers of the real and the surreal. A researcher in women’s studies and a celebrated fiction writer in Tamil, her creative works are empowering stories about women, narrated as lucid and realistic accounts of the contemporary world, exploring human emotions, sexuality, political and corporate exploitation.

The stories in ‘A Red-Necked Green Bird’ too are all about women. Women who flutter their wings, women who sing the songs of birds, women who soar past boundaries. She talks of young women, middle-aged women and older women. Nevertheless, her take is clearly different from feminist or patriarchal issues. Flavoured with the all-pervasive charm of nature and endearing allegories of birds, Ambai’s stories straddle many dimensions. They are not restricted to women’s personal or domestic experiences. Of course, she writes of bitter-sweet relationships, searing emotions and tender feelings. But her vast canvas also embraces significant socio-political events like the Partition, Sikh genocide of 1984, communal oppression, corporatisation, existential issues and their effects on women.

‘The City that Rises from Ashes’ is a tale of inhuman destruction and murder. Greedy and evil builders set fire to chawls with sleeping families, burning down both to acquire land for modern high-rise buildings. “The five-star malls, the art galleries, the hotels, the sky-scrapers that occupied this space now testified to the victory of the builders and real estate developers. The victory of the money sharks.”

The story that gives the book its title narrates a father’s anguish when he discovers that his adopted child Thenmozi is speech impaired. Vasanthnan initially goes into denial and subsequently saves money to get her operated upon. Thenmozi refuses treatment, resulting in a rift. The story portrays Thenmozi’s agony at being forced into deep discomfort through the treatment, her acceptance of reality, and her father’s conflict, who wants her “whole”. The story conveys a sensitive message for those who may not be “one of us” in ways termed normal by the majority.

The 60-year-old widow Shanti from ‘Swayamvars with No Bows Broken’ lives by herself, travels independently, is tech-savvy and in control of her life. Shanti misses her dead husband but does not allow grief to undermine her existence. Her children settled abroad suggest that she find a companion for herself through a matchmaking portal, ‘Swayamvar’. It helps older adults find companions without legal rights to their partner’s property, keeping their inheritance safe for their children (as well as freeing them of the responsibilities of looking after a senior parent). They, however, are shocked and unhappy when Shanti says she has chosen a companion for herself. Selfishness can come in many disguises. Life is worth living to the last day. “The body has many stories. They don’t end. Sometimes you have to search for and find those stories.”

‘The Pond’ is a shoutout for men to put themselves in a woman’s place to know the trauma of sexual violation. Ambai conjures up a mythical experience where a dip in a pond transforms a man into a woman. He suffers rape during the brief period of being a woman, experiencing the brutality and devastation firsthand.

Ambai’s stories are close to real life with everyday women protagonists who are neither heroines, nor shattered and battered. They could be the woman next door or your colleagues at work. Written in Tamil, the stories portray characters and situations from the South. Each story asks the reader to look at situations from the woman’s point of view. Each narration gives a voice to women. The translation is honest to the original cultural flavour. Despite the differences in places, customs and traditions, every woman will relate to the urgent and essential issues of female existence that Ambai has focused on so naturally and dexterously, without too much high drama. A must-read.