A literary debut with a thriller that moves between criminology and ecology, author Anupama Mohan’s complex tale highlights the importance of reclamation in all senses of the word

Thrillers are fascinating. They push us out of our comfort zone and tap into our darkest thoughts and the actions we take to realise our darkest desires. This book captures those emotions well.

The plot is clear, a small town in Tamil Nadu is shaken by the beheading of a prominent man, whose head is missing from the scene of the crime. The suspect is Veni, a geography teacher at the local school. Veni is missing. The lady police officer handling the case is collecting testimonies.

However, the narrative is complex and baffling. The USP is that it tackles crime and environment in one go, which isn’t an easy thing to do. It also gives an idea on how time and solitude can heal barren lands and minds at the same time. The beautifully designed cover of this hardback is an added attraction.

The book opens with Veni’s birth and her innocent childhood. Her mother’s love, her grandmother’s healing abilities, and her father’s softness, Veni is a happy girl in a small town. On the surface, her life is ordinary. The father is a simpleton foreman. The mother keeps a good home and the twin brothers are cricket lovers. It is the grandmother, whose siddha powers give the family a prestigious, revered space in the community.

For a long time, the reader doesn’t understand why this soft, compassionate girl would behead an important man who holds a lot of clout in the town. As the chapters progress, the reader gets a gist of why—she has been gangraped by this big bully and his cronies. It is a story of violence, ultimate human degradation, its impact and the subsequent change in power equations.

The book focusses on Veni’s beautiful hair (later on the reader realises why her long, braided hair is important), her siddha abilities, her grief and the destruction of her family’s joie de vivre. As the story progresses, the reader decodes why the family is now living a morose, losers’ daily regime.

As the story unravels, it becomes apparent that it is a ‘small town, big bully’ story. It is only when you reach the middle of the story, that you hear the details of her rape and why it happened, how the bully’s ego was busted when she laughed at his wrong pronunciation of the word ‘globe’ at her school’s award function of which he is the patron. Revenge is vengeance unleashed in the most brutal ways possible on her and the family; her brother is rendered incapacitated with a heavy beating. Veni loses her mental balance and walks out of the society to search for her lost self.

However, the noteworthy parts are about the ancient practices, that is birthing by Veni’s midwife grandmother. The ancient healing technique of siddha also works in Veni’s favour, as she tries to protect herself from physical degradation after the attack. A captivating portion at the beginning is the ancient hair ritual of oiling, scenting and braiding.

Another fascinating aspect is the depth of environment consciousness. The author describes the ecosystem in a lyrical manner. She gives nature a life and Veni eventually taps into its healing power. She becomes stronger, discovers the doline ecology and tells us about the invisible world of trees, caves and fresh water systems. She talks about nature’s rejuvenating ability and how the terrain reclaims its own. Mohan has mentioned many plants and their healing properties, even some lost ones. She also takes the readers inside a barren doline ecosystem, where tiny microorganisms thrive and strive to recreate an abundant ecosystem, not worried about time and space, just doing the work nature has ordained them for. The mayflies form a part of that ecosystem, as do the edible berries, mushrooms.

The sad part is that the laughter vanishes from the family home. Justice is not served; the criminals are acquitted. The constant introspection by the family and the protagonist and the lady police officer have a deeply emotional quality. The book is interspersed with touching poems.

However, the reader can lose perspective with the narration, as it touches less upon the crime and more upon the emotional output. The end is left open for the reader to interpret.

ANUPAMA MOHAN’s poetry collection, Twenty Odd Love Poems, was published in 2008, and her short stories have appeared in print magazines and journals such as Himal Southasian, Postcolonial Text and University of Toronto Magazine. She wrote this novel as the 2021 Writer-in-Residence at the Samyukta Research Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Book Details

Publisher: PICADOR INDIA
Language: English
Hardcover: 240 pages
Price: Rs 599 (Kindle edition available)

This book was part of the blogger outreach programme by Pan Macmillan India. However, the views expressed are my own.