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Seasons of the Palm

Perumal Murugan

really liked it 4.00 · Rating details · 211 ratings · 39 reviews

Translated from the Tamil, Seasons of the Palm tells the story of an "untouchable" lad in bondage to a paternal yet powerful landlord. He struggles to keep a fragile happiness, but endless work and a stubborn hunger are never too far away. Relentless in its portrayal of the everyday humiliations of untouchablility, the novel is yet lyrical in its evocation of the grace wit ...more

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Paperback, 350 pages

Published May 1st 2004 by Tara Books

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Women Writing in India by Susie J. Tharu

Indian Fiction Translated Into English

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Feb 13, 2018 Em*bedded-in-books* rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: india-via-books, india-2018, paperback-hardback, regional-translated, br-with-gorab

A poignant story about untouchable shepherd children working as bonded labourers to landed gentry and farmers. Ser in Tamil Nadu, the book captures the rituals and customs of (?) pre independent rural India. .
I will forever remember Shorty, Belly, Tallfellow, Stonedeaf, their masters and mistress.. and Selvan, Shoety's master's son.
Veeran, the goat and Poochi, the mongrel are the other evergreen characters.

Highly recommended to all those who want to taste the regional flavours of India. ...more

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Feb 15, 2018 Gorab Jain rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: z2018, buddy-reads, indian, translated

4.5
Bonded child labour categorised as 'Untouchables' by their masters. Bearing names because of their physical attributes - Shorty, Belly, TallFellow, StumpLeg, StoneDeaf, Matchstick....
Narrated in third person where they graze cattle and perform various duties, this is the story of their joys and sorrows, cheerful companionship to nasty sufferings, gratefulness to hatefulness.
Captured in a good prose (translation was also good retaining some Tamil words), this was a heart wrenching read which I ...more

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Dec 31, 2017 Anand Prakash rated it really liked it

Godan of South India
Seasons of the Palm by Perumal Murugan
I picked up this book, which was shortlisted for Kiriyama Prize. This book is almost plot-less. It is about the journey of Shorty and his group of untouchable kids who worked as household help to different high caste landlords in Tamilnadu. Reading this book is like looking at a imagery the author had created and submerging in the feeling his words evoked. So, unique is the imagery, narrative, and the thought of the characters that you f Godan of South India
Seasons of the Palm by Perumal Murugan
I picked up this book, which was shortlisted for Kiriyama Prize. This book is almost plot-less. It is about the journey of Shorty and his group of untouchable kids who worked as household help to different high caste landlords in Tamilnadu. Reading this book is like looking at a imagery the author had created and submerging in the feeling his words evoked. So, unique is the imagery, narrative, and the thought of the characters that you feel that you are watching or participating in their activities. Five characters, all children of different age, uniquely named, Shorty, Stumpleg, Belly, Tallfellow and Stonedeaf, had been called with the choices of abuses directed towards their caste by their landlords. Shorty, the protagonist, lives with sheep like a family, away from his own family, as he calls/recalls the sheep with the names and their personalities, which he has given to them. All of them work as shepherd and they all are like kids who are trying to squeeze out some childhood in severely punishing circumstances from where there seemed to no exit. Anyone who tried to get out of the bondage returns on their own (owing to debt of their parents or knowing that household helps are completely replaceable) or brought back by their landlords or killed. The author shows the contrast by bringing the landlords' sons into the book, who despite their age, the reader will feel how much they have imbibed the authoritarian and castiest attitude of their parents.
The book can be tad boring if one come to expect that the book will go at a speed of detective/thriller novel. One could keep reading this book and yet one can reach nowhere in term of real closure, maybe the author doesn't want to provide any closure to the narrative. The chapters in the book sometime ends abruptly and the next chapter starts with something new and the author resolve some of the earlier chapters later in the book. If one is accustomed to reading otherwise, one might feel a little awkward reading this book.
Overall, it seems that the book fails to provide a conclusion but the book paints the picture of a castiest society, oppression, feudalism that exist in Tamilnadu. More so, this novel evoke the feeling of Premchand's novel Godan, suggesting that all of the things that existed in Premchand's time still exist in Perumal's time.
...more

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Jul 24, 2019 Vaidya rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Idyllic, and menacing. One moment you're enjoying nature in all its glories, the next the idyll turns into menace as the reality of Shorty's life, his caste hits him, each time with increasing violence. A powerful read. ...more

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May 15, 2017 Siddarth Gore rated it really liked it

We glorify the grand and the majestic yet it is the everyday lives that are the most interesting. It is astonishing that the accident of birth leads to such different lives when we are essentially the same.

Sitting in a coffee shop, as I start reading Perumal Murugan’s story of a little untouchable boy I begin to feel the usual sympathy for him. But the story cuts me short. This is not about me or my distance from the characters in this act. It is only about a few friends who meet every day whil We glorify the grand and the majestic yet it is the everyday lives that are the most interesting. It is astonishing that the accident of birth leads to such different lives when we are essentially the same.

Sitting in a coffee shop, as I start reading Perumal Murugan’s story of a little untouchable boy I begin to feel the usual sympathy for him. But the story cuts me short. This is not about me or my distance from the characters in this act. It is only about a few friends who meet every day while grazing the cattle for their Masters. It is about the bond between a boy and a mute sheep which is stronger than any bond between humans, yet at the same time, more delicate than the morning dew. It is about a relationship between two boys which looks like friendship but can never be that because they are born unequal and will always stay that way. It is about the earth and a people who live by it. Understand it. Something that most of us living in concrete houses can only imagine.

Who likes things to end? But they do end, there is destruction waiting in the wings, and all that is left finally is sadness and desolation.

This is not a sorry tale. But gloom and disaster always lies about the corner. A lost lamb, a failed attempt at collecting some peanuts from another’s field, a day missed at work can always lead to terrible consequences. But there are consequences for the Masters as well.

The description of the countryside and all its treasures is mesmerizing and flows smoothly. The translation is of high quality. You forget that it is a translation and immediately get engaged in the story. The one sore point I have about the translation is of the use of nicknames like Tallfellow and Stonedeaf. These might be accurate in the cultural context of the original language but feel out of place in English. Much like the hurriedly dubbed Chinese action movies on TV.

Poor strong Belly – she talks tough, sings merrily, but a single fear sits snug and heavy in her heart.

Isn’t this true for all?

[This is part of a series of review I am doing for Flipkart] ...more

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Apr 24, 2019 Shweta rated it really liked it

A very good book by #perumalmurugan set in the villages of south india. A little boy and his sad life lived in bonded labour and how he falls in a trap one after another. This book is sad and will make you angry at times but this is something we are aware of specially in distant and small parts of the country. Apart from the story the book has beautiful descriptions of nature- the fields and the lake and sometimes mountains surrounding it. A well written book by a senior author. I would give it ...more

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Aug 25, 2019 frogbear added it · review of another edition

For a long time I thought this book was slow and had no plot but by the time it got over I could hardly bear to be around it. I thought it would burn my hands. I won't be forgetting this book soon. ...more

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Apr 30, 2020 Aruna Kumar Gadepalli rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, indian-writers, my-collection, translated-books, bought-2019, 2020-read

Perumal Murugan with his description of the life of a boy and his place at home, in his community and village made me see way all these works. What is more interesting in village only names are pronounced for the haves and not haves are called by names and preferably their physical or other characteristics. I did observe these aspects and sure not remember reading anywhere (My reading is world is very small and hence my limited knowledge). Many times I felt the books is going to come to an end b ...more

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May 16, 2019 Shobhana rated it it was ok

Shelves: perumal-murugan

This explains in detail life of goat herds and their slavery. But I did not understand why this book has such rave reviews. It was boring with too detailed description of the landscape.

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Apr 29, 2018 Harinder rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: india-books, good-fiction, south-asian-fiction

It's probably impossible to understand India without encountering caste. And this is an excellent portrait of the contradictions and distortions that the caste system wreaks in Indian society. At one level, it's a small and almost mundane story.

It centres around a boy, Shorty, who is in indentured labour to a landowner - the Master (in fact, at one point, Shorty realises he doesn't know his Master's name). The story is woven around the fairly small lives that Shorty and his friends experience i

...more

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May 17, 2017 Tapas Nair rated it it was amazing

Seasons of the Palm is about the life of a young untouchable boy called Shorty, who works as a bonded labourer for a powerful landlord's family. Everyday, he cleans his master's crowshed, clears the animal waste, looks after the flock of sheep, cleans the courtyard and does whatever household work that needs to be done. In turn, he gets to sleep in the sheep shed and is fed three meals a day. And for all this domestic drudgery, his parents are paid a measly sum every year by the landlord, which Seasons of the Palm is about the life of a young untouchable boy called Shorty, who works as a bonded labourer for a powerful landlord's family. Everyday, he cleans his master's crowshed, clears the animal waste, looks after the flock of sheep, cleans the courtyard and does whatever household work that needs to be done. In turn, he gets to sleep in the sheep shed and is fed three meals a day. And for all this domestic drudgery, his parents are paid a measly sum every year by the landlord, which however is not enough to eliminate their already existing (and ever increasing) debt. And so Shorty and his family are condemned to doing this forever.

Set in an unspecified rustic countryside somewhere in Tamil Nadu in an unspecified time (Shorty is illiterate and so does not know what year it is), Seasons of the Palm depicts the brutal reality of India's caste system and the systemic exploitation of the untouchables by the landlords in a matter-of-fact manner.

Shorty's best times are those spent with his fellow shepherds - Stumpleg, Tallfellow, Stonedeaf and Belly - who are his compatriots in this menial labour, working as servants to other landlords of the village. Those brief interludes of them tending their flocks, interacting and playing with each other, are the only times when he feels truly free and happy. As a young boy, he tries his best to work well and not offend his master and mistress, as he knows that it might adversely affect his family's status. And yet, he finds it unbearable that this endless labour is the sum total of his existence and that there is no way he can escape his reality. He envies his master's son Selvan, who is approximately his own age, but is destined for much better things in life, just by virtue of the caste and family he was born to. Fate is inexorable indeed.

Perumal Murugan is a celebrated Tamil poet and writer, and his vivid prose transports the reader into the world portayed in the book. The translation by V. Geetha deserves special credit as she has taken particular care to make the book accessible to a wider section of readers while not losing the local flavour of the book. So wherever possible, the native idiom has been retained.

Seasons of the Palm is a gut-wrenching portrait of the institutionalized atrocities of the caste system, a mirror to an India that is not Shining. Reading it will leave a lump in your throat and make you feel thankful that nobody has to suffer like this ever again. Books like this are essential as they make you realise how unjust and unfair the caste system is, dooming an entire section of society to poverty in perpetuity just because of whom they were born to. So, more power to the likes of Perumal Murugan! ...more

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Oct 27, 2020 Meera rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. There are some books that are more real than the real. This book is like the earth for me, green and lush with its poetic portrayal of a rural life; the language capturing the essence of Tamil landscape even in translation. At the same time the story is heart wrenching. The bonded labour of young " untouchable" boys and girls to upper caste people. The dryness of land, thirst , hunger and the dark dreams of children born in opresssion. Without using a single moral sentence or judgement, Perumal There are some books that are more real than the real. This book is like the earth for me, green and lush with its poetic portrayal of a rural life; the language capturing the essence of Tamil landscape even in translation. At the same time the story is heart wrenching. The bonded labour of young " untouchable" boys and girls to upper caste people. The dryness of land, thirst , hunger and the dark dreams of children born in opresssion. Without using a single moral sentence or judgement, Perumal Murugan turns my heart upside down, leading me to see the dark world I am a part of. Seasons of the palm is the story of "Shorty" who herds sheep for his upper caste master. The fields, the sheep , the gods , the masters, his friends like him, - all dance and play in his life as he forages for wild berries and hungers for rice instead of Kambu balls. The earth speaks , the landscape changes but Shorty is drawn into the whorls of even deeper sorrow. Highly recommended for a serious read on caste and children. and on agrarian life. Not relating the whole plot here but just a few points about the story.
Shorty's life is already tough with a strict master who works him in return for a debt owed by Shorty's father. His life is turned upside down further by the Master's son, Selvan, whose life in contrast to Shorty's is so easy. Fate ties these two into a tale of children caught in the inequalities of caste differences. After being punished harshly for stealing coconuts, Shorty experiences the humiliation of caste in his body:
"what has happened to him ? He has never been afraid of the cold, never wanted to cover himself like this. Why does his body feel so odd and always tired? even when his heart is happy his body does not seem to notice. it stays slumped and exhausted. Though he works as before, things happen on their own, as if his body has nothing to do with them. as if it is unattached to anything. it floats, relieved to hang mid air. "
The end left me aware, sad and sorry all at once.
#booksthatmatter
#indianliteratureintransalation
#perumalmuruganbooks
#bookreader
#bookoholic
#bookreview
#booksifinsta
#booklove
#indianliterature ...more

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May 15, 2017 Jayasree B rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-library

Seasons of the Palm is the translated version of Koola Madari, the Tamil Novel. It was shortlisted for the Kiriyama Prize in 2005. The translation by V.Geetha is on point. She doesn’t let anything be left out from the book in the process. While translating, she has retained some of the Tamil terms and her effort adds to the charm of the book. I am not sure if the lack of a glossary takes away from relishing the book or adds to its intrigue.

Shorty and his friends are all a part of the untouchable ...more

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Feb 10, 2019 Rashmi Pakkiri Murugan rated it really liked it

Seasons of the Palm by Perumal Murugan...
I wonder if Perumal Murugan's middle name is poignancy...Every novel of his, which I had read has a poignant ending and leaves a feeling of despair in the readers heart...despair to cling on for long...despair whose only optimism is to make u appreciate all that belongs to you and of which ensues a long list of complaints from your end....
The story is about Shorty a bonded labor..the characters are named Belly, Tall fellow, Stone deaf, Stump leg...Cannot ...more

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Jul 16, 2020 supraja rated it it was amazing

Book review - Seasons of the palm by Perumal Murugan
🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴

Genre - Fiction

Storyline - The book describes the lives of children designated as untouchables in rural Tamil Nadu. There is no strict plot, the book breezes on as a collection of incidents.

Review - Needless to say, the author's writing brings an Indian rural hinterland to life. There are festivals, lustrous crops, open fields, cattle, sheep and young children intertwined with casteism in its rampant gory.

Though the writing is poignant, th ...more

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May 15, 2017 Deepali Joshi rated it really liked it

An untouchable servant’s life is devoid of almost all the pleasures we take for granted. They toil hard on limited meals and bear the brunt of tiniest mistakes. Their tiny bodies are frail but their hearts are large. Shorty and his friends form a strong bond and share their joys and sorrows. Selvan tries hard to fit in but he is after all the master’s son. When Shorty receives a cruel punishment for an innocent mistake, his thinks he has had it. He no feels any pain on his body but has deep scar ...more

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May 14, 2017 Kunal Gwalani rated it really liked it

"Seasons of the Palm" is a story that will challenge your every belief and question all you thought was right. You will experience a pendulum of emotions that will make you livid at the mis-treatment meted out yet feel pitiful for the characters. From anger to sadness to pain and numbness at the end, it we'll leave you drained and yet introspective.

A book with an intrinsic story about society and the differences we create amongst us. A story that's extremely relevant In India given our politica ...more

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Jul 26, 2017 Shreshtha Singh Rathore rated it really liked it · review of another edition

There are stories which have unexpected endings that startle the reader, and then there are stories which go on a straight path, they are predictable, yet you read them because they are simply moving and their essence is spread throughout evenly

This is one of those stories.

The book is about a boy "Shorty" who is an 'untouchable' as many call it. A child no different than other boys of his age; lively, happy, and restless, but burdened by a sin, the sin of being born in a family as his.

It tells ...more

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May 18, 2017 Rajesh rated it liked it

I have just completed reading the book "Seasons of the Palm". It was originally written in Tamil by Perumal Murugan and translated to English by V. Geetha.

To start with, I was amazed at the way the author has narrated the life of a boy named Shorty who was given into bonded labour and was treated as an untouchable. The book opens us to the life of an ordinary child whose life gets affected adversely by poverty and racism. While reading the book you will be startled as to how Mr. Perumal Murugan ...more

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Jun 11, 2020 Visvajit rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Each of the characters in this book are vibrantly multifaceted. The situations in which they are cast by a casteist societal framework are contrasted incredibly well with their playful, childlike demeanors. This juxtaposition drives much of the sentiments of the book, exacerbating feelings of forced maturity, the suppression of emotions and pain. The chapters were never tough to get through, each introducing further layers to the complex personalities of each of the children. The relationship dy ...more

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May 15, 2017 Jerry Jothi rated it really liked it

In the fields outside a village by the Karattur hills, we’re introduced to Shorty, a young untouchable shepherd working for an upper caste family. Shorty’s daily routine includes taking the sheep to graze, subsisting on his portion of Kambu Kanji and meeting with other untouchables employed with different masters. All their lives are all completely at the mercy of their masters and mistresses. There’s an air of perpetual fear in the lives of the characters in the book. Fear of violence, of god, ...more

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May 15, 2017 Subodh Rao rated it really liked it

Seasons of the Palm by Perumal Murugan takes you back to the era where untouchable were a part of the society. Story of ‘Shorty’ an untouchable boy working in the fields of his Master in extremely deplorable conditions but still manages to perform every tasks that his master asks of him without complaining.
It is a very sad story of shorty who has no life or independence of his own, who works for his master like a slave for very little or no money.

The storytelling by the author has been very com ...more

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Sep 18, 2018 Kalpana Misra rated it it was amazing

I was bereft when the book ended - the way you are when a really good story comes to an end and you miss the characters and their setting. The language is so lyrical that you can open the book at any page and be awash with what feels like poetry. Although it's about the way an untouchable shepherd boy spends his days and his joys and sorrows, the reader is fully invested in his life. The casual instances of caste discrimination are so true of the India we live in. I have recommended this book to ...more

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May 15, 2017 Weepli rated it really liked it

Seasons of the Palm is a nuanced account of the caste system still prevalent in India and its impact on the lives of the people there. It describes the lives of the kids bonded in labour to powerful landowners, having no agency or ability to make their own decisions.

Beautifully written and translated, the book is a gripping read, providing insight not just into social injustices but also of growing up and the complexities of adoloscent friendships.

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Aug 23, 2018 Shailesh D’Souza rated it really liked it

Haunting, searing portrait of a goat-herder boy. Tethered to an existence borne out by his place in society and yoked to an inextricable fate worse than a beast of burden, this novel written in the author's naturalistic style leaves you with an ending that mars both dominant and vanquished, and as such shows the far-reaching, unintended consequences of violence and subjugation to the loss of all involved. ...more

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Mar 23, 2020 Maulik Tabiyar rated it really liked it

a line created by upper castes for untouchables, taunting. shorty, stumpleg, belly, tallfellow their friendship. bounded to field work by their family pressure without any dreams. poochi is a dog comes to shorty for kanji. how their masters treat them.
sometimes funny with best village scenario and nature's blend mixture gives you lessons & also makes us sad.
worth a read #murugan💜💙 ...more

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Jan 28, 2018 Kalaiselvan selvaraj rated it liked it · review of another edition

Subject : Child labour in dairy farming( goat, buffalo,cow) and what’s the Cast(சாதி) done in 1970’s.

Cast(சாதி) has divided by what the work he is doing.

Nothing to say more. Read it u can go to the world of 90’s kongu region.

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Jul 04, 2017 Arunachalam Bharathi rated it it was amazing

This was a lovely book. What a fine depiction of the innocence of childhood.. and its erosion by the vile ways of adults.
The translation by V Geetha too was very good.

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Jan 11, 2019 Kalpita Wadher rated it really liked it

Have written a longish review for those interested: https://bookstalkist.com/resonance-of... ...more

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Dec 19, 2019 Meena added it

Shelves: didn-t-like-it-enough-to-finish

There's way too much reality in real life for me to want to read more about reality. Too heavy on the heart, no, thank you. ...more

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“வவுறி அவனை பார்த்துச் சிரித்தாள். "வயசுக்கு வந்துட்டா நானும் பண்ணையத்த உட்டு நின்னுக்குவன்". அவள் சந்தோஷமாகச் சொன்னாள். உணர்ச்சியற்ற முகத்தோடு அவளைப் பார்த்தான். "நானு?" என்றான். அவனிடம் இருந்து பெருமூச்சு ஒன்று வெளிப்பட்டது.” — 0 likes

“எங்குமே அழிவு இன்பத்தை உண்டாக்குவதில்லை. எல்லா அழிவுகளும் வேதனைகளைப் பரப்புகின்றன.” — 0 likes

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