Echoes of the Veena and other stories: Short Stories

by R. Chudamani, Prabha Sridevan (Translator)

This collection of eighteen stories in English translation is vintage Chudamani. The stories explore a variety of themes, such as the psychological landscape of a girl who had to stop going to school, of the insecurity of a mother who sucks the life out of her child, of a deserted woman who stands tall with her self-respect intact, of the loneliness of a forgotten actor of yester-years. Two stories tell the tales of two exceptional musicians (both dead) and their wives; but the likeness ends there. Two stories speak of two fathers and their daughters; but the similarity ends there. In the midst of simple, straightforward narration, the master storyteller makes a sharp, ironic comment on social barriers and taboos. Chudamani understood children, she understood persons with disabilities; she understood men too. But many of her stories centre around the woman with her anxieties in the role of a wife, sister or mother. She tells this is how She is, She feels, and She lives and struggles. Chudamani does not judge; nor does she say that the woman is perfect.

240 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2019

About the author

Raghavan Chudamani (January 10, 1931 – September 13, 2010) was an Indian writer writing in Tamil. She also wrote short stories in English as Chudamani Raghavan. Her name also appears as Choodamani.

She was born in Chennai and grew up there. Because of a physical disability, she was schooled at home. She published her first story "Kaveri" in 1957. In 1960, she published her first novel Manathukku Iniyaval (Beloved woman). Her 1961 play Iruvar Kandanar (Two persons witnessed), which has been performed many times, received the Ananda Vikatan award. Her stories have been translated into other Indian languages. She also translated stories from other Indian languages into Tamil.

She received the Tamil Nadu Government Award in 1966, the Lilly Devasigamani Award in 1992 and the Kalagnar Mu Karunanidhi Award at the Chennai Book Fair in 2009.