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The Tamarind Tree

Sundara Ramaswamy
Chapters (22)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. CONTENTS
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. AFTERWORD
  21. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  22. ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

PRAISE FOR SUNDARA RAMASWAMY

A classic of modern Tamil literature by Sundara Ramaswamy, winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Toronto (2001) and the Katha Chudamani Award (2004)

“Reading Sundara Ramaswamy is like negotiating a minefield. Step on his stories, and something goes off inside your head. Not many can match the sheer thematic and stylistic range of his work and the enduring nature of his vision. Compelling and delightful, his stories have a strong feel for humor.”

—The Hindu

“SuRaa pushed boundaries in both style and substance and was a master practitioner of the craft.”

—“Nine Indian Authors Who Should Have Won the Nobel,” Swarajya

“Perhaps, Ramaswamy’s greatest accomplishment in writing a book of this nature is the fact that by the end, JJ becomes more an obsession of the mind; a wishful precedence takes over and you are left holding a void that Ramaswamy has conjured out of sheer imagination, the modernism from all of which is justification enough to read, reread, and read more of this wonderful writer.”

—Firstpost on JJ: Some Jottings

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TITLE PAGE

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COPYRIGHT PAGE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Text copyright © 1966 by Kamala Ramaswamy

Translation copyright © 2022 by Aniruddhan Vasudevan

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Previously published as imageimage (Oru Puliyamarathin Kathai) by Tamil Puthakalayamin India in 1966, revised and published by Kalachuvadu Editions in India in 2001. Translated from the Tamil by Aniruddhan Vasudevan, based on the 2001 edition. The text was edited by Tashan Mehta working with Aniruddhan Vasudevan and in consultation with the author’s children Thaila Ramanujam and S. R. Sundaram (Kannan).

Published by Amazon Crossing, Seattle

Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Amazon Crossing are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.

ISBN-13: 9781542034586 (hardcover)

ISBN-13: 9781542020657 (paperback)

ISBN-13: 9781428519367 (digital)

Cover design by David Drummond

Cover illustrated by Muhammed Sajid

First edition

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

AFTERWORD

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

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1

1.

While it lived, the tamarind tree stood at the junction of three roads.