Irumbu Kuthiraigal
இந்தப் பக்கத்தை தமிழில் வாசிக்க: இரும்புக்குதிரைகள்
Irumbukuthiraigal (1984) is a Novel by Balakumaran. The novel's storyline is based on Truck Transport.
Writing, Publication
Balakumaran's Irumbukuthiraigal was released as a series in Kalki magazine on 1984, and then got published as a book. In the preface to the novel, Malan says that Viswanathan in the novel is Subramania Raju, the late short story writer and Balakumaran's friend.
Synopsis
The story of Irumbukuthiraigal takes place in a truck transport environment. Gandhi Lal and Ravuthar own two truck companies on Thannithotti Street. One of Ravuthar's trucks hits a person and the other knocks down a well. Kandhi Lal's lorry disappears on the way carrying the load of English company's cargo. The story begins with Viswanathan, an English company man, searching for it. The novel unfolds as minor scandals, compromises, unwritten rules in the trucking companies.
The protagonist Viswanathan is surviving as a clerk with the dream of entering the film industry. Viswanathan's Poems about horses are the central flow of the novel. His wife Darini did not like those poems and their relationship is bitter. Nanu Iyer who is called Vathiyar Narayanasamy, finds a job for his daughter Gayatri on his student Vadivelu's shop. Viswanathan befriends Nanu Iyer. Gayatri loves Viswanathan knowing that he is married. Gayatri says she does not want to get married but just wants Viswanathan's baby. Viswanathan does not accept it, but Nanu Iyer accepts. Gayatri leaves. Viswanathan and his wife Darini compose all his poems into a book under the title Irumbukuthiraigal.
Literary Space
Irumbukuthirai is a noteworty novel, as it describes an industry that is not spoken in the context of Tamil literature, with brief details about it. But novel's main characters Viswanathan, Gayatri, Nanu Iyer were all portrayed in a very romanticized way and with the intention to shock and attract general readers. Irumbukuthirai gains its literary quality by brief contextual depiction and sharp psychological description.
References
- Irumbukuthiraigal review - Rengasubramani
- Silicon Shelf Vimarsanam
- Naan Vaasitha Puthagangal (online-tamil-books.blogspot.com)
- Malan Munnurai
- Ezhuthu Sithar Balakumaran (writerbala.blogspot.com)
