Fire Bird - Perumal Murugan

 'Fire Bird' is translated from Perumal Murugan's original work in Tamil 'Aalandapatchi' (a mystical bird in Tamil). The story is set in interior Tamil Nadu and courses through a month's time in the life of a small farmer in Tamil Nadu.

The story begins with Muthu and his man Friday Kuppan taking their bullock cart in search of a piece of land to buy. As the story unfolds it is revealed that Muthu is the youngest son of a farmer's family that has recently divided up its land along the five sons. Muthu, the youngest gets a raw deal, and when things go from bad to worse, his wife moves out of their land and gives Muthu an ultimatum to sell that land and buy a new one. The travails of the young Muthu who has hitherto not been exposed to dealing with the outside world, and his search for the perfect piece of land with the able and aged Kuppan, makes for the rest of the story.

Murugan describes the life of a farmer and his many skills and understanding of soil, the land, trees, creatures that live off the land, water, seasons, weather, people, practices, processes, food in a detail that amazes you. When he takes you on a detour into the life of a toddy tapper or a tree climber he treats you to a lesson in when to climb a toddy tree, how to climb, how to hide the produce from the police. And when he takes you into the details of how to deal with people in a hostile village when buying their land and keeping the money safe through the process its a lesson in people management and how to assert oneself without spoiling relations. The harsh and coarse language used by the men and women, the constant insults and sexual innuendos, are real -  and one wonders what reason they had to be so harsh. But nothing was done without reason. The way they divided the property, the role of women in appropriating more for their own family, the conspiracy of the older brothers to gain more and in their greed going past all limits of propriety as he molests his younger brother's wife in a bid to get rid of them. The way the mother and the older brother's wife side with the older brother saying that its no big deal also shows the gender politics - always coming down to money. Greed.

How Muthu and Kuppan finally negotiate and seal a good deal, how he brings his daughter and an old paati to help him, and how the rocky and barren land slowly offers hope in every square inch is the story. The term 'Fire Bird' is what Muthu's fiery wife Peruma's personality signifies. 

Perumal Murugan's novel is a how-to book of how one must go about while dealing with family feuds, while buying land, how to overcome seemingly humongous obstacles with grit and commitment and by using whatever resources one has. How much ever the detail frustrates at times, it is still compelling reading as in every act their is a thought, a lesson from nature. One can only marvel at the wonderful translation by Janaki Kannan because even in the translation I can detect how difficult the original language must have been. After 'Pyre' and 'One Part Woman', this is my third Perumal Murugan novel and its much more layered, subtler and beautifully woven.