Ponniyin Selvan & my mother

My mother is not very excitable but she usually lights up like a deepavali lamp at the mention of ‘Ponniyin Selvan’. I’m reading the last book of the series and when I mention this on my weekend call home, I can here the excitement in her voice. She does not agree with me that Arulmozhivarman is a pious goody-two-shoes and that Vandhiyadevan’s character is the least well delineated of the lot. But, like me, she is drawn to the female characters – especially Nandini (‘Enna strong character ava!’) and Poonkuzhali(‘Woman with loads of attitude illaya ma Poonkuzhali?’).

Now mom can no longer complain that I have poor literary taste - Ponniyin Selvan has bridged the divide between my literary gene and its blueprint!