Tamarind History

When looking for Perumal Murugan's books, I came across a title that was absolutely fascinating: Tamarind History.  With a tastefully-designed cover too:

Source

I have a fondness for tamarind and mango trees that were in plenty in the "compound" back in Neyveli.  As I wrote here almost a decade ago, by the gate to our home was a giant tamarind tree.  It was huge.  Even in the best of the lighting, the compound was in semi-darkness at best, and some of the trees were in utter darkness.  Most of this old tamarind tree by the gate was in the dark.  It is, therefore, easy to imagine that some of the school friends coming over wanted to get past the tree as fast as they could--kids were brought up with ghost stories in which tamarind trees were almost always the favorite "hang out" for the spirits.

But, we were never afraid of that tamarind tree.  After all, we did not know any better.  The tree was always there from the time we remembered the world.

I picked up a copy.

As soon as I reached home, I followed up on my curiosity about the translator, Blake Wentworth.  The book described him as a professor at UC Berkeley, and I was damn impressed that here was another guy from the West who was a fan and a scholar of the Tamil language.

I googled for Blake Wentworth.

The results were not what I imagined though.

UC Berkeley professor fired nearly two years after sexual harassment claims substantiated
Dismissal of Blake Wentworth – who sued the women who filed the harassment complaints – marks a rare instance of termination for sexual misconduct

Oh my!

I started reading the book.  A fantastic tale it is, and set in the familiar areas that straddle Kerala and Tamil Nadu near Nagercoil and Kanyakumari.  The people, the customs, the tensions, and more that the author--Sundara Ramaswamy--had written about more than 50 years ago are not only highly relatable but also feel contemporary.  A story that has truly withstood the test of time.  A classic, indeed.