Magazine 2016
International Peer-Reviewed Journal
RESEARCH HORIZONS, VOL. 6 JULY 2016
INSIGHTS INTO AMBAI’S SHORT STORIES ‘WRESTLING’ &
‘
UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT’.
*Annabel Rebello
*Divya Yogeshwar
*
ABSTRACT
This paper aims at exploring the lives of the women in the select two novellas of C.S. Lakshmi, ‘Wrestling’
‘Unpublished Manuscript’, a contemporary short-story writer who writes under the name of Ambai.
&
Her stories are observations of everyday lives and situations. As a critic and historian, C.S. Lakshmi
also writes in English but these works are mostly restricted to research papers and critical essays.
Ambai narrates women’s real experiences in her fiction and transforms women’s silences into words
and images. Most of Ambai’s female characters are submissive, docile, indecisive, concurrent, etc.
They are silent sufferers who abide by the patriarchal norms. They suffer from loneliness, alienation,
suppression, exploitation, silence, ignorance, etc. All her stories are not of transformation but there is
always a hope for the better. At one point the stories seems to emancipate the women but shows how
the women still seem to be a victim caught in the male dominated society.
Key Words : Ambai, Wrestling, Unpublished Manuscript,
Introduction
The fiction of Ambai (b. 1944 - ) contemporary short-story writer in Tamil revolves around the lives of
women. She articulates her views in fiction, which she writes under the name of Ambai, and in non-
fiction, which she writes in English under her real name C. S. Lakshmi. The aim of this paper is to
reflect on two novellas of Ambai namely ‘Wrestling’ & ‘Unpublished Manuscript’. Most of her stories
are observations of everyday lives and situations. The stories are very Tamilian. The use of words like
‘
Padalam, Thinai, Jamakalam, etc’ depicts the colloquial use of the Tamil language. As a critic and
historian, C.S. Lakshmi also writes in English but these works are mostly restricted to research papers
and critical essays. For works of fiction Ambai prefers Tamil ‘because this is the language in which
images come to her’.
In New Voices and Spaces in Ambai’s Short Stories, critic Alejandra Moreno Álvarez comments that
her short stories are embedded with the plurality of narrative voices, the use of interior monologues
and postmodern techniques of multiple perspectives. He further goes onto say the agenda she sets
for modern Tamil women writers is to seek and develop newer and freer forms of expression in Tamil
which articulates women’s experiences more accurately. Ambai narrates women’s real experiences in
her fiction and transforms women’s silences into words and images. By exploring the ways in which
people describe themselves and the communities to which they could be said to belong, she underlines
how human beings are made subjects.(112)
Wrestling explores the husband - wife relationship of Shanmugam and Shenbegam. The husband
Shanmugam a singer and teacher spends most of his time with the young talented students. The story
centres around the life of Shenbegam, his wife who grows up with her mother and expresses a desire
to learn singing from Shanmugam ’s father, Ayya. Respected and well known for his performances, he
is an iconic figure in society. He teaches her to sing along with his son “…Shenbagam grew up as
Ayya’s doughter. Ayya’s wife Nagammal became a mother to her. Nagammal was deeply interested in
Tamil literature. And so, Shenbagam studied music under Ayya, and literature under Nagammal.” (23)
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International Peer-Reviewed Journal
RESEARCH HORIZONS, VOL. 6 JULY 2016
“
Since she had to learn to play an instrument as well as sing, Ayya began to teach her the veena. He
kept her away from chores….Said that her fingers would wear out.”(24) Such a decision brought
jealousy and uneasiness to his son Shanmugam . ‘Wrestling’ also talks about the untraditional father
Ayya who devotes his training to teaching Shenbegam to sing. He indiscriminately teaches her, grooms
and hones her singing preparing her for concerts and stage performances. Much to the disgust of his
son and other fellow companions, he forbids her
“
from chores like cutting vegetables and washing vessels... (She)was not allowed to do any work
except lay out banana leaves for their meals and pour the drinking water. Such was his concern for her
fingers.” (24)
When Shenbagam came of age, she thought she would not be allowed to sing and learn and educate
herself. Instead Ayya dismissed all of the traditional rules forbidding menstruating women from singing
or playing the instruments exclaiming “Silly girl! What does this have to do with all that? Who asked
you to stay here all alone? Anyone can touch the veena and the books any time they want to. Come on
out.” He said taking her hand and leading her out. To Nagammal….he said “Nagu, don’t keep her
away from the others. You know I don’t like this kind of thing.” (26)
As the years passed, there came a day when Shanmugam was in talks with his father on marriage with
Shenbegam. He asked him to not hasten the marriage. He probably feared that marriage would break
Shenbegam’s dedication to music. He tells him to “wait a year or two…Let her get a little older.” (30)
Shanmugam later questions the need for his future wife –to-be to continue to sing and perform in
public to which his father retorts sharply
“
Why? What’ll she do if she doesn’t sing in concerts? Cook”…”No Ayya. But, why should she rush
about all over the place? She can sing as much as she wants to at home…. Let her take it easy.” Ayya
continued to eat, not saying a word. When she took his drinking water to his room, he swung around
sharply and said. “ Go on. Go on. Keep house. Make babies.” (31)
Ayya was frustrated with the fact even after all the hard work put in, society rather than appreciating,
pushes women to ultimately take up the role of being a home maker. Ambai’s critical questioning of
societal norms and rules on the traditional roles of the man and the woman is expressed though the
character of Ayya.
Ambai in Wrestling pursues what feminist Luce Irigaray underlines in This Sex Which is not One – “That
we are women from the start. That we don’t have to be turned into women bythem, labelled by them,
made holy and profaned by them.That that has always alreadyhappened without their efforts. And that
their history, their stories, constitute the locus ofour displacement. It is not that we have a territory of
our own; but their fatherland, family,home, discourse, imprison us in enclosed spaces where we cannot
keep on moving, living,as ourselves. Their properties our exiles.Their enclosures, the death of our
love.Theirwords, the gag upon our lips.” (Irigaray 212)
The novella continues with the marriage of Shanmugam to Shenbegam who takes up his father’s
profession of teacher and stage performer, whereas Shenbegam only sang together with him at home.
“
During Katcheris, seated behind him, she held out his glass of milk. But beyond the public gaze, they
were still wrestler, locked in a mortal struggle.” (32)
An interesting character, Somu, young student of Shanmugam “… had begged her to teach him the
varnam she had composed. She had done so. Later, he had sung it at some small concert, making it
a point to acknowledge her as its composer. At the same concert there happened to be present a
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International Peer-Reviewed Journal
RESEARCH HORIZONS, VOL. 6 JULY 2016
famous vidwan, who rigidly upheld the principle that no woman could be present on stage when he
sings. “ (32) The vidwan taunts the boy and mockingly tells him to hang a pair of bangles on his wrist
which he fearlessly puts on. Here we see young Somu defying the customs and rules for the sake of
respecting his teacher Shenbegam.
The novella ends with a concert which begins with Shanmugam singing the first song and waiting for
Somu to join in the singing. But surprisingly Somu does not join in. Instead he keeps the part for
Shenbegam who unhesitatingly takes the mike and much to his astonishment begins singing. Thus
continues their unfinished battle where “ Shanmugam looked at her like one who had been trapped in
an unexpectedly complicated hold and had been wrestled to the ground…” (34). The novel culminates
with Shanmugam and Shenbegam singing together on stage.
The Unpublished Manuscript (translated from Tamil) is another novella written by Ambai. In the
Unpublished Manuscript, Thirumagal lives her life without her alcoholic super poet husband and builds
her life with her daughter. She works as an English professor to support her family. The story recalls
and relives the younger days and recaptures the youthful images of the protagonist, Thirumagal through
her daughter. One finds that the female protagonists of Ambai’s fiction look back at their past and
review their experiences. The novella opens in the present but the reader is taken back into the past
where the character is a teacher in the prime of her youth. The past life of the character is uncovered
through her daughter Chintamarai’s study of an unpublished manuscript, which she finds in Thirumagal’s
cupboard in her absence. Thirumagal has a vivid personality- like her love for poetry, music and her
dedication to the pursuit of knowledge. It depicts Thirumagal’s motherless childhood and her father’s
(
Ramasami) rationalist and idealist views and affection for her. Ramasami exhibits trust and confidence
in Thirumagal’s abilities and respects her professional space.
Thirumagal too like her father encourages her daughter to think beyond relationships bordering on
stereotypes and constructs a different notion of masculinity and femininity based on mutual respect
and valuation of each other’s abilities and work. Thirumagal’s father is set in sharp contrast to her
lover-husband Muthukumaran, who has two faces in his life- the ideal and the real one. Her journey
with the man whom she was in love did not prove fruitful. Muthukumaran had a lot of expectations
from Thirumagal- as a wife. With violence on both sides the two separate for good Chintamarai says,
“Amma said that it was easier to live with Appa’s poems than with a poet like Appa.”
Thus, when Chintamarai reads the manuscript she develops more affection and respect towards her
mother. She sympathizes with the traumatic life of her mother who had suffered severe mental, physical
and societal pressure because she was a woman. She projects the oppressive elements of patriarchal
society in terms of violence done to woman. Ambai challenges from within and outside i.e self and
society. She unravels the psychological nuances of her female characters thereby capturing the
atmosphere of the mind. Explorations of silence, space, coming to terms with one’s body and sexuality
and the importance of communication are some of the recurring themes in her works.
Ambai’s writings are to enlighten, liberate, empower, emancipate, educate, etc. Even though Thirumagal
walks out from her relationship, she is still a victim and a silent sufferer at the hands of the society. The
author implies that every woman must find liberty, equality, individuality and should never compromise
in any given situation. Her stories talk about how relationship is a gamble for a woman who has a job
and how she puts it all aside to keep a man happy. They focus on women’s problems, their limitations
as the weaker sex to exercise authority in a male dominated society and their feelings of frustration.
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International Peer-Reviewed Journal
RESEARCH HORIZONS, VOL. 6 JULY 2016
Most of Ambai’s female characters are submissive, docile, indecisive, concurrent, etc. They are silent
sufferers who abide by the patriarchal norms. They suffer from loneliness, alienation, suppression,
exploitation, silence, ignorance, etc. All her stories are not of transformation but there is always a hope
for the better. At one point the stories seems to emancipate the women but shows how the women still
seem to be a victim caught in the male dominated society.
REFERENCES :
Alejandra Moreno Álvarez. New Voices and Spaces in Ambai’s Short Stories. (Odisea). 2009. pdf
Ambai (C.S. Lakshmi). Two Novellas and a Short Story. New Delhi: KATHA, 2003. Print.
Irigaray, L. This Sex Which is Not One. New York: Cornell University. 1985 [1977]. pdf
Ambai (C.S. Lakshmi). “The Unpublished Manuscript”. Trans. PremaSeetharam and Uma Narayanan
.
New Delhi: KATHA, 2003. Print.
Priya P. “A Detailed Study on Quest for Identity and Related Issues.” IJELLH 2.4 (2014): 144-51.
Web.
“Author Biographies and Overview of the Selected Literary Writings.” 27-30. Http://
shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/136
*
Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Maniben Nanavati Women’s College, Vile Parle (W),
Mumbai – 400056 Email: [email protected]
*
Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, M.D. Shah Mahila College, BJ Patel Rd, Near Liberty Garden,
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