This play is the vision of such an eclipse capable of fragmenting everyone and everything.īased in the 90s, this play, in the vein of light situational humor, tries to unravel the complexities and confusions of human life along with creations’ natural activities. Along with this, the imminent possibility of the entire town drowning due to the building of a dam, is an eclipse encompassing the entire town. In this extract from Vivek Shanbhags novella, translated from the Kannada by Srinath Perur, a young man shares ‘the exhilaration of getting married in the traditional way’, and bares the maelstrom of feelings that come from entangling your life with a stranger’s. He has published five short-story collections, three novels and two plays, and edited two anthologies, one of which is in. On the other hand, Jagannatha’s wealth & power forms the eclipse that has befallen the lives of the town’s impoverished folk. The readiness of the inhabitants of Maavinooru to sell off their culture, values, principles, household & art for the sake of money shows the eclipse that has seized their minds. The celebrated author from the Indian state of Karnataka has published eight works of fiction and two plays. Although Ghachar Ghochar is Vivek Shanbhag’s English-language debut, the book is far from being his first work. He is the author of the travelogue If It’s Monday It Must Be Madurai (Penguin India, 2013). Srinath Perur writes on a variety of subjects, especially travel or science.
This play is the theatrical presentation of the story “Kanthu” by the famous Kannada storyteller, Vivek Shanbhag. So I was delighted to hear about the publication this year of a novel translated into English from the South Indian language of Kannada, which is still barely represented in the anglophone reading world. He has published five short-story collections, three novels and two plays, and edited two anthologies, one of which is in English.
The events that unfold in the backdrop of the eclipse about to be witnessed in Maavinooru form the essence of this play, “Kanthu”.
Eclipses are one amongst creation’s multiple natural events.