'There is nothing wrong in calling oneself a coward', says Perumal Murugan

Back in 2015 when the Hindutva brigade led a raging protest against the Tamil novel Madhorubhagan 2010 they almost successfully managed to silence one of South Indian literatures most accomplished voices The slew of criminal charges filed against the author on the grounds of obscenity spreading disharmony between communities blasphemy and defamation prompted something that nobody saw comingPerumal Murugan the writer is dead As he is no God he is not going to resurrect himself He has no faith in rebirth As an ordinary teacher he will live as P Murugan Leave him alone read an emotional Facebook post by the books author which faced criticism for its bold portrayal of a childless couple desperate to conceive Murugan did not stop there He demanded that his publishers stop printing and selling his work and promised to compensate them for the unsold books To his readers he implored Those who have bought my books consign them to the flamesTwo years on days after the release of the English translation of his new collection of poems Songs of a Coward Penguin Books India the hurt and pain still lingers but writer Murugan appears to have moved on even if reluctantly He continues to post on Facebook where he has a small but significant following of 6300 people and the messages now are mostly positive It is a period I wish to forget about Honestly I am not in a frame of mind to speak about it says the writer in an email interview which he chooses to do only in Tamil the language that he can articulate himself best inPerumal MuruganHis new collection which comprises 210 poems has been translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan who in April this year won the Sahitya Akademi for One Part Woman the translation of Murugans controversial novel which first pushed the author on a selfimposed exile He wrote these poems during a period when he was struggling to find his bearings trying to make sense of all that was happening to his life and how it might affect his existence as a person and writer We clearly hear the journalling voice in these poems they record private emotions acute vulnerability and a constant sense of cautiously moving around a space to see how hospitable inhabitable and welcoming it might be mdash or not says Vasudevan in the book The turmoil is evident as Murugans deeply personal poems all dated begin on the day he first went into exile and end with Judgement Day incidentally written on July 5 2016 just before the Madras high court order on his book I anxiously await the word that will soon issue forth from the lips of God Gods language only has good words doesnt it the short verse readsThat the high court lifted the ban on Madhorubhagan cemented a good end to an otherwise nightmarish journey which Murugun painfully narrates in verse The HC order restored my belief in the judicial system he tells us In the scenario that I was in there was nothing but faith to cling on toThe awardwinning writer who is also a professor of Tamil literature aptly describes the collection as sumaithangi which in English means the thing that holds your burden and is used to describe a stone structure with a roof that was used as a place of rest by weary travellers in ancient India My poems served as a sumaithangi and helped ease my pain In these circumstances it was how I could make sense of what was happening around me There is a joy in writing poetry It is the closest representation of the mind he admits adding that Vasudevan imbued new vision and life to these poems He is essentially a creator and an artist himself Its been enjoyable to work with him because he is so open to ideasMurugan confesses that though he has been writing for long Songs of a Coward is very different from his past work There is a certain frenzied energy to this collection The language is simple easy and holds together In fact this is the first time I have written so much in such a short span Murugan says of his short verses What however is most moving about this collection is the number of times Murugan looks inward almost admonishingly Sometimes referring to himself as a coward and on one occasion also a strange beast we see the writer reflect on how he had suddenly become a threat to his very own people Someone has painted over my head a pair of horns everyone can see someone has turned me into a strange beast he writesWhen we ask him of this he says There is nothing wrong in calling oneself a coward One doesnt have to be brave or fearless to tell his or her story Our experiences will change with time and we must talk about it says Murugan He ends At the end of the day the collection will mean different things to different people For Murugan though the collection will always be his most cathartic journey yet