Title: Bandilanka’s Forgotten Lives
Author: Kamakshi Pappu Murti
Publisher: Leadstart publishing
Genre: Short Stories
First Publication: 2021
Language: English
Book Summary: Bandilanka’s Forgotten Lives by Kamakshi Pappu Murti
Bandilanka, a fictional village in Southern India, represents many such ones across the Indian subcontinent, still caught up in the age-old customs, and superstitions that are destructive at times. The characters in this collection have each faced some form of injustice or loss.
‘A cleaning woman’s tale’ and ‘Vegetable vendor Sundari’ exemplify sex-discrimination in the village. ‘Widowhood across generations’ describes the fate of widows from all castes, classes, and age groups. ‘The matter of trans lives’ and ‘Tradition’s stranglehold’ show how despite a 2014 law formally recognizing the existence of a third gender, Hijras continue to face hate and persecution, as does the entire LGBTQ+ community.
Bigotry raises its ugly head in ‘Night soil removers Kaavanna and Kondamma,’ but is condemned in an interesting reversal of fate. ‘A washerman’s dream’ is the poignant story of a washerman who with his dying breath thanks a loving family for giving him the strength to stand up to a lifetime of rejection because of his perceived low caste.
The stories highlight the inherent worth and dignity of the lives of these disenfranchised groups thus challenging socially constructed divides and inequalities of caste, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and age.
Book Review: Bandilanka’s Forgotten Lives by Kamakshi Pappu Murti
Set in Bandilanka, a fictional village in Southern India, this collection of short stories shows the downtrodden side of the society we live in. This is a stunning short story collection with big grand sweeps of solitude and sorrow. Every character here holds a broken dream in their back pocket. The rhythms and melancholy of Indian banter and the lush beauty and stark isolation of the rural India is a part of this collection. There is broken-heartedness in these stories as well as yearning and longing that, in sometimes leads to self-recognition.
This collection of stories by Kamakshi Murti is like a treasure chest of individual jewels, each one precious in its own right. Kamakshi Murti’s stories, although each very different, have a running theme throughout: injustice and loss are hiding in the shadows of these men and women who live in the small town of Bandilanka. Their discomforts, resentments, disillusionment, longings, loss, and defeats between the youth and adults are captured wonderfully.
All the stories in Bandilanka’s Forgotten Lives evoke the weariness one feels when they have spent most of their life in one place, following the same path they always have. Sometimes these characters are down on their luck, sometimes their facing a major crossroads, and sometimes they’re just hoping for a little more out of life. And even when they aren’t the most upstanding people, author Kamaskhi Murti’s respect for her characters makes you care about them anyway.
These stories are rich with character, plot, and introspection, and they definitely leave you marvelling. Each story captures the hunger of the human soul. It is the magic of written words which unpacks the longings and frustrations of each character that makes each tale heart-searing. The collection is a series of sympathetic vignettes into rural life with incredible atmospheric details and interesting characters. It is a bold glimpse into the daily struggles of people trying to carve out some type of existence in their small town.
A mix of themes in Bandilanka’s Forgotten Lives elicited from me a mix of reactions. Themes inequalities of caste, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and age are contained here. Some were a bit dark, but the one consistent thing is the beautiful writing. Author allows us to get inside the character’s heads, feel their longings, as she depicts profound moments.
Kamakshi Murti has a stunning way with words. She has a gift for conjuring quiet scenes from small-town Indian life that bristle with a kind of dormant tension. From the first few paragraphs, you know you’re in the hands of a good writer. She is extremely adept at evoking the unsettling atmosphere of a small-town. Her writing is simple yet elegant, and her characters are drawn with a refined sensitivity to psychological nuance. The stories in this collection exemplify how even the shortest of stories can open up an entire world to the reader.
