‘Unmoored’: Translated Tamil novella about migration takes the reader on a journey of their own

What is it like to search for belonging in a place you call home? This is the crux of Ramachandran Usha’s Tamil novella Unmoored (Karai Thedum Odangal), translated from the Tamil by Krupa Ge. The novella’s three protagonists – Ayesha, Indu, and Ameera – return to Chennai, to lives very different from the ones they have left behind. Having left for “the Gulf” earlier in search of work, they are now eager to reconnect with their loved ones: Ayesha with her children, Indu with her husband, and Ameera with her natal family. But there are challenges that await them, and this re-settling is filled with questions and doubts brought about by time apart. “Unmoored” from their surroundings, they must figure out new lives in a place they once knew.

Ayesha, Ameera, Indu

The book captivates the reader’s attention right from the start. Opening at a moment of high tension and high energy, the first chapter reveals excruciatingly little detail. Having just been released from prison, we learn that Ameera is being separated from her son but that she is going home. This keeps the reader hooked with the intensity of the scene that is set. Within the first few chapters, a scenario has been established –...

Read more

News