Poonachi: The Story of a black goat.

So I have a friend, Ravindra, who I think is the biggest fan of Perumal Murugan. He tries to read every literature by Perumal Murugan and also suggests everyone to read so.

It was year 2019, when I borrowed one of his favorite book “Poonachi” and didn’t get time to read it. I returned it to him after a month or so. But now the time has changed, this pandemic and my start-up made me realize that the more books I read, the more I will be succeeding in life. So I picked up the book suggested by Ravindra and started reading it and found out that I was missing on this beauty from the longest of time.

2018 JCB Shortlisted Poonachi is written by Perumal Murugan translated by N. Kalyan Raman (originally written in Tamil) is a story of a black goat. The book is a more like a memoir of an ordinary goat written in the simplest yet effective language.

Perumal Murugan has established the characters and character description so well that the story becomes a smooth read. Also the transition between different emotions and outcomes of the emotion is laid really well. This way the whole story goes from the birth of the goat to its death.

The story starts with a black doe being handed over to an old man by a really tall man, whom they later referred to as “Bakasuran”. Coming back to home, wife of the old man, names the doe as “Poonachi” which was the name of her pet cat when she was growing up.

The story goes in a very effective way and every transition between the scenes was smooth. I couldn’t feel the story being heavy on me even at the most serious scenes. The language used is simple, the credit of which should be given to N. Kalyan Raman.

In between the story, there were few satirical dialogues of protagonist explaining how government treats citizens of a country. They added to the authenticity of the emotion at a particular event. This way the book adds flavour to the story being narrated.

Adding to the story was one of the line which has a great impact. It goes.

What could anyone do with a miracle during a famine? Miracles and Exhibitions were meant for when people were relaxing after a sumptuous meal.

Another

They talk about highs of toddy and liquor, but those are not highs at all. Real Intoxication comes from talking. The moment it crosses a limit, we forget everything.

So overall it is a great book. Loved reading it and will suggest it to everyone.

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