Perumal Murugan’s learning curve

In January 2015, Aniruddhan Vasudevan translated Perumal Murugan's Facebook note in which the author stated, "Author Perumal Murugan has died.

- AKANKSHA ABISMRUTA

He is no god, so he is not going to resurrect himself. Nor does he believe in reincarnation. From now on, Perumal Murugan will survive merely as a teacher, as he has been.This was the aftermath of right-wing groups protesting against his novel One Part Woman in which he portrays a childless couple engaging in a ritual that allowed free sexual relations between men and women for one night. Realistic depictions of social issues were a hallmark of his novels and short story collections. In the time he spent in exile in 2015-16, he wrote a poetry collection that added to his literary oeuvre, and marked a return to writing. After the controversy, his writing changed in terms of depicting social issues in imagined worlds rather than specifying place and caste names as he did before. His fiction writing after 2015- Poonachi (2018), translated by N Kalyan Raman and Estuary (2020), translated by Nandini Krishnan - continues to be simple, empathetic and poignant.

His nonfiction shares the same qualities. In Students Etched in Memory, impeccably translated by V Ishwarya, readers get a glimpse of Murugan's life as a teacher, the role he held on to during his literary death. This collection of 40 essays on as many students draws heavily on the author's affectionate engagement with his students throughout his teaching career. The essays were first published in 2017 as columns in The Hindu