Marathi literature, split from Indian languages thread Options

[frangipani]

On a visit to my aunt, accidentally came up on G.A. Kulkarni's Bakhar Bimmchii which I got for a nephew of mine - I was laughing out loud reading it on the bus back home. Also found Rathachakra, after a long time.

[Angur]

On a visit to my aunt, accidentally came up on G.A. Kulkarni's Bakhar Bimmchii which I got for a nephew of mine - I was laughing out loud reading it on the bus back home. Also found Rathachakra, after a long time.

I think Rathchakra is Pendse's best! Better than his most popular Garambicha Bapu.

[frangipani]

On a visit to my aunt, accidentally came up on G.A. Kulkarni's Bakhar Bimmchii which I got for a nephew of mine - I was laughing out loud reading it on the bus back home. Also found Rathachakra, after a long time.

I think Rathchakra is Pendse's best! Better than his most popular Garambicha Bapu.

So I finished Rathachakra a while back, but wasn't sure how to put what I felt about it into coherent words. I'm going to try anyway, because I am keen to hear what others feel about it. I vaguely remember bits from Garambicha Bapu, but not enough to compare it to Rathachakra. Or to Garambichii Radha (which a couple of you insisted should be in the bottom 20 books list!!)* Is Rathachakra not typical of Pendse's work? I wonder if it's my unfamiliarity with Marathi litt more broadly that made me like it so much and not see problems, but I really liked the novel.

I liked how it works on so many levels - as the simple story of a woman trying hard against all odds to educate her son, and the pyrrhic victory at the end. It is also a detailed and, IMO, a very well-done critique of hidebound customs, superstitions and exploitation in that particular setting - a brahman family in the konkan. It's a detailed look at daily life and its rhythms loving embedded in the kokan and its environment. All of these strands were very well developed individually, especially the last. They didn't clash, but instead came together very well.

I can see why it's been called a 'pradeshik' (regional) novel, but it's so much more - a story full of empathy of an individual's struggle for dignity without being overly preachy or maudlin - "aataa yaapuDhe ... karaayche ase tine Tharavale." (tr: Henceforth, she decided, she was going to...) Through this recurring sentence every few pages, he sketched the relentless hope and its short-lived nature very well. The short staccato sentences, the conversations, the light, deft, humour - I liked it all, especially the little sequences between the protagonist and her daughters (the blouse stitching one, for instance).

*MS, Indraraj, please come back! I was reading through all the Marathi litt. threads last night looking for some info, and you guys and those conversations are missed!

[abhiruchi]

Going to India this week. Any recommendations for Marathi books published in the last 3-4 years and for this year's Diwali Ank? (If they are still available!)

[frangipani]

Hey Abhiruchi, there are many individual threads on various writers and books - one book i'd definitely recommend is Shyam Manohar's "utsuktene mii zhoplo" which I read recently and which i find myself going back to again and again..
there is a diwali ank thread also - post back on the ones you got and liked!