There followed a golden period of Venugopal family bonding until the But talking was crucial for me, so I ended up spending an afternoon narrating the story to him, successfully pulling him into my little family squad of This included my grandfather, a rather stern lawyer who didn’t believe in small talk or overt displays of affection.
Nadi Jothidam and divine treasures provided ample grist for endless speculation. Marma Desam was an exceptional icebreaker when I didn’t know how to talk with classmates or strangers - its cryptic plots about obscure village traditions, arcane arts such as palmistry and Marma Desam achieved the highly improbable - it made the Venugopals spend quality time together. A heady, addictive mix of crime and mythological fantasy, Every week, I looked forward to that magical half-hour in which the four of us stepped out of our silos to enjoy the show together. Navabhashana Shiva lingams, was based on his novel Ragasiyam, a nail-biting thriller about the magical healing power of mysterious Marma Desam (This Mysterious Land), the cult TV show which aired from 1996-2001. What ended up bringing us together was Soundar Rajan’s
Appa largely focused on tennis or PG Wodehouse Amma stuck to her Tamil magazines and Carnatic music my elder sister was disappointingly studious and I was mostly on my own, discovering how much fun books could be. Somehow, we had each ended up with widely different, irreconcilable interests. When I was a child, my family hardly ever did anything together. Trademark Soundar Rajan fare, the book is a racy tale involving serial killings, ghostly spirits, black magic and lost treasure. , focuses on the adventures of journalist Rajendran, who is lured to the village of Aayakudi by a mysterious letter alerting his magazine to paranormal activity in the village’s foothills. The Aayakudi Murders, translated into English by Nirmal Rajagopalan The Aayakudi Murders Indra Soundar Rajan, translated by Nirmal Rajagopalan Blaft Publications ₹495 Fiction Marma Desam, each season of which was based on one of his novels. He is best known for his work on the TV show His novels are usually set in the present day, characterised by a blend of mystery, suspense and the supernatural, often featuring themes related to divine relics, reincarnation or ghosts. Soundar Rajan is perhaps one of the most prolific thriller writers in Tamil alongside Rajesh Kumar and Pattukottai Prabakar. So I was overjoyed that Blaft had translated a book by Soundar Rajan into English. It was thanks to them that I discovered, for instance, the delight that is Ibn-E-Safi, the 1950s’ Urdu writer of whimsical noir thrillers, such asĭoctor Dread. Since 2008, Blaft has been putting out singularly entertaining translations of Indian and Pakistani pulp reads such as the eponymousīlaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction. Olivadharku Vazhi Illai (No Way to Hide). The Aayakudi Murders, a translation of his Tamil novel Independent publishing house Blaft recently launched author Indra Soundar Rajan’s