Two Books

The Ivory Throne By Manu S Pillai

With this book, Pillai has accomplished what many people take years to do. He has become a true blue historian. His well researched book on the last royals of the House of Travancore from the Indian state of Kerala at the cusp of independence is quite expansive and intriguing. Flavored with stories he must have heard from his own ancestors,  the book showcases evidence based research that lends it credence. He had access to British archives from the colonial times while a student in London and seems to have made good use of the State and National archives of India. This is more 'her'story than history as the book is presented around the reign of the last Travancore Queen Sethu Lakshmi Bayi. As a child growing up in post independence Kerala, I had heard a lot about this queen and always wanted to know more of her. The book also starts out with a wonderful chapter on the early history of the Malabar-Kochi-Travancore region with its many kingdoms that were engaged in regular trade with Arabs, Chinese and Europeans from ancient times.  So a big thank you to Pillai for this almost 700 pages long, 2 inches thick paperback that helped satiate a lot of my curiosity. I fervently hope he will come out with a book which further expands on that first early history.

Sugandhi Enna Andal Devanayaki By TD Ramakrishnan

Let me be upfront. There is a good chance that getting through the second half of this difficult to pronounce book may be tough. But the good news is the first half. The scenes, story and premise are quite refreshing and relatively unexplored in Malayalam or for that matter in Indian lit. Before Ondatje I hadn't read anything on the country that lies so close to the southern tip of India. My first international roommate in the US was a Sinhalese from Sri Lanka. I remember how we used to marvel at the fact that a whole lot of people in those times didn't know that Sri Lanka was a whole country!

I asked for this book on a whim along with the Ivory Throne when my dear book friend offered to get me some books on her way back from India. There is nothing more that I need when a book is coming my way. Truly enjoyed the first half with its enchanting stories of the old and new and it was a privilege to learn of both Andal Devanayaki from the old era and Rajani Thiranagama from the new.  The second half felt like a lengthy repetition of the first but I am still glad I read this. Will be looking for more books from this promising author.