Transverse

Tamil Thought. English Voice.

On Nirmal Pitchai’s களவின் கண் கன்றிய காதல்

Set in Georgia a few years after the Soviet collapse, Nirmal’s spare களவின் கண் கன்றிய காதல் understands something essential about what that collapse actually meant for ordinary people: not liberation, but a void. The narrator, a young man who calls himself இரும்புக் கம்மான் – a name that reeks of Soviet-era bravado – is a petty…
On Yuvan Chandrasekhar’s ‘The Clock Bird’ (கடிகாரக் குருவி)

https://www.sirukathaigal.com/கடிகாரக்-குருவி/ Yuvan Chandrasekhar’s கடிகாரக் குருவி is a playful experiment in narrative unreliability. The story operates through three distinct voices. Raghavan is an insomniac, anxiety-ridden man prone to wearing mismatched sandals to work, where colleagues remark on his sluggishness – a walking advertisement for his own unreliability as a narrator. Sowrirajan, his roommate, makes this explicit,…
My Speech on M.Navin’s Vairam at VLC Bay Area Meetup

Here’s the story and my written review.
VLC Bay Area Meeting Minutes – February, 2026

The Bay Area chapter of Vishnupuram Literary Circle met for our 16th monthly meeting today at Fremont Public Library. Considering the upcoming Tamil Literary Festival in NYC in April, we’ve decided to pick a short story from many of the authors who’ll be visiting the event. Padmanabha kicked off with Suneel Krishnan’s Ambu Padukkai. This…
Dialogue as Craft in Jeyamohan’s ‘Poonai’

Of the short stories I’ve read by contemporary Tamil short story writers, it feels like many of them choose themes that lend themselves well to the compressed form. They construct situations of moral weight, place characters under pressure, and let plot and action carry the reader forward. The results are quite effective, sometimes even moving.…
On Azhagunila’s ‘Exclusion’ (விலக்கு)

Azhagunila’s short story விலக்கு spends a day with thirteen-year-old Lavanya, foregrounding her isolation at home and at school because she has not yet gotten her first period. The pressure she feels is largely implicit: classmates casually discuss sanitary pads and boyfriends, while those who have not menstruated are dismissed as “babies,” abruptly stripped of the…
Ra.Giridharan’s ‘There Are No Stories In This Land’

This is my translation of Tamil writer Ra.Giridharan’s இந்த நிலத்தில் கதைகள் எதுவும் கிடையாது. This story is a piece of speculative fiction that blends environmental science with a deeply human yearning for authenticity. It is a cautionary tale about a future where “perfect” technology might solve our resource problems, but at the cost of our connection…
Su.Venugopal’s ‘What Could Be Said’

This is my translation of Tamil writer Su.Venugopal’s short story சொல்ல முடிந்தது. This story is an exploration of guilt, the complexity of mother-son relationships, and the long-term emotional toll of public shame. Many thanks to friends Sarathy Venkatraman and Shankar Pratap for reviewing my draft. Here’s my review of this short story. *** It was…
Thoughts On Vijay Rengarajan’s ‘Inner Fear’ (உள்ளச்சம்)

உள்ளச்சம் tackles the terrain of queer visibility in contemporary urban India with nuance, exploring how even seemingly progressive spaces can harbor deep-seated expectations of invisibility. The central tension between Murali and Arjun, a gay couple, between their desire for authentic public existence and their community’s demand for discretionary silence captures a painful reality that many…
On La.Sa.Ra’s Short Stories பாற்கடல், புற்று & பச்சைக்கனவு

பாற்கடல் gradually and delicately unveils the offerings of a supportive family through the intimate lens of a young wife’s letter to her husband. Set within a joint family, the narrative begins as the husband is compelled to depart on an official trip on the very eve of Deepavali, leaving his new wife sad and mad.…