Visumbu by Jayamohan

The last Tamil novel that I recall reading was Sujata's Ganesh Vasanth series, and before that, the whole Ponniyin Selvan devoured in a mad reading spree spanning over a few weeks. Beyond that, I have never gravitated towards Tamil works, even the multitude of Rajesh Kumar crime novels which lay scattered around our home. My dad is a big fan of Rajesh Kumar. He says that Rajesh Kumar is the James Hadley Chase of Tamil writing, of whom we both are huge fans.

 

So, after many many years, a colleague and a good friend of mine, gave me Jayamohan's collection of science fiction short stories called "Visumbu", which means sky. My friend, who is a die hard Jayamohan fan and an avid reader of Tamil literature, was appalled at my lack of exposure to so many wonderful works in Tamil. "How can you not read the brilliant works in our mother tongue? Some feelings, emotions and thoughts can be conveyed powerfully only in our own tongue.", he said and hunted up this short story collection for me.

 

And, I immensely enjoyed it. I am not a big fan of science fiction, but Jayamohan bowled me over with just the preface. He starts the book by saying how science fiction is not his forte and explains his interpretation of science fiction. He says that science fiction, for him, is not about stories set in a distant future or about flying saucers or alien settlements. It is about answering scientific inquiries through literature and finding answers to fundamental questions plaguing our everyday life through science. And I have to say, he has managed to achieve his objective brilliantly.

 

Of the nine stories, the ones that I enjoyed the most are "Aindhavadhu Marundhu"(Fifth Medicine) , "Visumbu"(Sky) and "Uttru Nokkum Paravai" (The observant bird??). These three stories, crafted so brilliantly, talk about the evolution of AIDS and its medicine, migratory birds and the behavior of the mind. Uttu Nokkum Paravai especially gives a glimpse of the author's knowledge and understanding about the subject he writes. For that matter, it is evident in all the short stories, the effort that has gone into research of the subject.

While the other stories are also good, they are predictable and border on clichéd -especially "Inge Ingeye" and "Naakku". I could not devour all the stories in one go. Some stories take a bit of a time to sink in and I had to savour the thoughts and questions that arose after reading some stories. Also, it was refreshing to read short stories that were not heavily into emotions or crime or mystry. This collection -especially since it is tagged under science fiction -is definitely a pleasure to read.