There is a ski jump competition in progress. Steiner* has reached a distance of 189 meters. If he had tried for another nine meters, he might have died—or broken the world record.
* The Great Ecstasy of Sculptor Steiner – film by Werner Herzog
† Renhold Messner in The Dark Glow of the Mountains – film by Werner Herzog
I had a pet raven. It lost all its feathers. Afterwards, as it was strolling about on the terrace, a murder of crows flew in from somewhere and began to attack it. I tried to chase them away but they would not stop their assault. I ran downstairs, brought up my gun, and shot down my raven. I want to be alone in this world. Humans scare me. Only on these cold slopes do I find solace.
He† is climbing Mount Karakoram in the Himalayas. He loves mountain climbing; he wants to spend the rest of his life doing nothing else but scaling lofty peaks. Once he gets to the summit, he’ll search for another mountain and then another and another and another.
The frozen rock towers into the sky. Eighteen thousand feet—it’s just a number. The skies and seas and mountains seem to recede from me.
Goat antelope, which are neither goats nor antelope, are racing around on the icy fields below.
I’ve lost count of the days
Herds of animals, waves of shadow
A figure leaps into the air
I am merged with the snowy peak
Silence
Wordless empty void
I want to liberate my thoughts
from the crashing waves that surround them
I reject all the words of my life
to kneel here
loving you
Will my very breath now freeze as well?
Say the Word
TAMIL FAMILY NAMES AND FORMS OF ADDRESS
amma
mother
appa
father
anna
elder brother (or any older man)
akka
elder sister
anni
sister-in-law; elder brother’s wife
mama
maternal uncle, or paternal aunt’s
husband
paati
grandmother, or any old woman
da
informal masculine address
di
feminine address, used with a younger person, or disrespectfully
dey
masculine address, disrespectful or angry
NO T E S
11 Existentialism and Fancy Banyan
the author’s first novel, featuring many of the same characters
11 mayi avaa… Dhi phudhdhi
Hindi: “my sister was dick mom was dick mom was cunt”
13 randi nondi…kindi kendi
Some of this is gibberish, some is not: “Streetwalker, cripple, sondi, pandi, mandi, ass, pussy crust, milk feeder, kendi”
15 “When a banyan tree… the Earth will quake.”
Rajiv Gandhi’s comment on the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 following Indira Gandhi’s assassination
15 Aatha Un Koyilile
Mother, in Your Temple—a 1991 Tamil film
15 En Pottukku Sondhakaaran
The Owner of my Pottu (bindi)—not an actual film
16 En Purushan Thaan Enakku Mattum Thaan
My Husband is Mine Alone—a 1989 Tamil film
17 Patwari
member of a landowning caste
17 poromboke
land that is neither owned by any individual nor
specifically state-owned
24 lathi
policeman’s baton
27 Puratchithilakam
Jewel of the Revolution—not an actual film
27 Puratchithilakam I.P.S.
Jewel of the Revolution, Indian Police Service
27 ahimsa
policy of non-violence as advocated by Mahatma Gandhi
27 & 28 Radhika… Rajyasri, RAW
these are names of film actresses, all starting with the Tamil letter ra; RAW is also the acronym of the Research and Analysis Wing, India’s external intelligence agency
28 Pullukul Kal
Stone Inside a Blade of Grass—not an actual film
28 Jayasudha… Banupriya
well-known film actresses
32 zarda beeda
betel leaf packed with strong tobacco
33 Santhal tribe
the largest tribal community in India; 10,000 Santhals rebelled against the British colonists in 1855
38 Margazhi
ninth month of the Tamil calendar; December 15-January 14
39 Kurumbur Kuppusami
writer of Tamil pulp fiction active in the mid-20th century
39 Parveen Babi
Hindi film actress popular in the 1970s
41 & 42 Maa aap sanket… jhoothe banaata houn
Hindi: “Because my Mom is having sex, I have to lie around in your room”
42 Arrey bachche, teri maa kidhar gayee?
Hindi: “Hey kid, where’s your mother gone?”
43 punkawallah
manual fan operator
44 ghazal
a poetic musical form from North India
50 didi
elder sister or cousin—in this case, the elder brother’s wife (Hindi)
50 beti
daughter, in this case daughter-in-law (Hindi)
52 gopuram
tapering South Indian temple tower
54 pallangkuzhi
a game played with cowry shells; a form of mancala
55 thumri
a Hindustani semi-classical music composition
57 Aryan yoni
“Aryan”, here as in all of India, is understood to indicate descent from those who came from Central Asia over the Khyber Pass in prehistory, especially members of the Brahmin and Kshatriya castes—as opposed to ethnic Dravidians. Yoni, of course, is Sanskrit for vagina
58 Karuppan
a Tamil man’s name meaning “black”
59 Kannathil muthumittal…
lyrics by Bharathiyar, early 20th century Tamil poet
72 vaal
Tamil for the sound of a dog’s bark
76 a minister in your country... to eat rats
this is a reference to comments made by Lalu Prasad Yadav, former Chief Minister of the state of Bihar
80 defile
the word here is karpazhippu, literally “to erase a woman’s chastity”, formerly used as a euphemism for sexual abuse/rape in the Tamil media. In 1986, the National Women’s Front agitated successfully to end the use of this word (and its analogs in other Indian languages) because of the implication that sex with an “unchaste” woman is never rape. It was replaced in Tamil with balatkaaram, “to sexually overpower”
81 Mudevi
goddess of bad luck; opposite of Sridevi
82 pallu
the end of a sari that is left free to cover the woman’s chest
82 phir bhi
Hindi: “in spite of that”
83 sign
the word used is kuri, which signifies both “sign” and “penis”
87 vilambit
an introductory slow tempo in Hindustani classical music
90 dhaba
roadside cafeteria
91 Lal Salaam
Hindi: “Red Salute.” Typically used by commu-nists throughout South Asia both as a greeting and a goodbye
94 Thayumanavan… and this is how they named me
Thayumanavan is a Hindu name, meaning “he who is also the mother.” The historical figure Thayumanavar (eighteenth century?) composed mystical poems in Tamil combining the philoso- phies of Vedanta and Saiva Siddhanta
97 Bheema
second Pandava brother in the Mahabharata
97 Duryodhana
eldest Kaurava brother in the Mahabharata
102 veshti
a four-yard length of cloth worn on the lower body by men
103 varma
martial art practiced in Kerala
103 bharatanatyam
classical dance of South India
103 sacred thread
poonal, a white thread worn around the shoulder by men of the “upper” castes (Brahmins, etc.), signifying that they have been “twice-born”
104 chappals
sandals, slippers
109 Pichamurthi
Naa. Pichamurthi, a well-known 20th century Tamil writer
115 Kokogam
any of several ancient Tamil manuscripts on sex
115 A woman named Kannagi… I am Ilango
Ilango Adigal was the author of the 5th century Tamil epic Silappathikaaram, of which Kannagi is the heroine. Kannagi tears off her breast and throws it on town of Madurai, thereby burning it down. This is contrasted with the 1997 bombing of the Pandian Express train to Madurai
134 Hanle
site of the Indian Astronomical Observatory
134 Nano mi vida, Nano mi niña
Spanish: “Nano my life, Nano my baby girl”
134 algunos aspectos del cuento
Spanish: “some aspects of the count”
143 suburbs
the understanding here is of lower-middle-class neighborhoods surrounding the (wealthier) city
145 Nine fruits for nine rupees
the word used is actually ombodhu, which means eunuch (hijra), instead of onpadhu, nine
150 Brihanala
in the Mahabharata, the disguised Arjuna assumes in the thirteenth year of his exile, as the eunuch dance teacher of Princess Uthara
151 record dance
a dance show given on a small platform on a street corner by a woman or eunuch dressed in heavily-sequined bra and panties, dancing to raunchy film songs, typically with a man riding a bicycle around and around the gathered crowd for hours into the night
155 my younger sister’s daughter
while marriage to a cross cousin (father’s sister’s son or mother’s brother’s son) would be considered favorable, Aarthi’s marriage to a parallel cousin is considered incestuous
156 thevidiya
literally woman wedded to God; traditionally, a member of a caste of temple-dancers, used sexually by the feudal lords and temple trustees. The practice was officially abolished in 1934; the term survives as an insult
161 arivaalmanai
blade fixed to a piece of wood, used for chopping vegetables
166 naina
father (Telugu)
178 Azhagi
beauty, beautiful one
183 panchayat
district-level elected body
191 thali and a pair of
toe-rings
both are symbols of a married South Indian Hindu woman. The thali is a gold chain or turmeric-smeared cord, tied around the woman’s neck by the groom in the wedding ceremony
191 Amman
goddess
195 Seth
North Indian pawnbroker St. Thomas Mount the Tamil name Parangimalai, literally “white man’s hill,” is used
203 St. Thomas Mount
the Tamil Nadu Parangimalai, literally ‘‘white man’s hill,’’ is used
205 Copper T
a type of intrauterine contraceptive device
205 slokas
Sanskrit prayers
213 annas
1/16th of a rupee, an obsolete denomination
216 Prabanja Kaalam
The Universal Times; not an actual newspaper
218 …Brahminized the entire Gounder culture
the majority of the Gounder caste supported the atheist-leaning, anti-Brahmin Dravidian Movement of the 1950s, known for non-religious “self-respect” weddings
219 vallaikappu
ceremony held in the seventh month of a woman’s first pregnancy
226 “Wills hai?” “Bills nahi hai” Hindi: “Do you have Wills [cigarettes]?” “No, no Bills.”
In some parts of North India, ‘V’ is pronounced as ‘B’
226 matkas
small handmade clay cups, used and then discarded
226 Nappinnai
another name for Aandal, the poet, referring to herself in the third person as Krishna’s lover
226 Madhava
a name of Krishna
226 harikatha
a form of devotional storytelling
227 Kannan
a name of Krishna
227 Perumal… Ranga
Ranganathan Perumal is an avatar of Vishnu. This is nindhastudi, a way of talking to God where the petitioner demands blessings, without formal respect
232 Yaksha
a mythical creature; something like a sphinx, but able to take different forms
234 bechara
Hindi: “poor child”, “urchin”
234 Delhi to dilwale
Hindi: “Delhi is for the brave at heart!” ka hai!
235 Vikramadithya’s vampire
the monster from the story Vetala Panchvimshati, who searches for a soul to sacrifice for its own redemption
237 Sukra
the god of the planet Venus, who is obsessed with love for his daughter
238 Karna
Zero Degree Page 18
