Stories in Sound | The Hanging Cot by KK Meera

“There was something evil about Grandma’s death….”

"Who knew Tamil literature did magic realism?" I thought as the reading started at the David Sassoon Library Gardens on Friday evening. I hadn't really planned on visiting the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival but the prospect of attending a reading by my friend Rohini gave me incentive to get off my ass and do something about it.

First stop: 'The Great Indian Novel – Only in Translation?', a session moderated by Bengali translator, Anurava Sinha featuring readings by Anju Makhija (translator of Shah Abdul Latif’s Shah Jo Riosalo from Sindhi to English with Seeking The Beloved), RJ Rohini Ramanathan (host of the longest running amateur poetry slam in Mumbai) and Neil Debdutt Paul (Editor of Tinkle Comics).

Over a few beers after the session, I managed to bully Rohini into recording The Hanging Cot by KR Meera, a story both eerie and schizophrenic. I didn’t actually think she would have the time to do it on a working Saturday but she managed to squeeze it in somehow. The story is part of a larger book called Yellow is the Colour of Longing that has been translated from Tamil to English by J Devika.

We've had a lot of contributors since we started this blog and they've really helped expand our portfolio from rants and reviews to include fiction, poetry, analysis and now podcasts! I'd really like to thank Rohini (may the lord bless her with a 1000 saris) for taking the initiative to do this for us. And may we always find supporters who help us push the envelope to make this blog bigger and better!

So without further ado I’d like to present The Caterpillar Café’s first ever podcast published in two parts amounting to 12 minutes in total.

Part 1

 

Part 2

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