Hachette India

The Sound of Waves

'Kalki' R. Krishnamurthy

Gowri Ramnarayan

A fractured country on the verge of freedom finds its people navigating the slippery crevices of love, morality and nationalism.

To escape the despair of his all-consuming, failed relationship with Dharini, Raghavan agrees to meet Lalita for an arranged match. Finding Lalita's cousin, the vivacious and captivating Sita, a far more amenable fit, he marries her instead. With a charming wife and a powerful government job in pre-Partition Delhi adding to his smug contentment, Raghavan turns a blind eye to the evils of the British Raj. Along comes Sita's cousin Surya, a dauntless revolutionary burning to right all wrongs. His commitment to the socialist credo leads him to Dharini, a young and spirited party member, the woman Raghavan continues to long for. Cracks appear in the brittle foundations of their lives as the characters move across rural Thanjavur, Madras, Bombay, Karachi, New Delhi, Agra, Calcutta and Lahore.

With poignant detail and lyrical prose, Kalki's tour de force lays bare the emotions of ordinary people grappling with extraordinary changes, their circumstances riven with misfortunes, disasters and the carnage of Partition. The Sound of Waves is an impassioned tribute to everyday citizens and their woes, and an acute commentary on the aspirations of an emerging nation.

This book by Gowri Ramnarayan is the English translation of the bestselling Tamil novel Alai Osai by freedom fighter and novelist Kalki R. Krishnamurthy (1899-1954).

Classification : General & Literary Fiction
Pub Date : DEC 5, 2022
Imprint : Hachette India
Page Extent : 672
Binding : PB
ISBN : 9789393701350
Price : INR 899

'Kalki' R. Krishnamurthy

'Kalki' R. Krishnamurthy (1899–1954) was an iconic writer, and a pioneer of modern Tamil literature and journalism. His induction into journalism was facilitated by his involvement with the freedom struggle. Beginning his career in the scholarly journal Navasakthi, and the anti-liquor manifesto Vimochanam, he served as the editor for Ananda Vikatan, before launching Kalki, the eponymous nationalist weekly. A prolific writer, along with novels and short stories, he wrote political essays, reformist propaganda, travelogues, music and dance critiques, film reviews, biographies, scathing satire, humorous essays, songs, poems, a film script or two, and translations, including Mahatma Gandhi's The Story of My Experiments with Truth.

Revelling in controversial debates on political, aesthetic and ideological issues, Kalki used his writing talent to crusade for several causes. He had chosen the name of Lord Vishnu's final avatar for the destruction of the world as his pseudonym because he was resolved to work towards a new and better world. Today, Kalki is best known for his historical fiction, a genre in which he remains unsurpassed. He is the author of Sivagamiyin Sapatham, Parthiban Kanavu and the mammoth Ponniyin Selvan. Alai Osai, which the author deemed his best work, documents the turbulent decades of the freedom struggle between 1934–49, seen through the eyes of ordinary people who were inevitably affected by the socio-political changes.

Gowri Ramnarayan

Gowri Ramnarayan is the inhouse playwright and artistic director of JustUs Repertory. Formerly deputy editor, The Hindu and vocal accompanist to renowned Carnatic musician M.S. Subbulakshmi, Ramnarayan has authored original plays, children's books, and a biography of M.S. Subbulakshmi. She has translated the plays of Marathi playwright Vijay Tendulkar, the short stories and biography of Tamil writer 'Kalki' R. Krishnamurthy, and served on the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) jury in international film festivals. Currently, she is chairperson, Rukmini Devi Arundale Trust, a senior associate editor for Sruti Magazine, adjunct faculty at the Asian College of Journalism, and a freelance journalist.