Poonachi : The tale of a black goat

 

                                                POONACHI

 

I recently came across a book "Poonachi".It was an eye opener for me.It gave me a different perspective on the way we treat animals in the name of  taming.It is a treat for every animal lover by Mr.Perumal Murugan.

        “Once, in a village, there was a goat. No one knew where she was born. The birth of an ordinary life never leaves a trace, does it?”

          ― Perumal Murugan, Poonachi: Or the Story of a Black Goat

  It also sheds light on unequal hierarchies of class and colour,of power and abuse and vulnerability of individuals in an all powerful state.The lead Poonachi is a she-goat who is being handed over to an old man.She had to suffer throughout her childhood for being different and feeble.

        “Once, in a village, there was a goat. No one knew where she was born. The birth of an ordinary life never leaves a trace, does it?”

    

The love the couple showered on her was so beautifully explained that makes the reader to identify Poonachi with a human baby.Also,the chemistry between Poovan and Poonachi  will make everyone blush.The time when little Poonachi and Poovan was seperated rises question of individual will in a power packed society.

The love between adult Poovan and Poonachi was so cleverly sculpted.The rituals of ear-piercing and the scared attitude of villagers towards the officials were so real.

      ''Everyone was well versed in how they were expected to behave towards the regime. They had mouths only to keep shut, hands only to make obeisance, knees only to bend and kneel, backs only to bend, and bodies only to shrink before the authorities.”

The portrayal of Poonachi's delivery , her affection towards the kids  and her pain when all of them were sold put us in a rollercoaster of emotions.The drought and famine,and Poonachi's last days were so painful.

The way the lady tried to keep her alive was a predicament of her affection towards Poonachi.Finally our eyes were wet when Poonachi is dead.

     “What lay there was not Poonachi, but a stone idol.”

The main highlights of the story include family bond, love and longing, how the simple village lives struggle through times of hardships and how the people bond with their livestock.Poonachi is a blend of all the uncanny ways human civilization have adapted to function since eons to the present and the emotions of an innocent animal who undergoes exploitation by human beings for their own good. At parts, it feels like it's not Poonachi who's describing herself and the utter agonies of her story but it's you, yourself reading all your struggles through it.

Perumal Murugan has successfully captured the essence of being a woman in the form of a goat, her struggles and dreams represent the innocence of daughters in our society, and as she grows old the weight of responsibilities and expectations grows tenfolds from the people of the society and how she sacrifices everything that's of hers in order to subdue that burden.

The book majorly provides the insights of Rural India with the perspective of goat and simultaneous representation of the scene where a Farmer goes through an inevitable cycle of debt, hunger crisis, and survival.

The book was shortlisted for the 2018 JCB Literature Prize, and I think it is best to end with the jury’s comments –

“Funny and warm, Poonachi is a book that forces us gently to look at ourselves and our contribution to an unequal world. Perumal Murugan is a master storyteller who reflects profoundly on our transactional society and its inequities and struggles. Through the character of the lonely goat, he has written a powerful modern fable.”