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Always the side of wonder

@alwaysthesideofwonder

Abi, Dabbles in writing for Harry Potter and various obscure fandoms
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Seeing all of the great Vanathi x Arulmozhivarman content on here has been making me think back to the scene in the books where we learn of Vanathi’s deepest wish since childhood to someday have a son so that way she can see her father reborn again and have him back in her life to love and care for.

And then I wonder if this is wish is one she would ever tell Arulmozhivarman, the man that she (believed) she was so hopelessly and deeply in love with to the point that she had reconciled to never having that wish fulfilled.

But there would be something lovely about him knowing and rejoicing with her at the birth of their son for this special reason. And knowing that Vanathi does not live to see Arulmozhivarman on the throne (and so fulfills her promise to never be queen) in Kalki’s epilogue, it would be a comforting thought to have this story be one he shares with their son and perhaps their son having the same dream to have a daughter so he can see his mother again and his father, the woman most beloved to his heart.

#ponniyin selvan#arulmozhivarman#vanathi#this story keeps bringing out my inner romantic#no matter how much I try to ignore it
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thegleamingmoon
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celestesinsight

“Here, Devi: the karaiyar woman might have jumped into the sea, but neither the fall nor the waters killed her. She was seen and promptly rescued by a valaignan, a fisherman who took her into his boat and landed a good distance from Kodikkarai. I caught a glimpse of his craft as it beached shore, and recognized the woman in it. I bribed him with unheard of amounts to take her to Ilankai—and keep her there—to which he agreed. I returned to Thanjai and informed the Chakravarthy of the karaiyar woman’s death—all with the purest of intentions; an offense I perpetrated in the knowledge that I was doing him a world of good … never, ever anticipating that it would lead to such terrible, unforeseeable consequences …”

Even the smartest of men can make gravest of error when they underestimate the significance of women and dismiss them as inconsequential. Aniruddha Brahmaraayar might have thought Mandakini as a mere boat woman who was also mute and deaf and hence unfit for being a queen. Afterall what is significance of a mere woman or her happiness or her rights or promises given to her, when matters of grave import like politics and state affairs are concerned. But this insignificant incident later become very reason the Chola kingdom almost getting ruined in PS. Everything that happened in the story could be traced back to this very decision.

#ponniyin selvan#completely agree#one of the best things about this story is how pivotal single moments are#and that this story is written with the women playing such critical roles even if they appear to be relegated behind the scenes
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nspwriteups asked:

Hello, I enjoyed reading some of your posts on Ponniyin Selvan. What do u think of the Kundavai and Vanthiyathevan's first meeting at the Astrologer's house?

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It’s one of my favorite scenes! Vanthiyathevan vs Kundavai part one AKA Vanthiyathevan sticking his foot in his mouth/his gift of gab backfiring part one is such a delight to read and I love how it sets up these two very witty people as a match! I do miss that this scene and the crocodile scene never got to make it into the movie though I understand that cuts had to be made because they were such a great buildup to the 3rd moment when everything finally goes right to create that magical moment for our pair.

It’s also just fun to see that the great warrior Aditya Karikalan apparently is a decent matchmaker on the side even if he is quite sneaky about it…

#abi reads ponniyin selvan#vandiyadevan#kundavai
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builtmycastleonabedofclouds asked:

Hi! I've seen your posts on the PS tag, and I was wondering if you were reading an English translation of Ponniyin Selvan? If so, where did you find/buy it? I've seen a couple of places to buy English translations on Amazon, but always see reviews mentioning missing pages or chapters, so I've been hesitant to take the leap and buy it.

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Hi! Given that my Tamil reading comprehension skills still remain at 5 year old level, I definitely have been reading an English translation.

There was a post running in the PS tag earlier I believe with a link to translations, I'm just not sure where it is or if there are others who may have recommendations for a good English translation, free or otherwise. @foolgobi65, @avani008, @queenofmahishmati may be better resources than me but in my case, I bought the Kindle version of the ones done by Sumeetha Manikanda. (The downside was that the 5th book wasn't published until right before PS-1 came out but thankfully I did manage to get it...)

Regarding concerns about translation and missing pages/chapters:

-I haven't noticed any missing pages/chapters but I am also the only person in my family to have read Ponniyin Selvan (somehow I ended up being dubbed the story teller for them instead) so no one could tell me otherwise. But Kalki generally never writes any extraneous chapters and in reading it I never felt like I was missing needed information as the story progressed so I think it's fairly complete?

-I got my dad to read a bit of the Tamil copy of Ponniyin Selvan and he's read some of this translation and his verdict is that the translation does a pretty decent job of the understandably very difficult task to translate Kalki's writing verbatim along with the feeling evoked by his prose. I, at least, feel that reading the translation gave me at least a window into the beauty of the writing itself and from the lines that I think are preserved in the movie, it seems to be fairly accurate though I would not be surprised to find that there are some modifications to express the ideas in English

Hope this helps!

#abi reads ponniyin selvan
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She was one of the most sweet and vibrant characters of this story. To have the ending she had is one of the most heart wrenching to have experienced! Oh what I would do to give her a happier ending!

#abi reads ponniyin selvan
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In which Kundavai repeatedly accuses Vandiyadevan of corrupting her sweet innocent brother without realizing this guy already had the habit of showing up in disguise well before they became friends…

#abi reads ponniyin selvan
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The moment that Manimegalai admits to Kundavai that the man she loves is Vandiyadevan takes the prize for most awkward moment in the book

(At least for the reader. And Kundavai. And Vanathi who is standing in the middle of that…)

#abi reads ponniyin selvan
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