Fairy Tales: Love, hate and Hubris

The stories conveyed in his poems aren't new, but Manoj Kewalramani's alternative narrative and his revoltingly different impression about the supposed wrong-doers is what makes ‘Fairy Tales: Love, Hate and Hubris’ (first published in India in 2011 by Virgin Leaf Books) remarkable.

A freelance journalist cum writer based in Mumbai, who has spent "most of his time reading folktales, history and theology," Kewalramani plays up with the idea of vice and virtues and he also redistributes them on fiction's best known characters differently, albeit interestingly.

For example, in the poem, Ghosts in your closet, the poet presents a defence for Fatima's husband who has been otherwise - and without exception - written off as a cruel marauder of women. The poet argues that Fatima was no less selfish and disdainful since she never recognised, much less appreciate, the love and care with which her husband treated her always.

On the contrary she despised him for his blue beard. Again, although the man has been traditionally known as a weird polygamist who killed all his wives, the poet contends that he never intended to do that, and it was only the distrust and disobedience of his wives (who would defy his only request for not entering his small, always-locked anti-chamber in his absence) that incited him.

Besides, that he was killed just as brutally, and as cowardly, by Fatima's brothers has been talked about for the first time by Kewalramani. In Snow White's Mirror, again, Kewalramani takes the Queen's character to an entirely different dimension, and explores the fear of aging as a common phenomenon of all women rather than concentrating it on Snow White's step mother exclusively.

He also tells us that it was not the princess but her youth the step-mother was jealous of, and that this might be the case between so many other older women and younger women. What makes this compilation further entertaining is Kewalramani's choice of words and rhythm. The poems are written in lucid style, are easy to understand, and have a kind of flow and amusement which is seldom flawed.

In the flip side, the book may not be classified exactly as a children's read - although as a fairy tale compilation it is expected to serve as one - since exposing the supple mind of kids to such extreme, alternative interpretations may not be the wisest thing to do. It may be said that this is a fun-read, recommended for adolescents who take time out to revisit the tales they had once read. This time, differently. But perhaps, more pleasantly!

Price: Rs 145; ISBN No: 978 93 81576 762; Publication: Virgin Leaf Books