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Debut novel by Uma Srinivasan – Synopsis
Two women, four hundred years and continents apart, face astonishingly similar challenges as they push through barriers that threaten their voices.
Amba in 1610, Tanjore, South India, is a talented composer with a desire to break free from the confines of her mother’s role as a devadasi, a temple musician. Amba wants to be a scholar with the freedom to perform and compose outside the temple, like the Tanjore Brahmins. Amba’s life takes a dramatic turn when she catches the eye of the Tanjore king and becomes his musical consort. The docking of a Danish ship in Tanjore, propels Amba on a tumultuous journey of political intrigue and emotional hardship. A jealous queen burns Amba’s manuscript and Amba flees the palace. Later in her long life, she becomes a prolific composer and goes on to write a Sanskrit biography of King Raghu Nayaka on palm leaves. Grudgingly the Tanjore Brahmins acknowledge her contributions.
In 2010, Maya, a musician from Chennai gets married to an Indian Australian and moves to Chennai. Maya feels stifled in Sydney, due to her husband’s rejection of her music. Determined to find her voice, Maya goes on transformative a road trip around Tanjore, stumbles across a biography of a 17th century Tanjore king, written on palm leaves in Sanskrit by a woman. Maya scours libraries in Tanjore and Sydney and discovers that the mysterious biographer is Amba, from 1610. The events described in the biography were validated by both Indian and Danish scholars and the biographer was acknowledged as a scholar during her own lifetime. Inspired by Amba, when Maya meets a cello player, she boldly fuses raga melodies with an Australian string quartet and performs at a Sydney music festival. Her innovative improvisations are highly admired and she wins her husband’s respect and admiration.
Enthralled by Amba’s colourful life, Maya decides to write Amba’s story.
Chaos in the Gym is a fun project that evolved during a discussion with my eight year old granddaughter Anika Kuber, a keen gymnast.
‘Write me a story book for my birthday,’ she said. I had exactly six months to produce a book that met all her criteria.
A chapter book about gymnasts, about girls who want to have fun in the gym and win the gymnastics trophy. And then she wanted robots to roam around the gym and magic that could control the robots.
The book should have a sizzling start, she added.
The story took wings with Anika Kuber’s imagination translated into words by Uma Srinivasan.
We had fun watching gymnastic videos, translating the moves into words, talking about AI and robots and magic.
The story developed its own voice, creating a unique unexpected theme.
Anika was not keen on illustrations as she felt she was too grown up for that. But to make the book interesting for young readers, we agreed that each chapter will have a simple image to represent the contents. And the illustrator was my grandson, Anika’s brother Akshay who turned each chapter into a fun episode.
The result is Chaos in the Gym by Anika Kuber and Uma Srinivasan with illustrations by Akhay Srinivasan.
The book is available as an ebook on Amazon Kindle in Australia, India and the United States.
Translated By Uma Srinivasan
Set against the backdrop of the waning Vijayanagar Kingdom in the sixteenth century, The Temple Builder is the story of King Sevvappa Nayakas ambitious undertaking to build the monolithic Nandi sculpture in the ancient temple of Tanjore, India. His heroic deeds as a warrior earned him the Kingdom of Tanjore. He brought to life his vision of a companion Nandi for the grand Shiva Lingam at the Tanjore Big Temple. The Tanjore temple with its exquisite Nandi endures as a world heritage site today.
Get your copy of Nandi Nayakan, The Temple Builder from Amazon or any book store.