Meditation on overcoming odds

Sudhirendar Sharma

Sudhirendar Sharma

Even in the face of hardship, parents rarely hesitate to bestow a meaningful blessing upon their newborn. Cradled with the hope that he would one day reign like a king, Rasangam, in reality, spends his days cycling back and forth to the small grocery shop he manages in order to support his widowed mother, aunt, siblings and cousins.

Unable to pursue his dream of higher education, he often laments his fate. How can he explain the untimely burden of patriarchy thrust upon him?

The Binding

Rasangam possesses a quiet eloquence, yet, as a soft-spoken man in a female-dominated household, he can never command the respect he yearns for — neither within the confines of his home nor across the village. He struggles against the many forces that shape his life: faith, family and tradition. Even after buying a car and a motorcycle, his social status remains unchanged. What must he do to break all shackles and earn respect? Tamil writer Salma’s new novel, The Binding, is a quiet meditation on overcoming such odds.      

Salma is the pen name of poet, novelist and activist Rajathi, whose courageous voice has become central to contemporary Tamil literature. Her career is marked by several seminal works that have earned both critical acclaim and a devoted readership, particularly within the Muslim community in Tamil Nadu. Now as Rajya Sabha MP, her literary insight is poised to gain a wider political resonance.

Though not fully content with his life, Rasangam finds strength in the deep bonds of his extended family. Mutual care and nurturing sustain the household, yet women continue to occupy a secondary place within the social order. There is little he can do to elevate either their status or his own. Gradually, he feels drawn more deeply towards faith, devoting himself to religious service and undertaking the Haj pilgrimage. Once he returns, Rasangam renounces worldly indulgences in pursuit of the social esteem he has always longed for.

Reading this nuanced novel is like peeling an onion, layer by layer. Rasangam may appear to be the central figure, but the secondary characters enrich the narrative with immense cultural depth. According to translator Janani Kannan, a U.S.-based architect who has won awards for translating Tamil novels and short stories, the structure of the novel resembles the texture of lived experience itself. And is it not, ultimately, the lived experience of growing up with the suffocating constraints of a conservative religious family?

Rasangam’s dutiful son, Imran, fulfils his father’s unrealized dream by going to college. Leaving the village behind, he joins an institution in a sprawling city and initially struggles to adapt to its vibrant and broad-minded atmosphere. Yet, he soon realizes how deeply prejudice against his community runs, and how urgently his society must evolve with changing times. Securing a government job appears to him one credible path toward dignity and acceptance.

As he steps into a more diverse social world, Imran also encounters the growing anxieties surrounding interfaith relationships. Such expressions of love are frequently stifled by political propaganda, raising troubling questions about the true nature of social progress. Imran is disturbed by this contradiction and feels the pain of a society whose progress remains conditional and selective. But the novel also reminds us that perspectives on progress are never absolute; what appears progressive to one may seem regressive to another, depending on time, place and context.

Salma approaches the fraught subject of “love jihad” with remarkable care and restraint. Rather than arriving at definitive conclusions, she presents its many complexities and contradictions. Broad-mindedness and progressive ideals alone, the novel suggests, may prove inadequate within an increasingly polarized political climate. The narrative comes full circle as Salma extends it into the next generation, juxtaposing evolving modern struggles against enduring social prejudices.

The Binding

by Salma

Translated by Janani Kannan

PanMcMillan, New Delhi

Extent: 272, Price: Not mentioned.

(Dr. Sudhirendar Sharma is a writer and researcher specializing in development issues. He is based in New Delhi, India>)

First published in The Hindu on May 13, 2026.