A review by aashima
Karukku by Bama Faustina, Lakshmi Holmström

emotional reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

Karukku is a powerful subaltern narrative about caste hegemony. It also shows a spiritual and theological argument with the self. When a fraction of people monopolize faith and treat you as a lesser child of God, how do you reclaim it? Bama chooses to be vulnerable, saying, "I comfort myself with the thought that rather than live with a fraudulent smile, it is better to lead a life weeping real tears."
In an interview celebrating 25 years of Karukku, she said, "Celebration and assertion: these are the two wings. And that’s how we (dalits) fly." It shows how Bama worked from a breakdown towards a cleansing moment of clarity.