The time of the Tiger

 I have just managed to escape from a jungle in the east Thailand.. How did this happen? How did I end up there? This must be due to a book I bought while on a recent trip.

As I usually do in every trip, this time also, I visited a bookstore in the town, eager to find out a book that is at the top of the booklist there. Noticing my desperation, the shop assistant offered to suggest a book. This was the “The Understory” written by a Thai writer named Saneh Sangsuk. He is a leading fiction writer in Thailand. He has also won many awards in Thai and Global literary circles. However, his writings are only now being published in English.

This book has been translated to English from Thai by a Mui Poopoksakul. Mui is a lawyer living in Berlin. She has translated several selected works of major contemporary Thai writers into English. Her translation conveys emotions without being overpowering. Despite the British English accent, it is very easy and comfortable to read.

The book is about 200 pages, quickly draws us in to the narration as soon as we start. But this is definitely not a fast read. The story opens up into multiple layers. And hence requires a slow read to savour the flavour.

The Context of the story is seen to happen in Thailand in the 1960s, when farmland slowly started emerging from the forest. It is also a period when people are changing from peasants to workers. This is also the period when the Thai society was a jumbled mixture of hunter-gatherers, later agriculturalists, and those who were lost in the urbanization of the industrial revolution. The main protagonist of the story is Luang Pau Thien, a Buddhist monk living in the village of Praeknamdang, which lies along the forest in the east, where changes are slow reach. He later lives through the changes that transforms the village and from that experience transforms himself into a storyteller.

Initially, the narration takes us into the pleasurable experience of Storytelling. That way, it binds us closely to Tien. Using that intimacy the narration slowly absorbs us into Tien’s story. The writing, which initially captures the beauty of the forest, slowly drags us into the darker depths soundlessly & suddenly through an unseen stalking tiger

As the times progresses, he slowly presents us with his life struggles, and through them the impact on the society and landscape. Our gaze, which initially opens with a kind of wonder at the narrator Tien, makes us cry, laugh and later tremble with him. He presents both the grandeur and terror of a forest.

Tigers, peacocks, and snakes play an important role in Thai culture. We see them a lot in their traditional dances. Saneh also uses them in his story in the similar way.

Tien's early life, which starts off sweet at first, suddenly changes its course with the arrival of a tiger. After that, living as a motherless child along with his hunter father, is forced into a confrontation with a tiger finally.

In this book, the tiger, Tien, and his father are symbolic of the time. His father is presented symbolic of hunter gatherer society and so is not interested in agriculture typically. His wife, who is interested in agriculture, is a symbol in the agrarian society that followed. Tien’s condition is indicative of the mixed state of society at that time. The tiger seems to be indicative of the change that impacts all of them.

In the end the story is one that enchants, dazzles and haunts us till the end.