‘Sylvia’: This experimental debut uses prose and poetry to present an enigmatic relationship
An excerpt from ‘Sylvia: Distant Avuncular Ends’, by Maithreyi Karnoor.
Author Maithreyi Karnoor.
When Lakshmi arrived in Bangalore on the Velankanni express, he was greeted by his cousin and fellow “Sandalwood” denizen of a roommate. They were men who took their gym seriously. They were also pleasant and warm and welcomed Lakshmi with yo-bro affable punches and hugs.
When Lakshmi followed them to their two-room – one for cooking and keeping their things in and the other, smaller one to unroll mattresses and sleep in – home in a part of the city that was sandwiched between a slum and a vegetarian middle-class neighbourhood, it dawned on Lakshmi that his cousin was still a struggler in the industry. He and his friend were stuntmen, in fact. Their routine consisted of working out in the gym several hours a day, cooking and eating chicken and heading off to jump off tall buildings, run through fire or ride motorcycles off of ramps.