Marriage and Mutton Curry

Marriage And Mutton Curry comprises 15 stories; nine are previously published favourites, while six are brand new tales. The book, which was published by Singapore’s Epigram Books, also comes with a royal Foreword written by Perak Ruler Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah, who launched the book on Thursday. (The two knew each other at Oxford.)Shanmughalingam’s stories brim with wit and humour, and while many are tales of the Tamil Jaffna community, all of them speak of the human experience. According to the author, the stories were chosen as a way to show the reader three major periods in Malaysia’s history: colonial times, life during World War II’s Japanese Occupation, and the formative years of independence.Shanmughalingam describes his works as “fact-ion” – fiction based on real happenings, but turned around so much that they become a representation of their themes. “The Barefoot Man From Malaya”, for example, is based on an evocative line his mother once said to him: “When your father came to propose to me, he came barefoot.”Some of Shanmughalingam’s stories take place in the Treasury, a place he’s thoroughly acquainted with, of course: “Raman’s American Visitor”, tells of a man in the Treasury who completely misunderstands the purpose of an American’s visit to him, while “His Mother’s Joy” is about a mother who is very proud of her son’s position in the department, to the point of bragging.