Appadurai Muttulingam

Jan 29, 2024 | scroll.in | Appadurai Muttulingam |kavitha Muralidharan

I did not see the sunrise in Ukraine on my first day and woke up only after the sun had captured the sky. The very sound and smell of the air was different – I could tell even with my eyes closed. By the time I awoke, the rest had washed up by turns and were waiting. I could see that everyone had something to worry about. Master was reading something and Mami was uttering a prayer. I remembered how agent Vijayanayagam had once remarked that being a refugee meant “waiting”.

Dec 21, 2023 | wordswithoutborders.org | Jadd HILAL |Appadurai Muttulingam |Tobias Carroll |Alexander Aguayo

NaïmaMy father was a hard man. Hard on everyone. It saved our lives one night, in Shefa’Amr. My parents and I were sleeping in neighboring bedrooms. My nightmares had given me the courage to crawl into their bed and risk my father’s stern look. After a few minutes, unable to fall asleep, I saw a figure enter the room and hunch down in one corner. It struck me as odd, its shadow looming large, but I wasn’t worried. Why would someone enter our home and not another? And why this room? To steal?

Nov 15, 2023 | wordswithoutborders.org | Appadurai Muttulingam |Sinan Antoon |Alexander Aguayo

I was third in line. In exactly four minutes, my life was going to change. Since Chandrasekharan had already gotten through, our plan seemed to be working. Sri Lanka’s Katunayake International Airport was bustling. Now Padmanabhan was in line ahead of me and behind me was Sudhakaran. The immigration officer’s face seemed friendly. I tried to control the butterflies in my stomach and look casual. Of the four of us, Sudhakaran was the one who might give the game away.

Nov 14, 2023 | wordswithoutborders.org | Appadurai Muttulingam

Thila Varghese lives in Canada and works part-time as a senior writing advisor at Western University. Her translations of Tamil literary works into English have been published in international journals and magazines. Her translation of Khaled Hosseini’s Sea Prayer into Tamil was published in India in 2023. Three of her short stories were longlisted in Canadian national short story competitions, and one received an honorable mention and was published in an anthology in 2023.