The World Renowned Nose

Vaikom Muhammed Basheer is placed in the high altar of Malayalam literature as his literary creations are marked by the down to earth narration and sheer verities of the lives of common folk. This titan of Malayalam literature affectionately addressed as ‘Beypore Sultan’ has earned a distinctive mark of his own in Kerala as a humanist, writer, freedom fighter, and novelist. Along with him, P. Keshava Dev, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, S.K. Pottekkatt and P.C. Kuttikrishnan constituted the Pentagon that inaugurated the Renaissance novel in Malayalam. Basheer wrote 13 novels and 13 collections of short stories apart from several articles, essays, and plays. Balyakalasakhi (Childhood Friend), the most enduring romantic tragedy novel penned by Basheer in 1944 has been translated into various Indian and global languages. 

The critic, M.P. Paul in his foreword to the novel opines that “it is a page torn from the life, bleeding at its edges”. This epitomizes the fact that his fictional and factual world remains inseparable and we come across an autobiographical sort of subtext in his creative landscape. By taking the readers through the dark corridors of human life, Basheer portrays the life of humble and ordinary folks. His literary oeuvre represents the real episodes from his life and they are suffused with humor and pathos. His adoration for his brother man, concern for his society, the warmth of the colloquial language, satire, and suggestiveness elevate him to the stature of the sultan of story. We can never trace any kind of artistic embellishment, parading of verbosity, and scholarship in the writings of Basheer. He wrote for the common people in a language easily comprehensible to them and the words flowed out of his realistic impressions. His rich and varied experience of life across various parts of the world have the undercurrents of real lifeblood and flesh.

According to the eminent Indian poet and critic, K. Satchidanandan, “Basheer used to say he was never sure about the Malayalam alphabet; this apparent inadequacy compelled him to invent an idiom that is closest to the everyday life of Malayalis that revolutionized the art of storytelling in the language. He could make his fictional world possible only by radically altering the status quo vocabulary. Ordinary words picked up from the streets and the inner courtyards of Malabar homes gained a new vibrancy and artistic aura when Basheer employed them in his fresh narrative contexts. His seemingly artless manner had behind it an unarticulated yet profound theory about the use of language in contemporary fiction that taught different lessons to future writers.” I have recently come across the short story entitled “The World Renowned Nose” (Vishwavikhyathamaya Mookku) which in fact did put me in knots. This short story, in reality, exemplifies the unarticulated and the profound psychology embedded in the human chromosome. The story delineates the life of an ordinary cook and how he as well as his life becomes an extraordinary one just because of the elongation of his nose. The story with a touch of black humor and satire unravels the true countenance of the present-day society and the partisan instances behind it.

To read the full article, click https://www.boloji.com/articles/52074/the-universal-appeal-of-basheers

Shaper Shaped

The multifaceted personality, Harindranath Chattopadhyaya was a poet, dramatist, actor, singer, songwriter, Member of the Parliament, and actor all rolled into one. His ‘Rail gaadi, rail gaadi’ lyrics from the 1968 Hindi movie Aashirwad still reverberates in the minds of multitudes. He was a man of assorted abilities and the younger brother of Sarojini Naidu, the legendary Nightingale of India. He wrote poetry in English as well as in Hindi and penned lyrics for films also. He wrote a play entitled Tukaram based on the celebrated saint-poet of the name from Maharashtra. Chattopadhyaya was a bountiful poet and his works comprise The Feast of Youth (1918), The Magic Tree (1922), Poems and Plays (1927), Strange Journey (1936), The Dark Well (1939), Edgeways and the Saint (1946), Spring in Winter (1956), Masks and Farewells (1951), Virgins and Vineyards (1967), and Life and Myself (1948). The government honored Chattopadhyaya with the coveted Padma Vibhushan award in 1972. Even at the age of 88, he used to say, “I am a little boy”. The man who never wanted to grow up bid adieu to the stages and pages of life in 1990.

I happened to flip through the poem “Shaper Shaped” the other day. I was extremely impressed by this exquisite poem especially by the way Chattopadhyaya’s words yield and stir the inner soul of a human being. His poem made me feel that poetry is no more a safari to the utopian land of marvel. Rather, poetry is a journey to the contours of one’s self. We can sense a sort of being to becoming in his verses of simple diction and sanguine meaning. Let me share one of his best-remembered poem with all my readers.

To read my full article, click 

https://www.boloji.com/articles/52077/shaper-shaped

A Pair of Mustachios

 Mulk Raj Anand, the most celebrated Indian novelist is one among the trio of Indian Writing in English along with R. K. Narayan and Raja Rao. His works endeavored to portray the social realities of British India in the language of the colonial master. Anand witnessed the Gandhian Period in Indian politics and literature in Indian languages began echoing Gandhian principles and philosophy. This impact was evident in Indian writing in English as well. Mulk Raj Anand was most deeply impressed by Mahatma Gandhi and his ways of life. His works endeavored to portray the social realities of British India in the language of the colonial master.

He was a champion of the 20th-century Progressive Writers’ Movement. He had drafted the first manifesto of the literary association. A forerunner of Indian Writing in English, he earned an international repute early in his life. He was born in Peshawar and educated at the Universities of Lahore, London, and Cambridge. He has achieved international fame as a novelist as well as a short story writer. He has penned novels like The Untouchable, Coolie, The Sword and the Sickle, Two Leaves and a Bud, etc. His remarkable short story collections include Lajwanti and Other stories, The Barber’s Trade Union and Other Stories, etc. He has written comprehensively in multifarious fields such as politics, art, sculpture, Indian literature, freedom movement, Gandhian impact, and so on. The laurels and accolades for his literary contributions comprise International Peace Prize from World Peace Council, Sahitya Akademi Award, Padma Bhushan, and Leverhulme Fellowship.

Mulk Raj Anand’s short stories unearth a deep sense of humour, simplicity of the village folk, pretensions of the people with the effective use of his creative language, and comic content. His “A Pair of Mustachios” is written in a humorous vein dealing with the funny clash that happens due to the upturned moustaches of Seth Ramanand, the grocer and money lender.

To read my full article, click https://www.boloji.com/articles/52091/mulk-raj-anand-a-pair-of-mustachios

A Requiem to Mother Earth

Ottaplakkal Neelakandan Velu Kurup aka O.N.V. Kurup’s contribution in the literary sphere of Kerala is broadly esteemed for his finesse in poetry. He began his poetic career as a representative of the ‘Pink Era’ in Malayalam and his poetry is marked by the manifestation of highly evocative images of nature.

O.N.V. Kurup, a poet, lyricist, teacher, and inspiration for all has held generations in awe with his imaginative and intuitive skills, creativity, and poetic lingos. He was born on May 27, 1931, at Chavara, in Kollam District, where he completed his schooling. His first major effort in poetry began during his school days, which also saw his first published poem ‘Munnottu’ (Forward) in 1946, penned in the backdrop of his patriotic feelings. The poetic aspects of the epic, Adhyatma Ramayanam, and its style have had a major influence and impact later in his career as a poet.

Honors and appreciations have always been a part of his life. Agni Salabhangal the poetic work by Mr. Kurup was awarded the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1971. He was also awarded the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award in 1975 for his poem Aksharam. A noted poetic work of Mr. Kurup titled ‘Uppu’ won the Soviet Land Nehru Award in 1981 and also the Vayalar Rama Varma Award in 1982. He has also won the Kerala State film awards twelve times, for the best lyricist. He was awarded Padmashri in 1998, Jnanpith in 2007, and Padma Vibhushan in 2011. I was so touched by the verses of his renowned poem ‘A Requiem to Mother Earth’ (Bhoomikku Oru Charamageetham). He addresses the issues of ecological preservation and the unsympathetic ways in which landscape is commodified and divided up by human beings for egocentric motives. He urges human beings to be grateful to Mother Earth for nurturing and fostering them. O.N.V. points out that human beings are not affectionate to mother earth. He defines that mother Earth has fed human beings with her own milk by eliminating her greenery dress and the verdant hues. Even after drinking her milk, humans were not able to satiate their thirst and they began to suck her blood too. His poem is a dirge for mother Earth and the poet anticipates the death of our mighty Earth. He begins the requiem with an epigraph:

‘A song of praise
For this earth
For its surge of life
For poetry, the essence of its beauty…’

Read my full article here.

When Positivity Beats Covid Positive!

 

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter”, said the acclaimed American writer, Mark Twain. We just celebrated the International Day of Older Persons on 1^st October. This day reminds us to value the contributions that the elderly make for the betterment of society. Here is the story of 97-year-old Aliyamma Mathai who has inspired the youth and the elderly alike in the unprecedented times of the COVID -19 pandemic.

Aliyamma Mathai hailing from Mannarakulanji village of Pathanamthitta district was tested COVID positive in September. She contracted the disease from her grandson, Adv. Johny K. George. Adv. Johny got infected through a colleague and the former’s family members were also subjected to the test. When the rest of the family members tested COVID negative, unfortunately, Aliyamma’s results turned out to be positive. Her willpower and positivity towards life did not budge an inch in this COVID positive scenario.

To read my full article, please check this link....

https://kerala.gov.in/documents/10180/bc266d92-8ce8-4b9b-a4dd-81ddb367c56e

Out of Business

 

What comes to our mind first when we hear the name of the legendary writer, R.K. Narayan? Yes, it will be an unequivocal answer always and forever: Malgudi.  There was a time for the kids of 90’s like me who used to wait anxiously and endearingly for the screening of Malgudi Days serial in Doordarshan channel. Each episode would leave an imprint of our Indian culture and ethos and one would badly and madly fall for the simple and subtle life stories revolving in, around and within this fictional town located somewhere in South India. I could not resist myself from waiting for the upcoming episodes of the rustic simplicity and enduring images they carve on my emotional smithy. The very name of Rasipuram Krishnaswami Ayyar Narayanaswami is always a symbol of modest writing style for me. “No one ever accepts criticism so cheerfully. Neither the man who utters it nor the man who invites it really means it.” This frank and brutally honest adage of R.K. Narayan allures me to his readable style endowed with his fertility of imagination suffused in the sheer verities of ordinary life.

 

R.K. Narayan, the first Indian English writer to bag the Sahitya Akademi Award has made the Indian social cultural fabric familiar to the foreigners via his creative outpourings. He made India accessible to the people in alien shores by offering a window of vision to peep into the Indian sensibilities.  The trio of Indian English Literature namely, Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao played a pivotal role in placing India as well as Indian English Literature to the World map of English Literature. His remarkable contribution to the ‘Indianisation of English Literature’ is explicit in his creation of his fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. Like William Faulkner’s ‘Yoknapatawpha’, Thomas Hardy’s ‘Wessex’ and Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai’s ‘Kuttanad’, he is widely known as the creator of India’s most loveable town of Malgudi, where majority of his stories were set. He won numerous accolades for his literary oeuvre comprising Padma Bhushan, AC Benson Medal by the British Royal Society of Literature and Padma Vibhushan.

 

According to Prof. G.J.V. Prasad, “R.K. Narayan is the village gossip, your friendly uncle who always knows something or the other about everybody and, even better, tells a story in such a way that you can visualize every detail, that you recognize every character, that you hear the voices, even as you laugh at the storyteller’s comic vision. His humour does not distort reality; his irony does not lessen the truth value of his works.” This really exemplifies the grandeur of R.K. Narayan’s lucid and clear-cut writing style. I came across R.K. Narayan’s short story titled “Out of Business” quite accidentally and incidentally. This story is taken from his Malgudi Collection and his self-effacing narrative made me finish it with no time. Reading a short story like “Out of Business” stirred myriad of queries and thoughts in me. I was able to strike some chords with the contemporary scenario of lockdown and how it has created a terrible impact on the economic lives of multitudes.

 

“Out of Business”, as the name suggests renders the picture of the protagonist, Rama Rao who is no more a part of the business he has been doing for the last five years. He worked as Gramophone Company with its factory somewhere in North India and he was its local agent of Malgudi. Everything turned upside-down owing to the collapse of the company. He fell into a financial crisis and life became a struggle for Rama Rao and his family. He was forced to shift from his bungalow to a very small house. “The money in the bank was fast melting. Rama Rao’s wife now tried some measures of economy. She sent away the cook and the servant; withdrew the children from a fashionable nursery school and sent them to a free primary school.” He tried hard to make both ends meet. He was in pursuit of job in many places by sending applications but in vain. Ideas popped up in his mind one after the other and he started spending a lot of his time doing crossword puzzles of ‘Captain’ journal hoping that he would win some money.

To read my full article, please check the link given here:

https://www.boloji.com/articles/52070/the-illustriousness-of-r.k.narayans-out-of-business

Panorama and Me!

 

I do not know what to pen down at this gleeful moment. A tsunami of thoughts as usual began stirring in my avowed chromosomes. Thanks a ton, Preeth Ji and the entire crew of Panorama International Literature Festival for bestowing me with this honour. I could not resist myself from sharing this very post of Preeth Ji. I am immensely grateful to this motivating guide cum friend, a person who walked into my literary meanderings quite accidentally and incidentally. I cherish the day, October 20 forever as it coincided somehow with my life cruise. With all my heart, I offer this honour to my lovely and lively haven of Ezhimala, the Land of Seven Hills!. The best parting gifting I can ever bestow or else a sort of tribute to the land that sensed and touched me wholeheartedly. My hopes, dreams, desires, calms, storms, pleasures and pains of life are intertwined at my 7-imala. Our hamlet forever remains special in the life of Jeeth and me. It's time for our next sojourn and I have nothing else to treasure other than 'A Warrior's Musings' (my award winning poem) throughout the odyssey of my life. As promised, Jeeth will plan a road drive someday to Ezhimala just to surprise me. I badly yearn for that suspense! (someday far or someday near)

Here is the youtube link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhtnymV9fCc&t=27s