NOV-2010
മയ്യഴി പുഴയുടെ തീരങ്ങളില് (On the banks of the river Mahe) -- എം മുകുന്ദന് (M Mukundan)
Chanced upon this book in a DC Books Fair in Thrisur in Sep 2010 when my interest in reading Malayalam literature was renewed(thanks to wifey dear n my office changaayimaar). This book had won the award in 1998 for the best novel published in the last 25 years and I hoped it would live up to the expectations and also hoped that the language was lucid enough for me to understand.
And boy, didn't M Mukundan do it in style !! :-)...i absolutely loved the narrative and lapped up the entire book(~250 odd pages) in about a month's reading time. I must admit that I am not a "fast" reader and take some time to grasp Malayalam because it doesn't come naturally as English. While reading Malayalam, reading and understanding are two different activities :-) and hence a slight reading delay.
About the book
Mukundan's birth place Mahe provides the background to most of his work.
Mahe came under French rule about 300 years ago. Mahe was the name given to Mayyazhi - the mouth of the black river - by the French. India's attaining independence in 1947 also affected the life in Mahe with large scale demonstrations for freedom being staged in 1948. The demonstrators raided government offices, and hoisted the Indian National flag on the administrative building. But this euphoria met a quick death with the arrival of the French Navy.The fight for freedom got a fresh lease of life again in 1954. When demonstrations began again, it got more support from the inhabitants of Mahe, and the French finally agreed to hand over Mahe to India.
The novel is written in a very lucid and descriptive way and I could actually imagine the entire Mahe setting during the 1940's. You actually start living the lives of the various people who are affected by the historical developments of Mayyazhi.
I painted my very own world of Mahe after reading the entire novel and all the characters still stand out after I finished reading it !!
The most memorable lines in the novel(and which are repeated many a times throughout the novel) are:
The novel talks about the struggle for freedom(a clash between the older generation happy and contended with the French ruling and who can't imagine the French leaving Mahe and the younger generation who wanted to be a part of independent India) and the life being led by the people of Mahe against this backdrop.
Some of the main characters in the plot:
Kurumbiamma: the grandmother who forms one of the central characters in the novel and its her stories that describe many characters and also paints the relationship between the half-French population of the town and its Indian inhabitants.
Leslie Saheb(സായിവു): The French officer who wears a hat, coat and trousers instead of a mundu, drives the best horse carriage of the town, and stops by every evening to share a pinch of snuff with Kurambi Amma, and whose memory haunts Kurambi Amma's nights for many years following his death.
Damu: Kurumbiamma's son who earns his living as a writer of deeds in the law court.
Kunchanandan master(കുഞ്ഞനന്ദന് മാഷ്): who has been sick all his life, but still has enough energy to instil the feeling of nationalism in his students
Dasan: Damu's eldest son and the protagonist of the novel, a brilliant student, who sacrifices all the hope his family including his beloved grandmother Kurambi Amma has in him, to devote himself to freeing Mayyazhi from the French rule.He could have enjoyed a very privileged life, could have joined the government service, or could have even gone to France at the expense of the government. But he decides to forego all these temptations to fight for freedom for Mayyazhi.
It is the kind of freedom which is not understood or needed by many people around Dasan. 'Freedom, what does that mean?' asks Dasan's father, Damu. People like Kurambi Amma and Damu do not understand why the French have to be driven out of Mayyazhi. In their opinion the French have brought glory to Mayyazhi. The place belongs to the French as much as it belongs to the others.
There are a multitude of other characters who have their own set of stories associated with them and which are beautifully intervowen alongwith the main storyline.
Verdict: an amazing book to read, especially for folks who want to start off with Malayalam literature...easily readable, simple language and the writing evokes a world of imagination as the reader reads through it.
The novel is written in a very lucid and descriptive way and I could actually imagine the entire Mahe setting during the 1940's. You actually start living the lives of the various people who are affected by the historical developments of Mayyazhi.
I painted my very own world of Mahe after reading the entire novel and all the characters still stand out after I finished reading it !!
The most memorable lines in the novel(and which are repeated many a times throughout the novel) are:
സുര്യനെ പോലെ പ്രകാശിക്യുന്ന വെള്ളിയാന് കല്ലില് ജന്മം കാതിരിക്യുന്ന ആത്മാവുകള് തുമ്പികളെ പോലെ പറന്നു കളിക്യുന്നു
(Normally they flutter like dragonflies over the Velliyan Rock, a silvery island, a cluster of rocks in the sea where souls rest between births and which guards in its womb the secrets of the lives and births of the folk of Mayyazhi)The novel talks about the struggle for freedom(a clash between the older generation happy and contended with the French ruling and who can't imagine the French leaving Mahe and the younger generation who wanted to be a part of independent India) and the life being led by the people of Mahe against this backdrop.
Some of the main characters in the plot:
Kurumbiamma: the grandmother who forms one of the central characters in the novel and its her stories that describe many characters and also paints the relationship between the half-French population of the town and its Indian inhabitants.
Leslie Saheb(സായിവു): The French officer who wears a hat, coat and trousers instead of a mundu, drives the best horse carriage of the town, and stops by every evening to share a pinch of snuff with Kurambi Amma, and whose memory haunts Kurambi Amma's nights for many years following his death.
Damu: Kurumbiamma's son who earns his living as a writer of deeds in the law court.
Kunchanandan master(കുഞ്ഞനന്ദന് മാഷ്): who has been sick all his life, but still has enough energy to instil the feeling of nationalism in his students
Dasan: Damu's eldest son and the protagonist of the novel, a brilliant student, who sacrifices all the hope his family including his beloved grandmother Kurambi Amma has in him, to devote himself to freeing Mayyazhi from the French rule.He could have enjoyed a very privileged life, could have joined the government service, or could have even gone to France at the expense of the government. But he decides to forego all these temptations to fight for freedom for Mayyazhi.
It is the kind of freedom which is not understood or needed by many people around Dasan. 'Freedom, what does that mean?' asks Dasan's father, Damu. People like Kurambi Amma and Damu do not understand why the French have to be driven out of Mayyazhi. In their opinion the French have brought glory to Mayyazhi. The place belongs to the French as much as it belongs to the others.
There are a multitude of other characters who have their own set of stories associated with them and which are beautifully intervowen alongwith the main storyline.
Verdict: an amazing book to read, especially for folks who want to start off with Malayalam literature...easily readable, simple language and the writing evokes a world of imagination as the reader reads through it.
