I am utterly disappointed with my countless Mallu readers. If the most literate state in India cannot identify answer a question concerning its authors properly, then I don’t know what to say. You should all go drown in the Arabian sea and let the rest of your countrymen use your pristine unspoilt homeland as a holiday resort.
The connection I was talking of was this. The district where Veerappan lived and died was Dharmapuri. That should have immediately reminded you of O V Vijayan’s novel Saga of Dharmapuri. The book is a must-read for all Nehru-haters. It is an allegory about India caught between two superpowers. The treatment of Nehru and the communists has to be read to be believed. In the book, Nehru’s courtiers are depicted as eating his shit – literally! (Vijayan used to be a communist who got disillusioned by the ideology after the Soviets invaded Hungary)
If you Mallus want to redeem your honour, you can help me out by answering this question about Mallu literature that I have. This time, there is no trick, and I don’t know the answer to this one.
I dimly remember reading long time back (as in many years back) in a newspaper about some Mallu author who had written a novel called Parinamam about a talking dog. The author was given an award by some government agency. The author had apparently rejected the award because he believed that it was not the job of the government to give awards. In fact, the government ought not to have any job except running a police force, army and the judiciary.
All this, I repeat, I am quoting from memory. Something brought back the memory and I wondered if I remembered right or whether I got some details wrong, especially the part about his views on government. Those views seemed unusual when I read them. I remember that it was the first time I had heard such an idea. So it is very very unlikely that I remembered wrong.
Naturally I turned to google, and sure enough, I found that there was indeed an M P Narayan Pillai who had written a novel called Parinamam which was about a talking dog. He was in fact awarded a prize by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi in 1992, but the reasons he refused the award are not clear. So most of my memory seems to be confirmed, but not the most interesting bit.
Can any Mallu impress me with his knowledge of arcanities of Mallu literature?
let the rest of your countrymen use your pristine unspoilt homeland as a holiday resort.
Thank the Commies for that!
Right said WMD!
Convent-educated/English-language loving upper middle class is no longer aware of vernacular literature. The use of their mother tongue is confined to usage at home and reading newspapers. Higher arts like novels and poems don’t figure in their lives. I have also noticed a trend whereby Indian columnists in English-language newspapers referring to western classics exclusively for interpreting current events. My best guess is that these people are not knowledgeable of Indian classics or our history.
Then the poorly educated lower classes don’t have much interest in vernacular literature either. Soap operas, TV game shows and inane comedy goes goes for entertainment. This is true all over India.
A part of the population lives in India and another in Bharat. The people in India are ever optimistic about the future, a sentiment fuelled by the cheap credit laid out to them recently as housing loans and consumer loans. While in Bharat resentments, suicides and rebellion is brewing.
Who has the time to read literature?
Hey Ravi,
O V Vijayan’s Novel is titled “Dharmapuranam”, the literal translation of which means ‘history of Dharma’. In the book, he has used it as a pun. If you read the book of course, you’d know that it is the history of Dharmapuri. But veerappan and O V Vijayan is a far-fetched connection.
I of course read the English translation which was titled “Saga of Dharmapuri”. I see that the joy of the pun is lost in translation.
As for the far fetched nature of the connect, you are obviously not an initiate into the subculture of quizzing. Such connections are par for the course here.
I am not a ‘mallu’ but a north indian and not really aware of the mallu culture and literature. but i’ve read ‘the saga of dharmapuri’ in english which was a part of my course. i have to admit that i wasnt aware of the relation between the district and ‘veerapan’. though what i gathered from the reading, was that it is a naked representation of the world during the 1975 emergency. it is a gross political satire which uses excremental imagery constantly and the gruseome picture of women as mere sexual objects is seen through out the novel.The title itself is anti novelistic. it is certainly a novel of exxageration where religious metaphors are used to accentuate the political realism. Irony in the novel is realised through intertextuality. infact, in the novel the profane becomes sacred and the sacred profane. I would like you to provide some inputs about the text if possible or add in certain points i’ve overlooked. thanks
Oh c’mon….we mallus have never claimed to be intellectually superior in any way. We just said we know to read and write. And that doesn’t mean we all read Shakespeare.
Hey,
To those non-mallus who tel that “V have read english version of Dharmapuranam”…..b4 making any comment about the gr8 wrtier O V Vijayan,plz read his novel “Ghazakkinte Ithihasam”…,to u its english version.To understand his (O V Vijayan’s)concepts/actually what actually he meant through his novel,u must read his novels twice / thrice. Dont take it as it sounds in a glance. It will surelyhave thousans of meaning.
you shit eater you mother fu……come i will show how a mallu fu…bring along your sister or wife.
hi you ass hole.
#1. the percentage of people who read literature, follow art or pursue “higher things in life” are (and has always been) a minority in any culture or group.
#2. the people who actually do know a lot about malayalam literature may not have come into your acquaintance. that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. there is also a very high possibility that they are not, at the moment, reading this article but some book.
#3. Parinamam is so much more than a book about a “talking dog.” reading about something on wikipedia does not qualify you to put out shit like this in the public domain.
parinam is not just about a talking dog, It’s one of the most beautiful works I’ve read in Malayalam
and one more thing, be proud mallus, no other Indian language possess as much gifted writers as in Malayalam