Orikkal by N Mohanan

 

Who hasn’t loved and lost even once in life? The love might not have been explicit, double sided or even recognized. But, that love must have played at least a small role in our lives. Malayalam writer, N. Mohanan’s semi autobiographical novel Orikkal is about such a love that had shaped a persona in him.

Who was the owner of the author’s lost love? There is no name given in the novel respecting the identity of the beholder. She has been constantly addressed as ‘the girl.’

Before getting into the details of the novel, let me remember an article written by Tanuja S Bhattathiri about her late uncle. In that she had written about her uncle’s lost love. The lost love always remained in his mind with the tokens of love letters, hand kerchiefs and other reminiscent of the romantic period. I was surprised to learn that N. Mohanan’s wife had safely kept these love tokens for him and his romance was not a secret in the household. 

Tanuja had written, “When my brother had undergone a troublesome period after his love failure, ammaman consoled him citing his own experience.” I really admired N.Mohanan’s wife for that loving courage, without whose loving understanding, he wouldn’t have sustained his love traumas long enough to give advice to the next generation. However, after reading his autobiography I have admitted one more thing. He was the owner of a loving mind, who could also radiate the fragrance of love to those around him.

Mohanan wrote about ‘the girl’ in his life with much fondness. Their platonic love in the 1960s' Kerala society was coloured by literary discussions, first lessons of the unconditional love, innocent dreams and above all, trust to each other.  The world that they had dreamt together subsequently shattered. After drinking the pain of separation, each of them walked in their own paths holding the hands of their loving partners.

Still the love sustained! It is that love that N.Mohanan talks about in the novel. The love is not romance but a mixture of concern, care and gratitude for the woman in his life who first taught him the meaning of love. In his poetic and meditating language N Mohanan transcends the reader to this world of love, which many of might not have experienced. 

I’ve to give one more last reference before completing this review. In the Malayalam movie Chandrolsavam the already married heroine Indulekha asks her returned lover Sree, “Didn’t you ever hate me for marrying another man?” Sreehari’s reply was crisp and from heart, “Never! I was upset with myself and life, but never with you! My life afterwards taught me to smile at the face of miseries and befriend with those who had gone from my life." I never believed that such a love existed! Well, N. Mohanan’s Orikkal is a testimony for it.

Suvarnalatha by Ashapoorna Devi

It was more than a year since my amma had started to insist me on reading Ashapoorna Devi’s novel Suvarnalatha. Though curious, many things kept me away from reading that novel.  However when I started reading that novel, I finished reading it within three days and immediately understood my mother’s interest in it. The novel was a representation of a generation that my amma and her contemporaries lived with!

Got married into a strict family at the childhood age of nine, marriage was never a sweet fruit for Suvarnalatha. Her marriage took away so many dear dreams from her life-the love and protection of her parents, rightful education, care from the dear ones and most of all the right to dream a normal life.

Most of Suvarnalatha’s life was spent in her in-law’s family, where she had no right to raise her voice. As a child bride and teenage mother, Suvarnalatha dared to dream a beautiful home with neat ambience. However as years pass by, her dreams started to get scattered and she sowed new dreams of hope for her children.

Education for her children! That was the prime aim in Suvarnalatha’s life. Despite the retaliation from own kids, Suvarnalatha forcefully implants the roots of education in her children’s lives. While the youngest girls feel for their mother’s needs, the eldest children grow sympathetic with their incompetent father.

Here, as many might see, I don’t consider Suvarna’s husband Prabodh as a loveless one. He was just ignorant-ignorant of women’s lives, their dreams, aspirations and secret desire for the ray of freedom. Though he had wished to help Suvarnalatha in fulfilling her dreams, her outbursts, maintaining the macho husband image, tantrums from his mother and finally Suvarnalatha’s silence kept him away from her world.

Just as many others of her age, Suvarnalatha didn’t know what would fulfil her life. In the younger age she tried to put her ideas through outbursts and silent suffering. As time passed her struggle grew more conscious to be away from her mother’s path, who had abandoned her father in protest against Suvarna’s child marriage.  By the time Suvarna reached middle age, she sheltered herself under the cocoon of silent protest, from where she helplessly watched her children growing apart and those who sympathized with her being helpless in their own struggles.

Suvarnalatha passes away at the age of fifty five without giving any struggles but welcoming death as her companion. Death was the only dream that had come true in her life. However, from her pyre some sparks fall out to ignite some changes in her hitherto unfulfilled life. Her friend insists on fulfilling Suvarna’s last wish of draping the dead body in saree bordered with rich dark colour. Also, her youngest daughter Bakul feels for her mother in the final moments and set out to retrace the path walked by her deceased mother.

When I finished reading the novel I sat by Amma and discussed the content. She told, “Women in our generation were certainly hungry for knowledge and felt with every social turns.  But many of us couldn’t come out. We cherished small, small dreams and most of them went unfulfilled. Now, don’t forget to read the novel Bakulinte Katha. It’s the story of your generation!”

Afterword: The Bengali writer Asapoorna Devi originally published the novel in Bengali as Subarnalatha. It got translated into Malayalam by P Madhavan Pillai and published by ‘Current Books.’