The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky & Perumbadavam Sreedharan's 'Oru Sankeerthanam Pole'

When I read 'Crime and Punishment' some time back it took me a while to get Raskolnikov out of my system. I can't always read a book like that as it can bring you down some. It goes without question that Dostoevsky was a gifted writer and well versed in the workings of the human mind especially if it was a deprived life.

It took me some time to finish all the stories in the book. I enjoyed every single one of them except 'Notes from the Underground'. Could not read it at all as I couldn't make head or tail out of what he was trying to say. The best are probably 'White Knight' and 'Honest Thief'. I don't presume to critique such an esteemed author's stories. So I'll just say the ones I liked were wonderful and the one that I couldn't, well, I just didn't get it. Read more about the book here. One reviewer has notes on each of the stories in the book.

Why bring in Perumbadavam Sreedharan when talking about the great Dostoevsky? Why not will be a more appropriate response. I remember reading his 'Anthiveyilile Ponnu' most likely in Mathrubhoomi magazine and being thoroughly impressed by the newness of his expressions and the strength of his writing. So when I went to browse in a bookstore in Kerala a few years back I didn't hesitate to buy 'Oru Sankeerthanam Pole'. It turns out that Perumbadavam has great respect for Dostoevsky and wrote this book as something he just had to. It is the story of the young and hapless Dostoevsky and a girl called Anna who came to help him with the writing of his novels. Anna became his wife. It is said that she had been the great love of Dostoevsky. Too many greats eh? Can't help it. Anyway the book is pretty good and I think reading 'Sankeerthanam' made me understand and appreciate most of the short stories in the first book. So if you come across either of these books, go for it. Don't forget to read the foreword by Perumbadavam if you get his book. He is described as the writer with God's signature on his heart. This is Dostoevsky's description too. I don't know about that but one thing is true. You will not fail to be impressed by this writer. Not sure if any English translations exist but that would be quite an event! Read more on Perumbadavam here , here and here.

Malayalam Books – non fiction

My in-laws came this week and Dad brought me some books as a gift. He probably didn’t know he got the ideal gift! All were Malayalam non-fiction. Something I hadn’t been exposed to in a long while. Was pleasantly surprised to find that every single one of the books were good and gave me something to think about. Dad mentioned that they were selected by a priest friend of his who is also an avid reader. I am laying two of these books out here so if any of you wanted to get a Malayalam fix of quality you can go for these.

Chidambarasmarana
I had heard a lot about Balachandran Chullikkadu. Mostly that he is a poet and remember pictures of him with medusa like hair and stuff. Had read some of his poems when I was probably too young for them as I didn’t understand much. So I had ignored him as a most modern poet. Reading his book now I can’t imagine why I would give him such a label. Even in prose his poetic nature comes through. Although his memoirs – at least quite a few of them – are not what I would want to dwell on much, the beauty of the language cannot be ignored. Because Malayalam is infused with commonly used English words whose native equivalents are not easy to digest, it is difficult for writers to use pure Malayalam without having these ‘outstanding’ English words in them. Chullikkadu has no such problems. Language flows effortlessly for him even when describing the crudest parts. I didn’t catch it at first as I started the book with a prejudged mind. But over time I was so engrossed in the beautiful usage of words that I was floored. He even has some poetic lines of his in there. The one that affected me the most was the description of his thoughts that came out during the death of his estranged father. One simply cannot ignore the force of his language that slowly gets you…I used to love OV Vijayan who is my favorite prolific Malayalam writer that I believe has an extraordinary talent with Malayalam word flow. This one comes pretty close.

Neermathalam Poothakalam
Written by the world renowned poetess and writer Madhavikkutti/Kamala Das. Her English poems are known around the world. She has written a book in English with Andrew Arkin that has her prose as well as poems and is available from amazon.com. Dad was saying that she is known to be a little off in the head these days and my answer to that was “but that does not matter because if you read her books you will feel like respectfully prostrating before her”J This book is a classic example. It is her childhood memories and comes out haphazardly. But you hardly notice. It mostly touches the people in her childhood connected to the many Nair ancestral families that are networked with her own famous Nalappatt family. She also reminisces about her uncle the famous poet Nalappatt Narayana Menon. It does not go too much into detail about her equally famous Mother and poetess Balamaniamma most likely because they did not spend much time together. A blessed writer of both Malayalam and English whose calibre stands up well with any other good writer in the world.

Two books : Agnisakshi & Family Matters

Today I’d like to talk about two books. The first one is close to my heart which  is in Malayalam and written long ago. The second book is more recent from an Indian author written in English.

The first is ‘Agnisakshi’, written by that doyenne of elegant Malayalam literature Lalithambika Antahrjanam. I am not sure if there is an English translation and am not sure if a translation can do justice to her language. No other book has captured me so much both with the story line and with simple and elegant language. There, I have used elegant twice already but that is what comes to mind when I think of this book. Antharjanam wrote short stories and articles most of her life and wrote this novel in her seventies at the behest of an editor friend. This was made into a Malayalam movie but I have not seen it yet. In my experience if I like a book first, then the movie based on it usually will not keep up with the expectations. The story is told in the form of a memoir by a now old lady –Thankam aka Mrs. Nair- about her brother and sister-in-law in a traditional Kerala Brahmin –Nampoothiry- household of old but changing times. One caught in the ties of tradition and the other on the cusp of breaking from it and how inevitably they go their separates ways still loving each other. The story begins when she meets her sister-in-law as a yogini/holy woman while on a pilgrimage with her son which takes Thankam back to her childhood days. I can’t say enough of Antharjanam’s language. Chitra Banerjee Divakarunee’s poetic prose comes somewhat close I’d say. The lingering feeling is that of having read something so soul filling and sweet. I never realized that Malayalam could be used so lyrically.

The next book is by Rohinton Mistry. A writer born in India of Parsi heritage. Well written with engaging characters, this novel still clutches my heart when I think of it.The story of a Parsi family with 2 kids whose sweet and gentle maternal grandfather comes to be cared for by them and how it affects/changes the lives of each of the members. Owe the discovery to my kind friend who is always on the ready to lend me books. This is a must read and will make up for not being able to read the first book.