Thursday, June 29, 2006

ithihasathinte ithihaasam

"Ravi Bus kaathu kidannu."

AndThus ends one of the greatest books in Malayalam Literature. O.V Vijayan's Khasakhinte Ithihaasam. And now this piece of article says nature has taken away that school where, Ravi taught the kids of Thasrak. The characters which were created based on this school, but still stay. Maimoona, Allapicha Mollakka, Naijamali, Miyan shaik, and Ravi too.

Vijayan reached Thasrak when his sister got the job of a teacher in that "Eekadhyapaka Vidhyalaya(Single Teacher School)". And that resulted in one of the greatest novel which will probably divide Malayalam literature into two. Khasakinu Mumpum, Khasakinu Seshavum(Before and After Khasak).

It may be quite coincidental as the great writer passed away, the school too didn't wait long and mother earth with her lashing rain helped it to walk the way Vijayan went. Can I say that school too waited for the bus? If it was a snake for Ravi, it's Mother Nature's rain for the school.

The last two lines of the article say:

"Kaalathinte Kuthozhukkil pidichu nilkkanaavathe nilampothiyenkilum vishwasaahithyathil ee vidyalayavum thasrakkum mangaathe nila nilkuka thanne cheyyum. Kaaranam ithu ithihaasamaanu; ithihaasathinte ithihaasam."

Absolutely True.

3 comments:

Jiby said...

what a pity really...but like u said and the article so wonderfully signed off...the school will remain part of the kerala legend forever.

just to go off-track just last week we were having a discussion on khasak and one of my pals was saying the character allapicha mollakka was inspired from aurobindo retiring from revolutionary politics and violence to philosophy after the brit cops tortured him in prison.

i then realized i needed to pick up the novel and read it again and understand it more deeply as the first time i think i was overwhelmed more by the visual imagery vijayan conveyed and missed such subtle references.

pophabhi said...

True to the word that it was a classic. But don't quite agree that malayalam literature is struck with so much poverty to describe the different era's as 'Khasaakhinu Seshavum, Khasaakinu munpum'. There has been equally moving, equally well thought about books, which might have been celebrated more or celebrated less. Basheer, Anand, Mukundan, Sukumaran, Radhakrishnan all might come under this revolutionary category.
In my opinion, all are great, and no one steps ahead of the literature that the whole generation made possible.

Dhanush | ധനുഷ് said...

#jiby - wow thats a new info for me too. As you said we need to pick up again to notice these subtle references. I last read when he died, and news papers where flooding with articles and thought I should relive it.
#abhi - may be you are are right. It was not my opinion, I read it somewhere. But no are arguments in the way that it is a classic. But Anand, I tried reading him once and felt a kind of "ishtayilayma" and left. I havent read Sukumaran and C Radhakrishnan. M mukundan too is class apart. But why you missed MT here.