Department of Cultural Affairs Govt of Kerala Kerala Sahitya Akademi

ISSN 2319-3271

Kerala Sahitya Akademi 2014 June 2014 June

ecology malayalam& literature Printed and published by R. Gopalakrishnan on behalf of Kerala Sahitya Akademi,Thrissur 680 020 and printed at Simple Printers, West Fort, Thrissur 680 004, Kerala and published at Thrissur, Thrissur Dist., Kerala State. Editor: R. Gopalakrishnan. MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY JUNE 2014

Special Issue on Ecology and Malayalam Literature

KERALA SAHITYA AKADEMI Thrissur 680 020, Kerala Malayalam Literary Survey A Quarterly Publication of Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Thrissur Vol. 34 No. 1-2. 2014 Single Issue : Rs. 25/- This Issue - Rs. 50/- Annual Subscription : Rs. 100/-

Editorial Board Perumbadavam Sreedharan - President R. Gopalakrishnan - Secretary & Editor Chandramati - Convenor Members John Samuel R. Lopa V.N. Asokan - Sub editor

Cover Design : Vinaylal Type setting : Macworld, Thrissur Printed and Published by R. Gopalakrishnan on behalf of Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Thrissur 680 020 and Printed at Santhi Bhavan, Kannamkulangara, Thrissur for Simple Printers, Westfort, Thrissur - 680 004, Kerala and published at Thrissur, Thrissur Dist., Kerala State. Editor : R. Gopalakrishnan Proof : Prof. E.D. John Reg. No. 29431/77 Phone : 0487-2331069 [email protected] www.keralasahityaakademi.org

Articles published in this journal do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi. The Editorial Board cannot be held responsible for the views expressed by the writers Editor’s note We are happy to publish this special edition of Malayalam Literary Survey which focuses on Ecology, Environment and Malayalam literature. As a branch of discipline, environmental studies may appear to be modern, but it is as ancient as human culture itself. Kerala, the green land, had ecological vision right from the old times, as our folk-songs prove. Here humans lived in close and peaceful communion with nature till the advent of technological progress and consumerist culture which resulted in alienation from nature and exploitation of it. We seem to have forgotten the ancient proverb that we have not inherited the earth from our ancestors, but we have borrowed it from our children. Kerala is not an agrarian society now. It is therefore, necessary to reorder the relationship with nature on a new basis. New efforts of this kind may serve as catalysts in this process. The poems, stories and essays included in this issue deal with the different facets of the environmental problem. We have tried to show how the healthy web of life in nature is upset by human intervention and how we can attempt to save it. Current day’s hipper human interaction with environment affects the whole ecosystem that includes quality of human life itself. The technology is of course the key to human progress, but it has now become a strong tool for increased environmental degradation. The narcissistic, mechanized human beings cut themselves off from nature and thereby from life itself. Ecocriticism has now emerged as a branch of Malayalam criticism; this may invite our new writers’ attention towards contemporary environmental situation. We hope the readers will get the message that it is up to us to turn over a new leaf.

R. Gopalakrishnan Secretary & Editor

Contents

The Inheritors of The Earth Vaikkom Muhammed Basheer 9 A Voice in the Wilderness Vishnu Narayanan Nambudiri 15 The Artistic as the Scientific-Ecological: Malayalam Literature and the Silent Valley Movement Dr. P. Rohith 18 The Jungle D. Vinayachandran 25 Neeraliyan Ambikasutan Mangad 29 The River as Lifeline : The Human-Environmental Tie in Roy’s The God of Small Things and Jose’s By The River Pampa I Stood S. Devika 35 The Seeds of Memory P. Surendran 42 The Book of Job V.M. Girija 48 Enmakaje a Literary Voice of Environmental Crisis G. Sangeetha 51 The Amphibian Santhosh Aechikkanam 55 Ungu K.R. Tony 61 Ecological Imperialism and P. Surendran Sreekanth. C 62 Deadline E.P. Sreekumar 65 The Green Within Vinod Vellayani 71 An Eco-Feminist Reading of Selected Stories of Sara Joseph Radhika. R. 73 The Dance of the Peacocks E.Santhosh Kumar 78 The Elephant S.Joseph 82 The Album of Green Dhanya Raj 83 The Dumb M.R.Renukumar 88 An Ecocritical Reading of C. Radhakrishnan’s Thee Kadal Kadanju Thirumadhuram Meena J. Panikkar 90

6 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY Short Story The Inheritors of The Earth Vaikkom Muhammed Basheer

When the sole ownership of a small plot of land, two acres of coconut-orchard, was established, I thought that my future was safe. The old house can be repaired. The family expenses can be met by selling coconuts. There are jacks and mangoes. Woods supply enough fuel. An old well, full of good water. Will life be ever fear-free? A huge amount of money has been spent on stamp paper duty and registration expenses of the land purchase. As the government promises all protection for the landowner, this is not unfair. Land and house taxes are promptly remitted. Encumbrances regarding the property have been cleared. All the three title deeds are safely kept in the chest under lock and key. Nobody in the whole wide world can make any claim on this property, the government has given firm assurance. Here, there are mango and jack trees. Also guava, cashew, supporta and custard apple trees. Moreover, trees like teaks and pines too. The front-yard is outlined by flower plants like the champaka. The plot is fully fenced by iron wire. The front gate is made of strong steel. Two sides of the gate are guarded by blossomed bougainvillea. From the gate to the front door all over the courtyard, there is bright white sand. A fiery dog guards the house and the plot. Domestic dependents—goats, cows, fowls and cats, are here. I have a wife and children. All depend upon the coconuts for living. Coconut plants are watered punctually and properly. Water and good manure make them give good yields. The sight of luxuriant, tender coco-palm fruits brings brightness to our faces. May the prices increase, let the coconuts ripen. Days

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 7 and nights of hopes and happiness. Where shall the snake go? Neighbouring Yet, am I the only claimant of this small plots have their own owners. They will harm piece of global soil? Are there other the snake. The entire globe, piece by piece, claimants who do not respect the has been possessed by humans. Let the government and well-stamped title deeds? snake live wherever it can, I don’t mind. But, How do they assert their claims upon this it’s deadly poisonous. Be alert! Walk two-acre plot? carefully! Keep a torch if it is dark. Birds and butterflies are the first to enter. A bit later, the snake withdraws its hood and innumerable birds and flies! Birds chirp from retreats. The dog pursues, barking. Through the branches of trees and plants. Butterflies a hole in the fence, the snake disappears. of various colours brighten the courtyard. Coming from the smoky kitchen with They had inherited this universe, centuries reddened eyes, my wife asks: and centuries before mankind. Anyway, I do “The dog has barked and the birds have let not try to drive them away. But, the crows! out frantic chirps. Was there any snake?” They do steal food from the kitchen! They “Yeah, Comrade Cobra!” have built nests on two coconut palms! Laid eggs too! Cries of crows are unbearable. “Beaten it to death?” Crows lift the chicks. Kites also come to pick “Nothing doing.It is one of god’s creations. chicks. They wait in the coconut trees. There Let it live. It is also an heir to this globe.” is a bird that squats on the branches of the “Devil or deity—mind our children, they run mango-tree targeting the chicks. Mongooses about and play here. If the snake comes to are in plenty hiding in bamboo woods for our plot, it should be beaten to death.” gulping down the poultry. Jackals dwell in the woods adjacent to the bamboo to catch “It is easy to destroy a life: but, impossible to the fowls. re-create.” “Ask the Almighty why He had created the Apart from these winged and poly-legged poisonous creatures.” claimants of my two-acre plot, a terrible creature suddenly appears! It has no legs, “ there are billions of creatures like no wings! It is noon and there is good elephants, tigers, lions, boars, bears, bison, sunlight. The dog barks and house fowls hippos, crocodiles, camels, horses and bawl. All birds howl. Ho, what carelessness! I chimpanzees.. For what purpose are they step right into the front of a horrible cobra! created? Who knows it? We must try to live With dignity, the cobra raises its head, without killing others.” spreading its hood. What can I do? How She remarks, I don’t know whether with shall I handle the toxic snake? No tools, only regret or ridicule, “ What a new idea! bare hands. Man, what a weak creature! Spiders, lizards, chameleons, and scorpions Shall I consult my wife? Let her bring a stick. are everywhere inside the house. Termites eat I can kill and bury this snake. But is it right? away the fences. Books and cloths are eaten Entire lives, things, in fact, all diverse worlds by them. Rats trouble us in their own ways. are God’s creation. Snake’s creation was not The electric wire to the radio is snapped by different from man’s. Snake is one of the the rats. Crickets and ants fill this house. inheritors of this earth. This worldly life This is the proper time to worship animals!” demands co-living. Should I follow this “No, I do not worship animals.” principle? But, co-habitation with a snake is impossible. Poison! A poisonous bite kills! A section of humans worship serpents. Hallo Snake, go away from this plot of land! Snakes are deified and adored. A super-god You have no right here! lies upon a serpent. Around the neck of

8 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY another great god, a serpent coils. Mouse is other cave. But, snakes, centipedes and the vehicle of yet another god. Certain lizards should not be allowed to encroach. human beings adore certain other animals. They have to be beaten to death.” There are yet some others who believe the “Every day we see the deeds of those who earth to be the mother goddess. They view agree with you. Within a span of five the sun and the moon as gods. Earth is flat centuries, men will kill and wipe out animals, to some. Beliefs are diverse. There are birds and all living beings upon this earth. monotheistic and polytheistic believers. Only humans will remain.” Atheists are also there. There are quarrels over such beliefs—murders multiply. “Let it be so. Now you take the ladder and go to that jack tree. Climb and pick the ripe Earth is a globe and it rotates without an fruit. My children and I can have that.” anchor or axis. Days and nights occur according to the exposure, proximity and “Pardon me birds, pardon me squirrels!” remoteness of the sunlight. One day the sun Chanting so, I climbed the jack tree and may become dark and the earth may die. brought down the ripe fruit. Wife, children Planets may collide and perish. Then, it may and I consumed the honey-sweet jack fruit. be infinite and eternal darkness. The first to Praise to the glory of god! be created might be She says: “Don’t sit in darkness. Then, light. idle thought. Look after Light and heat, all living “The dog has barked and the birds our landed property. The beings are the have let out frantic chirps. Was welfare of the birds and descendants of light and there any snake?” animals will be looked heat—termites, spiders, “Yeah, Comrade Cobra!” after by the Creator. trees, ants, snakes and Listen! When I tried to “Beaten it to death?” humans. “Beaten it to death?” burn the red ants which My wife comes. “Squirrels “Nothing doing.It is one of god’s started to dig holes near and crows take away the creations. Let it live. It is also an the walls, you stopped ripe jack fruits. Birds and heir to this globe.” me. Now, they have bats eat fruits—guava, entered our house. supporta and the custard apples.” Wooden beams of this roof are eaten by termites. We have to kill the termites and “It is the right thing. Without an anchor and ants.” axis, god has maintained crores of planets and that same god has created everything “I won’t kill anything” for the earthly beings! Fruits, tubers, corns, “Those who trouble us should be wiped out.” grasses, flowers, water, wind, then, heat and “No. Treat them with love. I feel like light. All animals and birds have claims upon embracing this universe with love.” the earth’s produces.” “If so, reckon that the wife and children are She asks: “Do you mind if I say something?” also part of this cosmos.” “Certainly not.” “It’s too narrow a thought.” “People like you may better remain She replies offended: “Ok, then, be broad- bachelors. A man without wife and children minded!” can live in caves and meditate in silence.” Something happens that night—a “I am ready to be in a cave if somebody like trespassing into my home. After a good you is with me to provide food and drinks.” supper, we have all gone to bed. It is summer. I start reading. Cosmos broadens “If so, this cave, our home, is better than any

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 9 before me. Flies, beetles, cockroaches, Suddenly I feel a sharp pain. A needle crickets, fire-flies—do all these reside in my ignited in fire penetrates into my flesh. home? May be they enter through the Excruciating, burning sensation. My eyes windows. Mosquitoes and bed-bugs are open. Light is switched on. I call my wife permanent settlers. A mosquito squats on and she comes. my hand and siphons blood. They are “My hand hurts” created to draw and drink the blood of animals. It’s a bit painful and distressing. If “Sting marks, like the pricks of a needle! one strikes a mosquito, it will die. No, let it Two red marks. Come on, get up.” drink. It may destroy men, destroy this house She picks up and shakes the pillow, bed and also. But then who built this house? How the coir-mat. A big centipede appears! many must have died here! “Open the door and throw it out.” The mosquito , red with blood, flies away. But she squeezes the pest with a shoe and The mosquito-pricked-part of my hand starts throws the corpse out. itching. We are lying on a raised platform near the entrance. This kind of verandah was She says: “It is very poisonous. The wound once built for the purpose of praying. May I may burn for long. There is one remedy—for pray — O, Creator, save me! bites from scorpions and centipedes, chew vasica leaves with a crystal of common salt. My wife and children are sweating. They Take a torch and come out. Let us pick need the breeze of the fan. A dusty coir mat vasica leaves and tender shoots.” is taken and my bed and the mat are placed below the platform on the veranda. I change Leaves of vasica are taken in with a piece of the position of the table fan so that my wife salt. I also take some water. Next day, the and children can have enough breeze. pain disappears. There is complete silence, except the noise of But, another disaster! She shows me thirty the rotating fan. Are jackals coming to tender coconuts fallen, with big holes on one capture fowls? All are sleeping. Sleep is side. death in miniature. Life is spent in eating, She diagnoses: “It is the rats. Bring some rat drinking and merry-making. poison. We can trap rats and kill them My mind goes to the outer surface of the also.” moon. Pits and hills, lifeless land, no trees, Is it right? Rats are also god’s own creations. no birds and animals. Mere emptiness, filled Rats, like other beings, have claims on with silence. Dark sky everywhere. Millions of earth’s produce. But we have lost tender stars shine and brighten. Why did god make coconut-fruits. Next day also they fall down. the moon ? Or, for that matter, why did he Reminding to bring rat-poison, she make this universe? complaints: “Two hundred spiders, fifty A fly abruptly settles on the page of the book cockroaches, thirty crickets, five centipedes, I am reading. A fly with blue wings. What a seven beetles, two thousand ants, five beautiful design! All the individual creations hundred termites…” She had been sweeping are perfect pieces of art. Fan, man’s artistic the home, in toto. creation, is a great blessing. Electric lights “What did you do with them?” I am curious are also like that. Radio and the amplifier are to find out. not always boons. Silence has its own “Killed them all.” music. Lights are now switched off. There is primordial darkness. Gradually I drift off to “Inheritors of this earth?” sleep. “Have you forgotten the sting of centipede

10 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY and the sharp pain?” hasn’t…” “No -I remember.” “ Ok, I’ll avail a loan.” ‘Then, bring rat-poison.” Problem is solved. Forgive us, rats! God, the Conspire for genocide, or cooperate-no, she Creator of all, pardon us. We are going to has no such demands. trap and kill rats. Nine hundred coconuts a month, not a negligible loss, my family “If the rats take thirty coconuts per day , how depend upon the coconuts. Forgive us! many will they take in one month ?” She came back after two hours, with a big “Around nine hundred.” bottle of rat poison. “The price of coconut “Rats destroy so many coconuts. Termites has increased. It may raise more, the vendor have eaten away the roof girders almost gave me a good amount as loan.” She is completely. Now we need new wooden overjoyed. girders for the roof. We have planned that by “Why the laugh? Is it for the hike in the selling coconuts every need can be met. If coconut-price?” half-eaten coconuts fall down every day, we cannot sell them. How can we have our daily “No. with my friend I went to many shops: food? Rats or our family- but, rat-poison is not only one of them can available. Those at the For the survival of humans, rats survive. Just think, am I For the survival of humans, rats shops laughed at us. The have to be destroyed. Can man right?” have to be destroyed. Can man government has banned thrive without destroying any the selling of rat-poison as For the survival of humans, other living thing? God has many use it for easy rats have to be destroyed. created billions of microbes. suicide. To buy poison, Can man thrive without Medicines kill them. Is it special sanction is destroying any other living justice? A new ideology is necessary.” thing? God has created needed. Is life possible without “`Idiotic government— billions of microbes. killing others? Medicines kill them. Is it there are ropes and rail- justice? A new ideology is lines! Yet, how did you get needed. Is life possible without killing others? it? Enough for one hundred thousand Snakes kill and devour frogs. Snakes eat suicides!” rats. Big fishes swallow small ones. Jackals “I Got it through a friend. She got it for me catch and gulp down the fowls. Men eat fish, from her husband’s office.” fowl and flesh. Bugs drink animal blood: “Very good, then, you can kill.” worms proliferate in bowels and body- recesses. One lives by ruining another. Pretty “Don’t say killing like that. Mutton, chicken, and pet roses are munched by pests. So, life and the like we fetch in the name of god, for on earth is an enigma. Not a dependable feeding us. God will certainly approve of it if theosophy. Oh, God! Iam ignorant. Reveal to we root out rats for saving our food.” me what is right! Let god approve of it! Rat’s delicacies were “Come here.” mixed with poison, in many bowls and she placed them at different sensitive corners. “What, Why?” Within four or five days, five fowls, twelve “I am going to the market, with a friend. I squirrels, about two hundred rats, and one shall collect the rat-poison, if you will give cat died. At the various corners in our house me the money.” roof, dead rats started decaying. The whole “No money. From the coconut vender household was filled with a nasty smell.

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 11 But tender coconuts kept on falling. The Forgive me bats, forgive me! I have no share coconut pickers commented that owls might in the spilling of your blood, I am innocent. be the culprits. It was just an old hearsay, Fly away bats, fly away! handed down to the new generation of The cousin comes with a huge costly gun. coconut pickers ! No, the beaks of bats are Assessing the gravity of the situation, he short and curved; moreover owls are declares; “The bats have to be shot, but not carnivorous. here. About three thousand bats hang at the After two months, the real thieves were found two pipals of a nearby temple. We can shoot out. Bats! At nights bats come in battalions. down all of them. We need two or three days Clinching the tender fruits, they make long for this operation. Within the perimeter of ten inroads and drink the juice. And they go miles, two to three thousand tender palm back gratified. fruits are blighted. That means, two to three Several ways are tried to solve the bat thousand coconuts are destroyed. Anybody problem. Coconuts are covered with prickly who is interested in watching the sight of and stinging creepers. Plosives and crackers butchering three thousand bats can are used during late evenings. Palm trees are accompany me.” beaten with reeds, stones and broken iron My wife and her friend escorted the bottles for sound-effects that drive off bats. gunman. All the three had high tea and went Scarecrows with full-sleeved shirts have for slaughtering the bats. Fly away, fly away, begun to appear on palm-tops. But all this bats! and even howling, wild roaring and throwing No wonder, the bats have escaped!My wife, stones fail to ward off the bats. When her friend and the gunman return, people sleep, bats come and drink coconut disappointed. She says: “We just managed water. My wife and children pick the fallen to save our lives. The residents in the temple fruits and arrange them in the form of a premises, about three hundred of them, shapely hillock . A literal tower of so many encircled us. They said that if we attempted spoiled coconuts. to kill the bats, they would tear us to pieces. If this goes on, my family will be led to It seems bats are the souls of the departed poverty. Finally it is decided that pistols and forefathers hanging on pipal trees. bullets are more reliable. My wife commands Shooting them is sacrilege.” : “Buy a pistol, bats will be frightened with Bats, the souls of the departed forefathers! the shots.” I have to sum up: “Bats are not the souls of “Pistol is the symbol of sin, its invention a anybody’s predecessors. From birth itself, crime. I won’t shoot.” they fly around. Let the coconuts—tender or She says “ then I shall learn shooting. My ripe—beclaimed by them. We can take the maternal cousin has a big gun. I will bring remaining ones. Let the bats claim the tender him with his gun. Bullets will come out of his fruits of coconut trees. They are also the gun like the unfolding of an umbrella.” inheritors of this earth!” Translated by Dr. Vyrassery Vamanan Nampoothiri

12 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY A Voice in the Wilderness Vishnu Narayanan Nambudiri

A forest has its own ways; what We praise, as its ethics is its vitals; A terrible misfortune is to see it as alien, Be frightened by it and act recklessly.

Let us learn from people of the forest, An alternate lesson, some crude wisdom; The harmony observed among worms Grass and tiger is the ultimate universal truth.

Whatever is visible to the eyes are Thirty times a billion shapes of great god.

Beyond this truth, what spiritual Knowledge is there for them to gain? Their rites with man, woman, child, village And guardian are likewise the same; We who went against what we know, Are brainless breeds, observing false rites! Let us not set out to reform Those who lead an honest life.

All we possess is the hypocritical False trappings of the city.

Giving them strange diseases, absurd Education and madness of religion, Washing their brain, crushing it, Do not torment them with delusions! We cleared cool rain forests and

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 13 Scattered gold coins for rubber latex; This is what we conceived as “agriculture”..! (1) It maybe - victory to Kali the age of strife! (2)

A mother gives her children enough food But, sensing the opportunity, they cut open Her belly and sell its contents - how long Will she forgive that arrogance?

Realizing this work is mercenary Son of the forest stayed away; He learned to die from hunger Rather than eat up the seed grain!

Encroachers into the forest Advanced step by step everywhere; Governments sheltering and aiding them, Vied to foster their friendship.

Forest after forest disappeared Burned in the fire of greed, Thickets of lush reed grass died out Large beehives stayed dry in tree holes.

There is nowhere to sow rice Which would yield golden spike. ‘Forest dwellers should not starve’ - (3) That noble warning was forgotten! Those who give drops of their blood (4) To break the fast of root laced red soil Those who remember that we are food To the forest while we extract food from it, What harm is there if we entrust The forest to those who stand Cornered by forces driving them out? Let them farm for food, energizing the soil.

Have no fear, these people in truth, Know by their instinct what is good and bad, What steps to dance, what beat is good For earth, what is bad and displeasing.

Were billions not siphoned by those ‘Experts’ in administering the forests? In managing the affairs of the forest Who can match the native son of forest? The son of forest is the right one to guard it;

14 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY Let us bestow the burden in his hands! One thing though - admit not there The wild ways engulfing the cities! Live, modeled in the love of things moving And un-moving. Let forests be our ideal again.

How else can we extricate the world’s wheel Mired in the gutter of poisonous mud? Notes (1) It was the sages of the forest who taught what “agriculture” was; it was a means to produce food, not for commercial purposes. (2) “Kali kaalam” - the age of Kali is the fourth and last yuga. It is associated with the apocalyptic demon Kali. (3) The livelihood of forest dwellers - weaving baskets and hampers using reed and fiber; harvesting honey; agriculture. All the three have dried up. The implication here is that the alarm Sugathakumari gave about their hardships was ignored. (4) Give blood drops as breakfast - provide food. Translated by Variath Madhavan Kutty

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 15 The Artistic as the Scientific-Ecological: Malayalam Literature and the Silent Valley Movement Dr. P. Rohith

No one can really deny that we are living through an era of immense social, cultural, ideological and political change. The changing outlook of our society and how the society in transition interrogates and interacts with new/emerging ideas and trends have always inspired academic interest. However, one of the areas that has so far escaped the radar of academic analysis in Kerala is the crucial role played by Malayalam literature in resisting the Silent Valley Hydroelectric Project (SVHP) and spreading the message of ecological conservation during the 1970s and the 1980s. The cultural and literary traditions of Malayalam have always recognized and nurtured the relationship between human and natural lives. This paper examines some of the poems written, recited and published during the ‘Save Silent Valley’ campaign and analyse how, through such writings, their writers dexterously merged scientific and environmental concepts with creative as well as cultural and literary traditions. The threat to the Silent Valley shocked a major portion of Malayalam writers and galvanized them. Never before in the socio-political history of Kerala had writers displayed such unity and resolve in opposing the policies of the government. Towards the close of the 1970s, the pioneers of the environmental movement in Kerala were joined by a team of

16 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY writers who understood the value of (“Silent Valley: A Case Study” 19). “It was my preserving the physical environment. These firm conviction” she emphasises, “that writers were initiated into environmentalism creative writers could communicate better by those in the natural and physical with the public […] than the scientists.” With sciences, through their writings in the print this conviction, some of the writers, she media. By the time literary figures entered the continues, “met at the residence of N. V. arena, the fight against the hydroelectric Krishnavarier […] and formed Prakrithi project had reached a critical stage. The Samrakshana Samithi with a view to creating contribution of the writers to the Silent Valley a new awareness regarding nature movement were not confined to creative conservation” (Silent Valley 14-15). writings but the writers, regardless of their Prakritiyude Samrakshanathinuvendi, ideological and political differences, formed Jeevante Nilanilppinuvendi ( “The Protection an eco-social organisation, Prakrithi of Nature, for the Sustenance of Life”) was Samrakshana Samithi (Association for the the motto of the Samithi. The motto Protection of Nature). Besides poets, who suggests, in no dubious terms, that the were evidently the mainstay of literary endeavours of the Samithi would be to environmentalism in the ensure not just the state during this period, preservation of humanity, writers like Vaikom Unlike the informative reports and but the sustenance of the Muhammad Basheer, S. features that were published in nature/ecosystem. The K. Pottekkat, O. V. newspapers and magazines, logo of the Samithi was a Vijayan, K. Bhaskaran Sugathakumari presented her fears pair of hands protecting Nair and Sukumar in an extremely passionate tone. the globe with the words Azhikode too inspired “Time is running out; the axes are Namah Prathyu marked and contributed to the already falling; the forest fires on top. This Sanskrit campaign. have been ignited,” she writes, phrase evokes the picture The literary effort to “the forest stretches out its arms of earth as a Goddess oppose the SVHP began in supplication” who has to be in January 1980 with the propitiated. On 6 June publication of an article by the poet 1980, the Samithi organised its first Sugathakumari in the Malayalam daily, convention in the VJT Hall, Kerala Kaumudi. Unlike the informative Thiruvananthapuram. The convention reports and features that were published in facilitated a conference of poets whose newspapers and magazines, Sugathakumari theme was the inevitability of preserving presented her fears in an extremely nature. Besides Krishnavarier, passionate tone. “Time is running out; the Sugathakumari, O. N. V. Kurup, K. Ayyappa axes are already falling; the forest fires have Paniker and Vishnu Narayanan Namboothiri, been ignited,” she writes, “the forest the conference brought together K. V. stretches out its arms in supplication” (trans. Ramakrishnan, Kadamanitta Ramakrishnan, Parthasarathy and Rangamony 33). “From N. K. Desam, and D. Vinayachandran who the moment I read the article on the Silent recited their poems. Their poems exerted Valley”, she recalls, “[…] some deep immense influence on the youth of the emotion swelled within me and I felt that it period and they thronged to hear the poets. was my life’s mission to fight for this Figures who dominated the cultural field of unknown bit of forest. I feel proud I could be Kerala like M. P. Manmathan, Sukumar a soldier in this battle and could call out to Azhikode and A. P. Udayabhanu addressed my fellow writers of Kerala also to join” a public gathering in which scientific papers

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 17 were also presented. poetry, politics and bioethics and general Till then, the anti-SVHP campaign more-or- science were not separate but means of less had been a purely elitist discourse that combining imagination with verifiable facts. enlisted little support or sympathy from In the poem, “Marathinu Stuti” (Hymn to the common people. The appearance of the Tree), Sugathakumari* describes the tree as writers, mostly poets of high acclaim and Lord Shiva who consumed poison to save mass appeal on the scene, changed the the life on earth: “I pray to him / Who offers whole scenario with people now gathering in breathing air / By consuming the poison / large numbers to attend the conference of Like Lord Neelakanda” (5-8). The allusion poets in which nature poems were recited or reveals itself rather lucidly to the readers as sung. The conference of poets and photosynthesis, the process by which trees ecological mission made possible by the synthesize carbohydrates from carbon Samithi in different parts of the state drew dioxide, water and light releasing oxygen. large crowds. Such activities initiated by the The invocational tone of “Marathinu Stuti”, Samithi were enthusiastically received and however, does not prevent Sugathakumari the themes of poems recited communicated from highlighting ecological/scientific easily with the people and convinced them of knowledge. The poem presents a tree’s the grave situation the earth would be in if ecological significance and its benevolence man’s highhanded activities in nature are not to man. It alludes to the tree’s role in curtailed. Most recitals foregrounded images preventing soil erosion and in regulating and and symbols suggesting barrenness, sustaining the distribution of rain and water deprivation and exploitation. supply: In 1983, within a couple of years of its You save our inception, the Samithi published an Mother from floods anthology of thirty-four poems on the And rejuvenate deepening environmental crisis in Kerala. The soil. You This anthology, Vanaparvam, brought Store the ambrosia together poems that were recited at the Streaming down the heavens conferences of poets organized by the In her Samithi. Besides relating human exploitation Simmering heart. (33-40) * of nature, poems collected in Vanaparvam The image of the earth as a forgiving mother concentrated on the scientific aspects of is vehemently contested in “Kunhe, Mulappal human and non-human relation, nostalgic Kudikkarutu” (Child, Do not Drink Breast and romantic yearning for a supposedly eco- Milk), for Kadamanitta* writes, “Is earth a benign, feudal and rural past, the struggle playing ball or a playful doll? / Her patience for an eco-social future, significance of too has limits” (43-44). The reference here to historical and political events with ecological “Her patience”, by means of representing the impact and mythicising the contemporary Nature as a self-regulatory planetary-size ecological concerns in both religious and ecosystem which, unlike the notion of the cultural terms. benevolent mother, links the poem to the While science is considered *”value free,” burgeoning ecological discourse. “Nature is “universal” and “objective,” *literature is our mother. Approach her with reverence and imaginative and culture specific. Despite the love. If our ways are destructive, she will also prevalence of such a belief during the anti- be equally furious in her response” SVHP campaign, Malayalam writers blend (Jayachandran Nair 10), says in one of the the scientific and the literary . To them, Samithi’s pamphlets.

18 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY Similarly, ONV Kurup’s* “Bhoomikkoru “A Requiem” also parallels the progression of Charamageetham” (A Requiem to Earth the environmental thought in Malayalam [henceforth “A Requiem”]), one of the most literature. To confine the significance of artistically and critically appreciated poems writings such as “A Requiem” just to their among the so-called tree poems*, vividly immediate purpose of opposing the SVHP presents the effects of human interference on would be to miss their essence. For instance, the climatic stability of ecosystems. “A consider the prophetic tone of the lines Requiem” is predominantly apocalyptic in quoted above: the verbal picture of our tone. This mode of planet stricken by articulation, no human induced Aroused is the wrath doubt, seemed climate change eminently suited for That emits fire from the burning Sun; drawn during the the writings that And the clouds of monsoon desperately seek a heydays of the anti- concern themselves drop of water to drink; SVHP campaign is with the dire staring us in the Autumnal eves long for a pleasant chill; environmental face. The global conditions. The And the King of Seasons searches in vain relevance of the climatic instability For a tiny flower; concerns voiced by and its these lines is evident Stilled are the rivers longing for a ripple; consequence on the from the reports of nature is verbally The wheels of life get stuck in their tracks! Intergovernmental painted in “A Panel on Climate Requiem”: Change (IPCC) and it being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006. Aroused is the wrath As ecologists have generally agreed, ecology That emits fire from the burning Sun; defines and explores the interdependence of And the clouds of monsoon desperately organisms and the relationship between seek a drop of water to drink; organisms and their environment. One can Autumnal eves long for a pleasant chill; find this mutuality among various species And the King of Seasons searches in vain and their environment as inspiring the For a tiny flower; imagination of writers. For instance, D. Stilled are the rivers longing for a ripple; Vinayachandran observes that The wheels of life get stuck in their tracks! environmentalism is not to be mistaken for a (trans. Kurup 30-37) blind worship of nature. Nor does he see it Such insights in “A Requiem” correspond to as a thesis on gardening. Vinayachandran the apocalyptic forecast of future in Rachel notes that the popular notion reduces nature Carson’s influential 1962 book on the to trees, rivers, birds and forests. However, he environmental crisis, Silent Spring. Here, she holds that this notion unconsciously projects a bleak, monotonous future for the separates human life from nature and earth where the springs would no longer distances people from it. Vinayachandran reverberate with the songs of birds, if human suggests that literary environmentalism exploitation of nature goes unabated. The should challenge such perceptions so as to evolution of the imagination of Kurup from create and promote a sense of that of the lover of beauty, in “Bhoomi” (The interdependence between nature and all Earth) where the unfading, youthful beauty aspects of human life (103-104). of the mother is extolled, to that of a seer In “Udayaasthamanam” (The Sunrise and who anticipates the imminent catastrophe in the Sunset), Ayyappa Paniker deals with the

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 19 interdependence of different organisms. The extremely conscious of developing a poem unfolds this interconnectedness sensibility that protects the biosphere that through the Sun’s Westward journey: includes humans. In spite of the romantic/ nostalgic vein in some of his poems, The arrows of fire hurled from the horizon Krishnavarier’s concern towards nature is not Keep awake the earth; an infatuation; on the contrary, it is the result Its rooted old trees; of deep and intense thinking. His The buds, flowers and the fresh leaves acquaintance with different branches of On the tree branch; scientific knowledge inspired him to cherish The worms that crawl forward and value all forms of life. To eat the fresh leaves; Though these poems are cautionary, they The flock of singing birds are exquisite and charming and inspire For swallowing those worms; emotions of warmth and reverence in our The hunter who kills the birds for his food; attitude towards nature. For instance, The wild animal that follows “Marathinu Stuti” accomplishes in seventy- The hunter to feed on him; two lines what those scientifically and The fire that devours the beast and the statistically loaded elaborate articles on forests; preserving forests and trees do in so many Then the horizon regains it. pages. The poem excites the reader, for it (22-35) accurately re-imagines and presents the This verbal diagram of the food chain is, in entire scientific discourse on deforestation my view, potent enough to induce in readers that was flooding the pages of contemporary a sense of coexistence with the non-human periodicals. The disturbing image of the world. Paniker’s description of the majestic tree wearing on its “broad chest, the interdependence among various living and stains caused by our axe” (15-16) was able non-living organisms is significant also as it to elicit massive emotional identification with points to the organic relation that exist the ideals of the anti-SVHP movement. among them. Likewise, “A Requiem” powerfully presents Similarly, Krishnavarier* in the first stanza of the climatic variability in Kerala. The picture “Marangalum Vallikalum” (Trees and of cloudless monsoons, flowerless spring, Creepers) describes the interrelatedness of stagnant rivers and the leafless trees (31-37) different organisms. Krishnavarier’s poems has more potential to invite readers’ interest foreground the need for fostering a in such matters than the factual, statistical conception of life based on mutuality and descriptions of the same. Similarly, Paniker’s friendliness. He projects through his writings suggestions of the food chain, unlike the the right to life as a universal one, something popular science literature, communicate with which is not exclusive to human beings. our emotions rather than to our intellect, and “Only when you consider grass and Birds as thereby personalise the universal. While pure yourself, Will you gain knowledge and bliss” science universalises and objectifies the (“Oru Pazhankatha” [An Old Tale]). His various aspects of environmental crisis, writings on other forms of life are evidence of literary efforts individualise and thus evoke in this belief. He was deeply attracted towards their readers a sense of shock as they the diversity of life-forms on the planet. His emotionally identify with writers. The poets concern for the diversity of living things is use their scientific knowledge of different clear from his willingness to study flies, aspects of nature all through such poems. tortoises, reptiles, butterflies, stray dogs, As cited by Adams in his discussion on elephants, trees and mangroves. He was Joseph Beuys’ contribution to conservation,

20 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY the ‘scientific’ is contained within these Campaign to Save the Silent Valley.” Manoharan, et writers’ ‘artistic’ world view (28).* Like that of al. 31-42. Beuys, these writers’ understanding of Ramakrishnan, Kadamanitta. “Kunhe Mulappal Kudikkarut.” Vanaparvam. Thrissur: Kerala Sahitya Akademi, ecological responsibility moves from 1996. 39-41. scientific interest to public protest. But unlike Sugathakumari. “Marathinu Stuti”. Beuys, their efforts do not overtly aim at Vanaparvam . Thrissur: Kerala Sahitya Akademi, 1996. 19- creating an alternative political organization 21. though they were conscious of the need to —. “N. V.yum Prakrithi Samrakshana Prasthaanavum.” restructure their society. However, science in Enviyum Vijnanasaahithyavum. Ed. A. N. P. their treatment, instead of a dull discourse Ummerkutty. Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Bhasha becomes loaded with emotion. Trees, for the Institute, 1991. 27-35. authors are not just natural elements, but —. “ Silent Valley : A Case Study.” Manoharan, et al. 11-20. most often spirits and life-preservers.* The Sukumaran, T. P. Nallavanaya Kaattaalan. . Kozhikode: Poorna animistic tone of these writings makes us Publications, 1986. aware of the traditional cultures and believes Vinayachandran, D. “Paristhithi Lavanyasastram: Oru Dishaasoochi.” that regarded all natural objects as endowed Haritha Niroopanam Malayalathil. Ed. G. Madhusoodanan. with spirit. The belief is that one who harms Thrissur: Current Books, 2002. 103-107. the natural world is potentially harming a human. Endnotes Reference * Vandana Shiva and Maria Mies assert that their involvement Abrams, M. H. Glossary of Literary Terms .New Delhi : Harcourt in the environmental movements opened their eyes India, 2000. to the fact that science is not gender neutral (3). In Adams, David. “Joseph Beuys: Pioneer of a Radical Ecology.” their view, modern science, which is glorified as the Art Journal Summer (1992): 26-34. liberator of humanity, has succeeded only in procuring increasing ecological devastation (6). They Kerala Sahitya Akademi. Vanaparvam. Thrissur: Kerala Sahitya perceive modern science as patriarchal, anti-nature Akademi, 1996. and colonial (16). Krishnavarier, N. V. “Marangalum Vallikalum.” Vanaparvam. *Ashis Nandy remarks that in the present, all states with the Thrissur: Kerala Sahitya Akademi, 1996. 30-33. aid of science can demand enormous sacrifice from Kurup, O. N. V. “A Requiem to Earth.” the ordinary citizen. Usually, the intimidation of science is attributed to those who apply and use it. In Creativity and Environment. Ed. Vidya Niwas Misra. New other words, science as such is not to be blamed. Delhi : Sahitya Akademi, 1992. 79-84. However, Nandy wonders: - “Bhoomikkoru Charamageetam.” Vanaparvam . Thrissur: Can one go beyond shedding tears copiously over the misuse Kerala Sahitya Akademi, 1996. 103-107. of modern science by wicked politicians, militarists - O.N.Vyude Kavithakal . Kottayam: DCB, 2001. and multinational corporations and scrutinize the popular culture and philosophy of modern science? Manoharan, T. M., et al, eds. The Silent Valley : Whispers of May the sources of violence not lie partly in the nature Reason. Trivandrum : Kerala Forest Department , of science itself? Is there something in the modern 1999. science itself which makes it a human enterprise Mies, Maria and Vandana Shiva. particularly open to co-optations by the powerful and the wealthy? (2) Ecofeminism. New Delhi : Kali for Women, 1993. * Hippolyte Adolphe Taine in his History of English Literature Nair, S. Jayachandran. “Nammude Ezhuthukar Ethra Nalla (1863) remarks that the explication of a work of art Vrukshasnehikal.” depends on three factors —author’s race, socio- Kalakaumudi 255 (1981):10+(?). geographical milieu and the historical moment Nandy, Ashis. Science, Hegemony and Violence. New Delhi : (Abrams 289). Oxford UP, 1990. * Sugathakumari (1934- ), one of the major literary voices of Paniker, K. Ayyappa. Udayaasthamanam”. Vanaparvam. Malayalam, was the most vocal and active among Thrissur: Kerala Sahitya Akademi, 1996. 99-102. the literary/environmental activists who opposed the SVHP. Besides being a foremost poet in Malayalam, Parthasarathy, Anand and S. Rangamony. “The Media’s Role she has registered a formidable presence in the social in Forest Conservation: A Case Study of the and political landscape of Kerala during the last thirty

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 21 years. Besides the enthusiasm she displayed in the * O. N. V. Kurup (1931- ) one of the most popular poets of organisation of Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithi , modern Kerala has contributed immensely to the many of her writings, both in verse and in prose, popularization of the environmental cause. As with explicitly deals with the destruction of the planet and Kadamanitta, the Marxist ideology had an enormous its resources. As the founding secretary of the Samithi influence on Kurup. Like Kadamanitta, Kurup too , she played a significant role in mobilising the rest of has contested for the Kerala legislative assembly on a the literary community. One of the major attractions Communist party (CPI) ticket. Unlike Kadamanitta of the conference of poets organized by the Samithi whose works shed a revolutionary zeal, the poems of was the recital of her “Marathinu Stuti”.She has been Kurup are romantic to a fault. His poems are marked a prominent voice among the most ardent critics of by their musicality and harmony. human domination and despoliation of the *The writers who stood for ecology and conservation of nature environment in Kerala. She has also held the post of were scornfully dismissed by the critics as Chairperson, State Women’s Commission. In Marakkavikal or tree poets (Sugathakumari, recognition of her role in rousing the public interest Enviyum” 28; Sukumaran, Nallavanaaya 61). The in favour of protecting the Silent Valley and other label, in a sense, identifies this group of writers as ecological problems in Kerala, Sugathakumari was animistic, romantic and devotees of nature. awarded the first Vriksha Mitra award constituted by the central government in 1986. *N. V. Krishnavarier (1916-89) is one of the most significant voices in Malayalam poetry. During the anti-SVHP * Unless otherwise stated, all translations from Malayalam are campaign, he was the editor of Mathrubhoomi mine. weekly. Besides Mathrubhoomi, his writings on topics * Ramakrishna Paniker (1935-2008), popularly known as of popular and contemporary interests have appeared Kadamanitta Ramakrishnan, was the most in magazines like Kumkumam and Kumari. These revolutionary among the vibrant group of poets who writings of Krishnavarier have been collected and gathered together for protecting the Silent Valley. In published in eight volumes. He was a prolific addition to his literary career, he was active in politics communicator of science in Malayalam. Probably, it too. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly is this interest in the scientific issues that made him during 1996-2001. Hence, he is sometimes referred react against the destruction of nature. to as the Poet-MLA. He was also the president of the * In the words of David Adams, Joseph Beuys (1921-1986), Progressive Artists Association. He had also served German artist and cofounder of the German Green the state as the president of the State Library Council. Party, remains today the most radical of all Western He was enormously attracted by the ideologies of the artists concerned with new ecological paradigms. Naxalite movement that shook Kerala during the Beuys explained the Western exploitative attitudes sixties and seventies of the last century. Marxist toward nature as rooted in” individual modes of ideologies too made a great impression on him. thinking” and an economy oriented toward unlimited Modern poetry in Malayalam had one of its most material growth. He considered the “complicity important and popular practitioners in Kadamanitta. between the power of money and the power of the His poems are lively with the rhythms of folk art forms state” as the basic cause of external societal problems. of Kerala like Padayani

22 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY The Jungle D. Vinayachandran

What do I name them, the jungle’s primordial folks? Whatever do I name them? Start with the alphabet — Ah, Aah,* There sprouts the trees, the shrubs.

Repeat it a zillion times, and a zillion stones will roll up Intensified in love, the meadows and grasslands jut out, fatigued by roaming around the hills .

Whatever will I call them - the buddies of the jungle, what do I name them?

Colours, virgin to the eyes, are seen; voices, virgin to the ears, are heard.

Odours that won’t end even if you count them all day and night, winds that won’t cease counting the rain in the sun the wholesome meditativeness of abstinence and the unfinished chapters of copulations.

What will I name them, the children of the jungle, whatever will I name them?

Every shadow, a floral lattice-work; at every curve, the hobgoblins in plenty, the pagan gods, the dead spirits, the unborn lineages, the cut and thrust of salutations, the twilights kohl-lined by forest fires,

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 23 the nights that masquerade in the barbarian’s livery.

Who is the mother, who the father, who the father’s sister ?

Is that the younger brother or the groom-to-be? Woods deforested, bloom again - are such times coming or going away?

In the jungle moonlight shimmers even at noon, The sun’s chariot and brightness even at night.

When I plunge into the virgin pond and come up, how many births pass by, how many deaths! Throw the fear to the fire, it blooms into bonfire.

The drumbeats of Shiva* and the ocean’s deluge.

The jungle is the sea too. The hoary tortoises, fishes, mischievous beings of the sea, the icon of mount Mynaaka*, Noah, Manu*, deluge, antics of Krishna*.

We, the sailors, the stars, the boats; the jungle is the sea too! We sink and rise in the jungle, we the Vedas, the centuries, the termite-hills.

What do I name the jungle - the friends of the jungle and their friends, their kith and kin, the folks around, the young ones, the ancestral souls, the seasons?

Lakshmana* they are not, not Draupati* nor Parjjanya* nor Bhageeradhi*,no Rig, Yajur or Sama Vedas; Neither are they objects, wisdom or faith.

They are-the wild elephants, the lions, the dragons, the bears, the deodars, the banyans, the teaks, the flowers, the glades, the birds, the chance-hours, they who cling to prior births, they whom we know not by names.

What do we know ? Do we know ourselves even? What do I name the jungle?

The jungle - the jingling of the anklets of Mother of Universe who sits on her star-spewed celestial seat, all-absorbed in playing the veena.

24 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY As She moves her legs, Time shivers in ecstasy. What do I name the jungle?

I’ll give jungle my own name.

Names walk with the sun in the twelve rashis*, to the north, to the south ,for a trice grabbed at the throat by Rahu* soon retrieving their glory and bouncing back to the forefront of the Sun-chariot drawn by the seven sylvan horses.

The names walk behind the dawn that goes in front as Aruna, Sun’s charioteer, the brother of majestic Garuda, as the humble paeans of the sages, as the joyous music of celestial beings as the abundance of the nymphs’ dance, as yakshas and nagas*, as Samjna* and Chhaaya* , faithful consorts of the Sun , thumb-size Balkhilyas* in attendance, not pausing in mornings, noons or evenings, wide as the mind sans frontiers, with the Sun, the names walk.

What do I name the jungle? I’ll call the jungle by my own name.

The names walk with the moon waxing, waning from new moon to full moon, in twenty plus seven shining crescent strips, power packed by the allies – Rohini*, Shukra*, and Budha*, as the mercy of nutrient medicines as inspiration for all creations, as the night-anchorage for forefather souls, as the foster mother, as the dream, as the King Swan for the swans of poetry, the names walk with the Moon, holding the bow of Muse. What do I name the jungle?

I’ll call the jungle by my own name.

The sun, the moon and the earth are thy names The entire world is your name.

Within the name resides the Perumal*, the omnipotent one. The name and Perumal are one.

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 25 Aren’t we one – you and I, this jungle, dreams and the entire universe? It’s the infinity within that projects All the infinity without.

Infinity breeds infinity, Take infinity from infinity, and yet, there remains infinity, Om Shantih, Shantih, Om.*

Footnotes: * Aa, Aaah - The first letters of the Malayalam alphabet. * Shiva - Lord Shiva is also Nataraja, the King of Dancers. Nataraja, while performing the cosmic dance, holds a damaru (drum) in one hand to represent creation and fire in another to represent destruction. * Mynaka - a mythological underwater mountain. * Manu - The First man, according to Indian mythology * Krishna- A playful deity of Hindu mythology * Lakshman, Draupati, - Characters in Hindu puranas. * Parjanya > The Rain-God * Bhageeradhi- Another name for river Ganges * Rashi > Astrological signs. They correspond to the Zodiac signs. * Rahu > Rahu is one of the navagrahas (nine planets) in Vedic astrology. Rahu is the head of the demonic snake that swallows the sun or the moon causing eclipses according to Indian scriptures. * Aruna > the elder brother of Gaurda who is Lord Vishnu’s vehicle. Also, the deity of dawn. *Yakshas > Benevelont nature-spirits * Nagas > Semi-divine race, part humans and part cobras. * Samjna, Chaaya: The wives of the Sun god. * Balkhilyas - Small-size hermits, who, according to Bhagavatha, meditate on tree- branches, in upside-down positions. *Rohini, Shukra, Budha: Heavenly bodies which influence human destiny, according to Indian astrology * Perumal - Literary means “the ruler” or “the emperor” in Malayalam and Tamil. Here, the poet may be referring to the commanding spirit of the universe. * Om Shantih, Shantih Om- The last stanza is a spin-off on the Shanti mantra in Upanishads. Translated by Saritha Mohanan Varma

26 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY Short Story Neeraliyan Ambikasutan Mangad

A white-bellied eagle flashed into the earth as a sliver of lightning from the dark womb of the sky. Circling above that lonely shack which looked like night’s folded hands, it announced in a long, saw-like screech, “See! The light has come.” Akhil was sitting in the courtyard in front of a hut. With great difficulty he lifted his eyelids, heavy with the sleep of many nights, and looked eastward. It was true! A pale yellow light had begun to spread behind the dark mountains that were sleeping under their blankets. But usually the white-bellied eagle was never up and about so early in the morning. Akhil’s anxiety crystallized into fear. Something was horribly wrong. Or, did the eagle’s long cry mean something else? Akhil dragged himself closer to the cement tank and peered inside with trepidation. Both the turtles were alive. Bhagavati was moving slowly in circles. Neeraliyan remained still, his eyes glued to her. Akhil placed his arm lovingly on Bhagavati’s iron-like ancient shell. She stopped paddling. Immediately Neeraliyan, straining hard, swam towards her. They kissed passionately on the lips and whispered to each other for some time. Then he tried to mount her but every attempt failed. Both his forearms had been lost – either sliced by the propellers of a boat or bitten off by sharks. Unable to swim, as he had lain bobbing on the high seas, Neeraliyan was picked up by Thankoottan. Turtles in distress, whether at sea or on shore, landed in Thankoottan’s arms somehow or other and they received loving care in the cement tanks, stored with

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 27 sea water, outside his hut. The number of eggs usually hatched at night. Was Nature’s turtles Thankoottan had nursed back to rhythm going haywire? Was the untimely health and released into the sea! It was screech of the white-bellied eagle Thankoottan who chose the name announcing this discord? ‘Neeraliyan’. He gave his wife Sudharmini Akhil had never had such ill-luck during the the privilege of finding names for female four-five years he spent wandering along the turtles. coasts of the main lands and small islands Neeraliyan’s attempts at mating continued to to study the life of turtles. He was doing fail. Just then a female voice sounded, as if research on the unique breeding pattern of from the skies, “Poor dear!” Olive Ridley turtles. There are eight types of Akhil started slightly. He did not notice turtles in the world. Only the Olive Ridleys Sudharmini come and stand close behind came to the Vanneri seashore to lay eggs. him. Once, huge leatherback turtles – each the size of a Maruti 800 – used to come there. He did not react. Who could be that “poor Thankoottan would tell Akhil how his father, dear”? Neeraliyan or Bhagavati? as a child, rode a leatherback along the After scooping a mugful of jellyfish from a shore with four friends. Then, inexplicably, bucket and pouring it into the tank, the giant turtles stopped coming. Sudharmini rested on her knees behind Akhil Pointing to her left, Sudharmini exclaimed, and said, “What’s wrong with you, Akhil? “Look here, Akhil!” You didn’t have dinner either . . .” There too, the sand moved. In a few Akhil lied, “I wasn’t hungry.” minutes, the baby turtles will emerge and Running her fingers through his thick hair, then they will struggle to find the sea. Sudharmini confessed, “Sometimes I feel Sudharmini felt darkness entering her eyes. deep affection for you.” “I don’t understand anything . . . . Please Akhil bowed his head, feeling uneasy. take care of us, Cheerumbotti!” “I feel guilty. As every day passes . . .” Sudharmini remembered the day, some Surprised on seeing his sleep-heavy eyelids, twenty years back, when she stepped into she asked, “Didn’t you sleep at all? Even this hut for the first time as Thankoottan’s yesterday?” bride. Overcome with shyness, Thankoottan had not uttered a single word during the Akhil remained silent and glanced over the bride-viewing or the wedding ceremony or white sands. At one spot, grains of sand even when they walked nine miles along the moved up and down gently. He exclaimed seashore, holding hands. But the minute with joy, “Look, there!” he stepped into this courtyard, he seemed to But that sight saddened Sudharmini. forget his shyness and became vigilant all of Placing her palm on her head, she fervently a sudden. Pointing to one corner, and then prayed to the family deity, “O my another, he said, “Don’t step there, don’t Cheerumbotti! Eggs hatching at this hour?” step here,” and hopped along. The new Akhil too realized he had been impulsive in bride stood dazed, unable to grasp what he showing his joy. The eggs were hatching meant. It was Karthi, Thankoottan’s younger one week late. All these nights of vigil were sister, who explained the matter. in vain. His joy had erupted on seeing During its season, turtles came to Vanneri pulsations of life just below the earth. This seashore and lay eggs. All the local should not happen during daytime. The residents would rummage the nests, collect

28 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY the eggs and make omlettes. As soon as he shore till the last one disappeared from view. came of age, Thankoottan, armed with the Travelling thousands of kilometers into the stout branch of a thorny shrub, would set sea, they would course around main lands out at dusk and start patrolling the beach to and become mature. After about ten-sixteen guard the turtles. Anyone caught stealing years, the female turtles would come back to the eggs was sure to get blows on their the same seashore to lay eggs. backs. It was impossible to spot Thankoottan had asked Akhil several times Thankoottan in the dark because his skin about the wonderful mystery of their return to was the colour of kohl. This put fear in their Vanneri and not any other beach nearby. hearts and the stealing stopped. Despite being a researcher, Akhil could never As soon as Venus rose in the sky, give a satisfactory reply. One day Thankoottan would go on his rounds a Thankoottan asked, “Isn’t this a bigger second time, holding a bucket and a large, wonder than the Great Wall of China?” four-battery torch. He would remove the Akhil nodded his head and smiled. We sand, collect all the eggs carefully in his include only human activities in the list of bucket and bury them here and there in his wonders. There are so courtyard, one-and-a-half many, more remarkable feet below the surface. No Neeraliyan, straining hard, marvels in Nature. We are other man in all Vanneri swam towards her. They kissed simply not aware of them. seashore could match passionately on the lips and Thankoottan in spotting Just as Akhil hoped and whispered to each other for turtle nests in the sand, at prayed that the babies – some time. Then he tried to the merest glance. After which were hatching out mount her but every attempt laying her eggs, the turtle of time – would remain failed. fills the hole, patting down below the sand till the sand with the weight Both his forearms had been lost midnight, one of them of her body. She then flips – either sliced by the came out, its wet black sand all around to hide propellers of a boat or bitten off shell shining like a mirror. the spot and cover her by sharks. It moved in a circle and track as well. While stopped, to face the sea. returning to the sea she takes another route The forearms were held to deceive the predators. together as if to greet the sea. After some time, four more surfaced and, though tired, It takes over one-and-a-half months for the joined the first. Four-five more came out eggs to hatch. As there was a strong fence from two other holes. But dazzled by the round the house it was not possible for foxes light, they became confused and huddled and dogs to unearth the eggs or eat the together. baby turtles. After breaking out of their shells at night, the hatchlings would be A huge wave of disappointment and found all around the hut. It was Sudharmini’s sadness washed over Akhil. Close to a job to gather them in buckets in the morning hundred baby turtles were supposed to and carry them to the seashore. She would scramble out of each hole. Now . . . take each one into her cupped hands and “Thankootta . . .” release them lovingly into the beach. The Hearing someone’s loud voice at the fence, baby turtles would rush towards the sea, Sudharmini woke up. Karippuriyan driven by intense nostalgia. The salty arms karanavar1 and Derman had crossed the of the waves would hug the darlings gate and were approaching the house. repeatedly. Sudharmini would remain on the Sudharmini opened the door.

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 29 “Thankoottettan2 has gone in his boat . . .” to the threshold, sat there and began Reaching the courtyard, Derman lifted the combing her hair. bundle from his head and placed it on the “Thankoottan married me so that the sea floor. There was a huge turtle inside. Seeing turtles could be taken care of. His sisters Akhil’s look, Karippuriyan said, “It was had left after getting married and when he washed ashore near my house. Look at its went out fishing, egg-stealers would come stomach! So bloated, it cannot move. It’ll here and dig the sand. He never permitted be safe in Thankoottan’s hands.” me to go out to sell fish . . . . My life, like a Akhil lifted the turtle. It weighed 20-25 kilos. female turtle’s, is spent neither on land nor in He lowered it gently into the tank. Its eyes the sea . . .” opened slightly. Akhil said, “It’s alive.” After an interval of silence, she whimpered, A week earlier it was Thankoottan who had “How I wished to have a child! My ill-luck! brought home a turtle with a similarly By now I have scooped up at least ten swollen stomach. But it was already dead. thousand baby turtles with these hands and They informed the Forest Department, as the released them alive into the sea. But I never rules demanded. The officers came along got a child for myself . . .” with a doctor. When the stomach was cut Akhil was listening to everything with a open during postmortem, everybody was throbbing heart. But his face had sunk deep shocked. A huge lump of plastic bits, into the papers. Looking ardently at him, weighing nearly two-three kilos! The doctor Sudharmini said, “You know what, Akhil?” confirmed it was the cause of death. Akhil raised his head. Mistaking the coloured plastic bags for jellyfish, the turtles gobble them. Describing “Of all the animals that live in sea and on the scene of plastic bags floating in the high land, the female sea turtle is the most seas, Thankoottan had said, “Sea turtles unfortunate one. She is not fated to don’t have the habit of spitting.” experience motherhood. She cannot lay eggs in the sea. The fish will eat them. What Akhil waited another hour. No more baby if she comes to the land to lay eggs? She turtles came out. Each hole had more than a has to cover them with sand and rush back hundred eggs. “Ghost crabs may have to the sea. Otherwise, predators will eat her. come here at night and eaten the eggs,” She has no luck at all . . . cannot brood over Akhil muttered as if to console himself. the eggs, will never know whether they Sudharmini did not agree. hatched at all, never get to recognize her “Oh no! If there were ghost crabs, wouldn’t own children or a chance to caress them . . . we have seen their holes? The eggs might .” have gone rotten.” Akhil looked sympathetically at Sudharmini’s Akhil knew that fact. A few laboratory test tear-stained eyes. His heart was burning. reports had reached him by post a week Sudharmini was revealing to him a profound back. He looked piteously at Sudharmini truth that had never crossed his mind. and admitted, “They are indeed addled.” Withdrawing his glance, Akhil started to measure the little turtles’ weight and length. After eating a little breakfast almost half- heartedly, Akhil took out sheets of paper Leaving her comb on the threshold, from the postal envelope. He had gone Sudharmini went to Akhil and sat near him. through them several times. But as he read “There’s no need for you to feel guilty, again with a fresh tremor, Sudharmini came okay?”

30 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY He did not say anything. most of the baby turtles that hatched here A few minutes later she added, were male. For some years now, most have “Thankoottan badly wants to see me been female. When the temperature goes become a mother.” down, male turtles are born but if it’s between 29 and 34 degrees, all the babies Akhil placed a baby turtle on the sand and will be female. A great wonder, not found looked at her with wonderment. among any other animals!” “Thankoottan likes you very much . . . Barely Sudharmini asked anxiously, “What if the a month after you came, he told me one day heat got worse?” . . .” “If the temperature goes above 34 degrees, Akhil’s amazement grew. the eggs won’t hatch at all. They’ll get “What?” addled. There won’t be male or female Sudharmini bowed her head. She did not turtles. The very species will go extinct.” say anything. She ran her trembling fingers Sudharmini sank into the sand as if struck over the sand. The image of a baby turtle by lightning. She didn’t notice Akhil collect emerged. all the papers and go inside. When she Akhil stared at the indifferent light blue came to her senses, she felt flustered and expanse over the sea. When a single white- rushed inside. Akhil was folding his clothes bellied eagle started flying in circles in the one by one and placing them in his bag. sky, the embers of words She caught his hand with a that he had piled up in his sense of authority. Her Of all the animals that live in mind for four-five days, Of all the animals that live in voice faltering, she said, sea and on land, the female sea broke out of the confines sea and on land, the female sea “Don’t go away, Akhil. turtle is the most unfortunate of his lips. turtle is the most unfortunate Thankoottan won’t let you, one. She is not fated to son.” “I have decided to leave. I experience motherhood. am giving up all this “I can’t but go.” research work.” “Where are you going? To Sudharmini’s jaw fell. Her eyebrows began your native place?” to twitch in anger. A rueful smile, ashen like the erikku flower3, “Have you gone mad, chap?” appeared on his lips. “There are many small islands; near the mainland I’ve been to, “It’s because I don’t want to go mad . . .” where turtles lay eggs. Many of them, not “Speak out, Akhil!” bigger than a football ground . . . Without faltering, he said very seriously, uninhabited islands that are not found in “Turtles won’t come here anymore to lay maps . . . like Suheli4 . . . like Merrow5 . . . eggs.” and many that don’t have names. I’ll go and stay in any one of them. When the Sudharmini’s eyes popped. She and temperature rises and the island sinks, I’ll Thankoottan were with the turtles day and drown along with it.” night. Life without them was unthinkable. If turtles won’t come to Vanneri . . . Seeing her Sudharmini lost her temper. “You’re really stare, Akhil continued, “Didn’t you notice? mad!” Only around fifteen baby turtles have The smile on Akhil’s face had not faded even hatched so far. They’re not very healthy then. He began to stuff the rest of his either. Nearly four hundred of them should clothes into the bag. have come out of these three holes. Earlier When she saw Thankoottan through the

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 31 window, walking along the sea shore, wound. But we should rescue him somehow Sudharmini felt relieved. She pointed to him. and look after him.” “There’s Thankoottan . . . “ Just then, Akhil put his head out piteously He was returning from the sea, holding a through the door panels, like an armless bucket full of jellyfish as usual. But, turtle sinking into the depths of the sea . . . unusually enough, he had a basket on his Notes head. 1.Neeraliyan means the Diver. Reaching the courtyard, he placed it down. 2 The oldest male member of the family. Here, used as an A huge turtle lay there, filling the entire appellation of respect. space, looking almost dead. Both its 3 Literally, ‘elder brother’. Here, used to show respect. forearms had been sliced off. Its shell had 4 The madar or milkweed flower. Its scientific name is an open crack running lengthwise, revealing Calotropis. clotted blood. Its eyes were blinking. 5 In the Lakshadweep group of islands, to the west of India Hiding his anguish and wearing a smile, 6 In the Atlantic ocean, to the east of USA Thankoottan told Sudharmini, “It’s a deep Translated by: Radhika P. Menon

32 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY The River as Lifeline The Human-Environmental Tie in Roy’s The God of Small Things and Jose’s By the River Pampa I Stood S. Devika

They dreamt of their river. Of the coconut trees that bent into it and watched, with coconut eyes, the boats slide by. Upstream in the mornings. Downstream in the evenings. And the dull, sullen sound of the boatmen’s bamboo poles as they thudded against the dark, oiled boatwood. Arundhati Roy : The God of Small Things.

Ecocriticism is the branch of literary study that examines “the relationship between literature and the physical environment” (Glotfelty xviii). She writes, “Just as feminist criticism examines and brings an awareness of modes of production and economic class to its reading texts, ecocriticism takes an earth-centered approach to literary studies” (viii). Elaborating on the scope of ecocriticism further, Glotfelty writes, “Nature per se is not the only focus of ecocritical studies. Other topics include the frontier, animal, cities, specific geographical regions, rivers, mountains, deserts, Indian technology, garbage and the body” (xxiii). Ecocriticism is a form of reading that pays particular attention to “a narrative’s ecological attunement or emphasis of environmental interests and concerns however subtly or overtly expressed” (Seaman qtd. in Kundu 20). Donelle Dreese. gives an elaborate definition of ecocriticism, covering all the aspects of the theory, its objectives and its domain: Ecocriticism or landscape criticism addresses issues concerning landscape and environment that have previously been overlooked. Ecocriticism covers a broad range of issues

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 33 indeed, involving all that which comprises River Pampa I Stood (RP) contain vivid and our human interior and exterior contexts. An pictorial descriptions of the rivers Meenachal important conviction of ecocriticism is that and Pampa respectively. In Roy’s novel, the we are interconnected with the world around river—”The Meenachal. Graygreen. With fish us, and studying the environment involves in it. The sky and trees in it. And at night, the studying how human beings affect and broken yellow moon in it” (203)—assumes interact with the environment… (qtd. in cosmic proportions of infinity and becomes Kundu 22) a metaphor for the universal natural order. Further, a very important aspect of If it is the Meenachal in The God of Small ecocriticism is its study of the nature-culture Things, it is the Pampa that plays a pivotal bond, and as William Howarth writes, role in Jose’s River Pampa: “Mysterious “although we cast nature and culture as Pampa with its mysterious ways. Like a shy, opposite, in fact, they constantly mingle like young maiden flitting gracefully in search of water and soil in a flowing stream” (qtd in her lover—the Arabian Sea” (68-69). The Kundu 26). This paper focuses on two writers Pampa originates from Peerumedu near from Kerala who carried across the cultures Sabarimala and is a combination of a our ecology and environment. I propose to number of rivers originating from the lands of investigate how the environment plays a vital Peerumedu; it finally merges into the part in the narrative, instead Vembanattu Lake. In River of merely serving as a Pampa, the river that runs on beautiful and passive In both the novels, the one side of the backdrop for the human respective rivers flow into the Ponnumpurackal house drama to unfold in narrative assuming a role as plays a vital role in the lives Arundhati Roy’s The God of significant as the protagonists of characters, especially of Small Things (1997) and themselves. the protagonist Annamma Geeta Abraham Jose’s By whose very journey of life the River Pampa I Stood (2007) and how the seems to resemble the meandering course of destiny of the protagonists is seen to be the river as it flows from its origin in the high shaped by rivers in these novels. ranges: Kerala owes much to the large and small The Pampa which flowed gracefully through rivers, along with their tributaries, the Kuttanadan plains was, in fact, a distributaries and an innumerable number of cascading, meandering stream in the high streams and rivulets that lend it a year-round ranges from where it originated. And carpet of greenery. As Ponmelil writes: unpredictable too, especially during the “Kerala is the land of Rivers and Backwaters. monsoons. Young and wild, it found Its rivers criss-cross the state physique like pleasure in carrying uprooted trees, boulders, blood veins. They fertilize the land, turn the live pythons and carcasses down to the waste into the wealth of the rich, black, Kuttanadan plains through miles and miles. alluvial soil” (1). The longest river in Kerala is By the time it reached the ocean, it became the Periyar, followed by the Bharathapuzha subdued, timid and mild. Mellowed with age. (Nila) and the Pampa. The Meenachil, which Mature. (93). flows through Ayemenem in Roy’s The God In both the novels, the respective rivers flow of Small Things as Meenachal, originates in into the narrative assuming a role as the mountains of Meenachil Taluk, and flows significant as the protagonists themselves. around Kottayam into the Vembanattu Lake. In Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things the river and its environs are rendered as the (GST) and Geeta Abraham Jose’s By the space where those who represent the

34 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY marginalized “other” like women, children, the river and be where they weren’t supposed untouchables, the mentally disturbed, and to be” (55). Rowing across the river is also an non-conformists seek refuge in, and this act of defiance against their mother, against perception substantiates the view that the the repressive strictures imposed on them by environment embodies what is the elemental the world of the adults. It is to the secret and the innocent. The close link between the refuge by the river that Estha and Rahel innocent children Estha and Rahel and the decide to run away, where they have already river is emphasized in the narrative and they been storing food and toys in preparation for attain their natural selves by the riverside. their departure from the world of the adults. Estha and Rahel think that they know the To the children this retreat by the riverside river well: “The first third of the river was their represents a space outside the reach of adult friend. Before the Really Deep began. They authority and power. It is a different real knew the slippery stone steps (thirteen) space that is ordered and perfect, while the before the slimy mud began. They knew the adult world is imperfect and distressing. afternoon weed that flowed inwards from the Defying the elders, Estha, Rahel and Sophie backwaters of Komarakom. They knew the Mol row upstream against the current and smaller fish” (203). On its banks the children when they are “past the Really Deep, only “studied Silence” and “learned to Wait. To yards from the Other Side” (292), the boat Watch. To think thoughts collides with a floating log and not voice them” (203). and capsizes. When this The changes in the river mirror This silent communication happened to them on the drastic consequences of with the river is symptomatic previous expeditions across human action as well as the of the deep bond between the river, they used the boat changes in the social, the river and the children – as a float and dog-paddled economic and moral ethics of they are able to open their to the bank. But this time, the people on its banks. heart, soul and mind to the boat is swept away in listen to the whispers of the the current, and Estha and river. The whole activity of communing in Rahel swim to safety with difficulty. They run silence with the river comprises a meaningful along the riverbank calling out to Sophie Mol, experience for the children in the natural but she was gone: “There was no storm- world. music. No whirlpool spun up from the inky Crossing the river represents the transit to a depths of the Meenachal. No shark utopian reality for the protagonists Estha supervised the tragedy. Just a quiet handing- and Rahel, Ammu’s children. However, they over ceremony. A boat spilling its cargo. A are wary about the deep: “The second third river accepting the offering. One small life. A was where the Really Deep began. Where the brief sunbeam” (293). The next morning, the current was swift and certain” (203). The river “is still quick and swollen from the middle of the river “was no place for children previous night’s rain” (258). The river in spate to Linger, Loll or Learn Things” (204). The turns antagonistic and becomes an agent of third part is shallow again, the water dark annihilation with the might to change things and murky. Estha and Rahel “accorded the in a day in the lives of people. Thus, the second third and the third third of the novel presents different moods and Meenachal the deference it deserved” (204). cadences of the river, projecting not only its The danger posed by the river only pleasant and soothing aspect but also its accentuates their sense of adventure and ferocity, which is typical of green literature or excitement as they cross it to their secret nature writing. hideout on its other bank: “They would cross In keeping with the eco-critical thesis of

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 35 identifying woman with nature and vice- The trees. The fish. The stars. He moved so versa, the river in The God of Small Things is easily through it” (333-334). Velutha, personified in the narrative as an humiliated and treated with disdain in a unpredictable woman: “This river of ours— hypocritical caste society, finds peace and she isn’t always what she pretends to be. . . attains his elemental stature in the natural . Really a wild thing. I can hear her at night- world which, ecocritically speaking, connotes rushing past in the moonlight, always in a man’s true integration with nature. hurry. You must be careful of her” (210-211). The river bank becomes the locale for The fisherman who fishes on the river knows transgression for Ammu and Velutha who how wrong it is for him to believe that “he cross the river to its other side in order to knows his river well. No one knows the liberate themselves from the clutches of a Meenachal. No one knows what it may hypocritical, reprehensible society and its snatch or suddenly yield. Or when. That is repressive caste and patriarchal laws. For what makes fishermen pray” (259). On the Ammu journeying across the river fateful night of Sophie Mol’s drowning, the “symbolizes freedom from the shallow and river is dark and quiet, “an absence rather suppressing hypocrisies of her own home”, than a presence, betraying no sign of how writes George (18). The riverbank becomes high and strong it really was” (291). In turn, the site for the rendezvous of Ammu and the river embodies a space where women Velutha where they violate the love laws laid can be their true selves instead of down by the outside world and as though in conforming to the repressive dictates of anticipation of what the fates have in store society. To a woman like Ammu who seeks a for them, nature empathizes with the lovers: space beyond patriarchal control, a space “Yellow bamboo wept. Night’s elbows rested where she could liberate herself from the “the on the water and watched them” while the constant, high, whining mewl of local river itself “pulsed through the darkness, disapproval” (43), the subliminal world of the shimmering like wild silk” (GST 335), a river signifies a dream-world. On days that witness to the consummation of the the radio plays “her songs,” Ammu walks forbidden love of a woman who is a Syrian “out of the world like a witch to a better, Christian aristocrat and a man who is a happier place” and spends hours on the Paravan , untouchable, who “left no ripples riverbanks “in the penumbral shadows in the water. No footprints on the shore” between two worlds, just beyond the grasp (290). Later, it is here that Velutha who fears of their power” (44). The surroundings of the retribution when his transgression is river become a romantic, utopian other discovered seeks refuge in. The river and its space where Ammu throws herself into the environs thus become, for a time, a strong arms of nature to be protected and preserved presence as an emancipatory space in the against the hypocrisies of civilization. world of the worst transgressors—the Velutha too swims across the river— children and the pair of lovers. This ”Upstream. Against the current” (333)—to embodies the classical eco-spiritual vision of Ammu who is ready to “love by night the human-nature integration. man her children loved by day” (202). As In River Pampa, Jose depicts how the river Velutha stands before her “with the river acts as the lifeline of Kuttanad and shapes dripping from him” (335), Ammu realizes that human life and destiny. The river has played his sphere of existence is one with the a part in the protagonist Annamma’s life natural elements. “She saw that the world right from her infancy. As the narrator asks, they stood in was his. That he belonged to it. “Had it been in her stars? That unmistakable That it belonged to him. The water. The mud. link between the waters of the Pampa and

36 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY Annamma’s life?” (63). As a child of two, two strong, muscular arms. Holding her up when Annamma slips and falls headlong was a dark muscular form with the strength into the water while trying to row a little of perhaps a dozen men. She closed her canoe in the river like her brothers, it is eyes and shuddered but knew she was safe” providential that Yoshua, on his way to the (65). The incident sparks love in Annamma’s Ponnumpurackal house, spots two tiny young heart for her saviour Thoma, and the hands sticking out of the water, plunges into riverside becomes a locale for transgression, the water and rescues her. Had it not been as in Roy’s The God of Small Things, when for Yoshua, “the river would have swallowed Annamma, forgetting all conventions and that wee form along with all the taboos, falls straight into Thoma’s arms in a sentiments—love, hatred, passion, anguish, “moment which was to change the course of torment—that lay in store for it” (63). his life and her life forever” and clings to him Annamma is saved from the jaws of the “like the pepper vine on the arecanut tree in Pampa as an infant, and “the waters of the the garden yonder” (71): “From that moment, Pampa had to wait for a good number of there was no looking back. The conventions years before they could were broken. The age old change the course of her unwritten rules of the Family life” (36). The environmentally oriented were broken. The Don’ts novels studied here present As the narrator of River became Dos. The Dos nature, in particular the river in became Don’ts. But she no Pampa comments, its essential form, as the life- “Sometimes, history has an longer cared” (71). Thus the sustaining space for river becomes instrumental uncanny way of repeating disadvantaged people like itself” (65). Twenty years and sets the stage for the women, children and transgression of Annamma later, on an expedition untouchables who seek to across the river to her friend thereby becoming a site transgress the norms of a outside the conventions, Pushpa’s house, conservative society “Annamma’s peaceful and taboos and oppressions uneventful life took a that rule society and life. different turn. Like a sluggish river which had In Roy’s The God of Small Things, when suddenly encountered a precipice and Rahel returns to Ayemenem as an adult, the resulted in a waterfall” (53). Though it is the river greets her with a “ghastly skull’s smile, monsoon time and the river is swollen, with holes where teeth had been” (124). Annamma, excited at the prospect of Despite the monsoon season, “the river was meeting Pushpa, rows across the river in a no more than a swollen drain now. A thin little canoe in high spirits: “She had reached ribbon of thick water that lapped wearily at midstream when all of a sudden, the little the mud banks on either side, sequined with canoe capsized as a giant current the occasional silver slant of a dead fish. It approached, hurling her sidelong into the was choked with a succulent weed, whose water. She tried to swim but the wave was furred brown roots waved like thin tentacles too strong for her. . . . She could not swim underwater” (124). Rahel remembers that against the current. Her arms ached. She once upon a time the river had the power to was slowly yielding to the might of the evoke fear and to change people’s lives: “But Pampa” (65). There is a sense of déjà vu in now its teeth were drawn, its spirit spent. It the manner in which she is saved from the was just a slow, sludging green ribbon lawn jaws of Pampa again, this time not by that ferried fetid garbage to the sea. Bright Yoshua, but by his son Thoma: “Suddenly plastic bags blew across its viscous, weedy she found herself being thrust upwards by surface like subtropical flying-flowers” (124).

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 37 Upstream she witnesses clean mothers the Meenachal “had shrunk” because she wash clothes and pots in “unadulterated “had grown” (124). Caught in a web of factory effluents” (125). Excrement and materialism, modern man is unable to break pesticides are the two major sources of free and truly belong to the environment or pollution that defile the Meenachal river. the place. He can only be an outsider who Though the river could no longer be seen returns to it with the detached vision of the from the house, “like a sea shell always has visitors to the five-star hotel on the banks of a sea-sense, the Ayemenem House still had the Meenachal river. Roy uses her novel as a a river-sense. A rushing, rolling, platform to voice her concerns about the fishswimming sense” (30). environment being subjected to decay and The changes in the river mirror the drastic destruction. It is common knowledge that the consequences of human action as well as environmental concern of Arundhati Roy the changes in the social, economic and goes beyond the novel. As an activist, her moral ethics of the people on its banks. As crusade to save River Narmada by joining Abraham Joseph writes of Roy, “By turning the Narmada Bachao Andolan is well Meenachil, the lifeline of Ayemenem, into a documented in history. In her subsequent theatre of death and a witness to the writing Roy has espoused the cause of the violation of social norms, Arundhati Roy environment with vigour and vehemence. warns of upheaval, reversal and perversion in Roy’s The God of Small Things and Jose’s contemporary life” (139). The History House River Pampa draw attention to the natural on the banks of the Meenachal, in keeping world in their very titles. Regarding Roy’s with the general change, has a new façade. The God of Small Things, Jason Cowley, one A five-star hotel chain has bought the of the five Booker judges, writes “Roy’s History House which can no longer be achievement is never to forget about ‘small approached from the river: “It had turned its things’ in life, insects and flowers, wind and back on Ayemenem” (125). It has been water” (28) that stand for the natural world renovated and painted, and the old colonial that Roy’s authorial eye never loses sight of bungalow with its deep verandahs and Doric throughout the novel. Roy’s penchant for columns is surrounded by resurrected ecological detailing is evidenced in the ancestral homes of Kerala—”toy histories for opening passage of the novel where she rich tourists to play in” (126)—where tourists describes the place Ayemenem in its are treated to truncated Kathakali physical aspect thus: “May in Ayemenem is performances staged beside the swimming a hot, brooding month. The days are long pool, while “fathers played sublimated and humid. The river shrinks and black sexual games with their nubile teenaged crows gorge on bright mangoes in still, daughters” (127). The view of the river from dustgreen trees. Red bananas ripen. the hotel is beautiful, but the water is thick Jackfruits burst. Dissolute bluebottles hum and toxic. Roy’s voice drips with sarcasm vacuously in the fruity air. . . . The nights are when she says: “The trees were still green, clear, but suffused with sloth and sullen the sky still blue, which counted for expectation” (GST 1). With the southwest something” (125). Roy clearly points to the monsoon breaking in June, the ambience inevitable belittlement of the environment in changes: “The countryside turns an man’s conception of growth and immodest green. Boundaries blur as tapioca advancement. fences take root and bloom. Brick walls turn In The God of Small Things too, Rahel, who mossgreen. Pepper vines snake up electric returns to Ayemenem several years after poles. Wild creepers burst through laterite leaving it at the age of eighteen, finds that banks and spill across the flooded roads”

38 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY (1). In this enigmatic picture of ripeness, society. And in endowing the environmental plenty and luxuriance co-existing with sloth, contexts with the character of being the other heat and dust, Roy foreshadows the space in the narratives, both the novelists paradoxical relation between the natural mirror the close connection between the life world and the human lives that the novel and the land in the consciousness of the delineates. Jose, in River Pampa, enthuses Malayali. about “God’s own country where the sun Reference smiled, the rain danced and thunder Cowley, Jason. “Why we Choose Arundhati.” India Today. applauded as nature sashayed down the October 27, 1997. p. 28. Web 25 February 2014. catwalk in all her finery” (21). This heightened . reflective of the ecological consciousness of George, Roshin. “Mississippi and Meenachal: The Adventures its author and manifests an ecological of Huckleberry Finn and The God of Small Things.” vision. The Quest 15.2 (Dec. 2001): 17-21. Print. Both Roy’s The God of Small Things and Glotfelty, Cheryll. “Introduction: Literary Studies in an Age of Environmental Crisis.” The Ecocriticism Reader: Jose’s River Pampa thus celebrate the Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Eds. Cheryll Glotfelty human-environment relationship. The first and Harold Fromm, London: University of Georgia and foremost stipulation in Lawrence Buell’s Press, 1996. xv-xxxvii. Web. 23 February 2014. checklist of “an environmentally oriented . work” is that “the nonhuman environment is Head, Dominic. “Ecocriticism and the Novel.” The Green Studies Reader: From Romanticism to Ecocriticism. present not merely as a framing device but Ed. Laurence Coupe. London and New York: as a presence that begins to suggest that Routledge, 2000. 235-241. Print. human history is implicated in natural Jose, Geeta Abraham. By the River Pampa I Stood. New history” (cited in Head, 237). The Delhi: Srishti, 2007. Print. environmentally oriented novels studied here Kundu, Dr. Ashok Kumar. Eco-consciousness in the Works of Salman Rushdie. Jaipur, India: Aadi Publications, present nature, in particular the river in its 2011. Print. essential form, as the life-sustaining space Ponmelil, V. A. “Rivers of Kerala.” Kerala-info.newkerala.com. for disadvantaged people like women, p.1. Web. 23 February 2014. children and untouchables who seek to Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. New Delhi: IndiaInk, transgress the norms of a conservative 1997. Print.

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 39 Short Story The Seeds of Memory P. Surendran

Seeds always reminded Anandan of his father. Perhaps it was his fondness for the father that made him journey through the fields that were getting ready for the harvest. A fist full of seeds! As it unclenches, a shoot of paddy springs forth. Its leaves tickle behind the ears. This is how Anandan feels in his journeys as he looks at the paddy fields on both sides. Anandan’s journeys began from the bare hills. As he lay, hungry, on a rock, it was the sky that showed him the way to far of lands, the breeze that goaded him on with its whispers. His childhood journeys that were short and sweet blossomed in adulthood into longer ones that spanned greater distances. After his mother’s death, he never returned to his little hut on the foothills. Anandan had never experienced his father’s affection. He was born at a time when his parents had given up hopes of begetting a child. His father was leaning towards old age when Anandan was born. Father was by then slipping slowly into a state of dementia. However, to the astonishment of everyone, he never forgot the names of the different paddy seeds. Even when he was completely bedridden, he would, all of a sudden, recall the name of a certain variety of paddy seed and ask his wife to bring him some. But nobody had bothered to keep paddy seeds in the shaggy old hut among the rocks. It was when Anandan was barely one year old that his parents left the paddy fields, climbed the hill and settled down at the foothills in the surplus land. He had always heard his

40 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY mother saying that the only thing his father various sands, he used to think –‘My father had brought along was a small bundle of is a sturdy seed himself…, a seed meant for paddy seeds—paddy seeds, something that another land and another time , a seed that to him was most precious; something that should have sprouted at least in the puddle bore within them the strength of tradition. formed by a bull’s footmark.’ Father had always harboured a dream of But… owning at least a small bit of land in his Anandan sometimes used to dream of his lifetime. The little bag of seeds was preserved late parents having spent their lives in a for this dream. But mother knew this dream village called Mayel. It was an interesting would never become real—in fact she felt thought that turned to a dream. sorry for her husband’s foolishness. Mayel was a small village that featured in They believed that father’s misfortunes one of Anandan’s favourite folk tales. It was started after shifting to the new abode. With a mythical place where the Lepchas, a tribe the onset of dementia, he found it difficult to from the Himalayas, lived. The folk tales of go for work. Starvation became a routine. On Mayel defined their tradition and culture. one such day, in a fit of fury after a quarrel with father, mother took the Mayel was situated at the foothills of Mount precious paddy seeds and Kanchenjunga, the birthplace of the forefathers cooked a meal with it. It was when Anandan was of the Lepchas. Outsiders barely one year old that his Father was a labourer in the were prohibited entry into the parents left the paddy fields, land of the Vadakkekara village. Huge rocks and climbed the hill and settled landlord. He used to stay in boulders created natural down at the foothills in the the hutment in which the obstructions en route the surplus land. He had always landlord housed the other village. Any trespasser might heard his mother saying that workers. Though he had to even lose his life. Despite all the only thing his father had work in the fields, he was this, a brave hunter brought along was a small given the additional duty of managed to reach the place. bundle of paddy seeds. managing other labourers. In He came following the trail addition to that, he took on of feathers dropped by the lease some of the fields that lay waste and golden ducks that had fled away from the tried to cultivate them. With his innate sense place. Perhaps the rocks and boulders liked of justice and honesty, father tended the the stranger; they did not obstruct his way. fields and property as if they were his very own. It was evening when he reached Mayel. There was a slight mist in the air. He just wanted to Every time the soil turned moist, the seeds of lie down somewhere and sleep off his memory would sprout within him. It is on the fatigue. So he simply trudged into the very strength of these roots that Mind, the trunk first house he saw. of the tree, could stand erect and spread its fresh leaves to the sun. Anandan had An old couple was sitting in the front yard. always felt that the Mind, if uprooted, would They welcomed him. lean to fantasies .May be what had “Aren’t there any children here?” That was happened to his father was just that. his first question to them. It was the newly introduced land reforms that “No, we don’t have children…Anyway, we’ll spelt disaster for him, and he was driven to talk about all that later. Have something to the hills. By this time, Anandan’s journeys eat before the cold gets worse, and try to get had begun. As he covered miles through some sleep. You’ve been travelling for

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 41 long…” Half-waking, then sleeping… That night he slept like a log. He woke the As he continued his journey, a group of next morning to see a little boy and girl farmers got into the bus from a town called playing in the courtyard. He watched them Sureban. At the maidan where the bus-stop with amusement. They must be the was, there was a weekly market. One could neighbor’s kids. The old couple must have see the bullock-carts that were parked in gone to the fields. But when he asked the long rows. Lambady women were roaming children, they said: about, chattering, the mirror-work on their “No, no! We are the old couple you saw last bright-coloured skirts glittering in the sun. night.” As Anandan watched the women, the bus The immortal ones. became crowded. All the men folk were dressed in white. White was the original Not born of a mother. colour when the dresses were stitched; now Born directly of Kanchenjunga. they had turned brown with the stain of There were seven such houses in Mayel. The sand. total population was fourteen, which never There were more women than men. The increased or decreased. All the fourteen women smelt of faded flowers. Anandan would grow with the sunlight—infants at watched with interest their effort to keep all morn, youth at midday and old men and the stuff they had bought from the market in women at night…again infants in the some safe place inside the bus. morning. This was the cycle of their life. There were many paths to the market from He stayed there for seven nights. They asked the several villages around. Some were tarred him to leave on the eighth day. He was ones and some mere trodden paths. The presented with a small cloth bundle villagers renew friendship in the market, containing seven varieties of seeds. They touching each others’ hearts with smiles and advised him to not to be a hunter, but to tears. earn a living by working in the farms. Making his way through the women-folk, a Would that little village, Mayel, still be there? man came to the seat of Anandan and sat near him. Like a long lost friend, he smiled, Would my parents still be around? greeted Anandan and introduced himself— He often asked these questions to himself. Bheemappa. He smelt of the soil, and of As he journeyed from Aryapuram to the rock- sweat. The stench became less as the bus filled Hampi, Anandan was often prompted began to move. Anandan smiled weakly at to return to his memories of the huge his co passenger and looked outside. The boulders that stood like erected statues, on silence of dried up land was all around. It the road to Mayel. He thought there would was drought time in the Deccan. His be some other village where immortal people journeys too, were slowly getting dried up. lived, villages that were places of rest and Here and there could be seen fields lying relaxation. It would be the end of all journeys bare after harvest. Little heaps of sunflower if he could reach there. He could start life and corn were carefully piled up in corners. from the very beginning. He dreamt most as Flocks of sheep could be seen hurrying he travelled. The mind can be sent anywhere towards the fields. These were rare sights through the square windows of the bus. that popped up in between; everything else Dreams are, after all, never bound by time or was dull, barren. space. “It’s been more than three years since we got Sleeping, half-waking a really good downpour.” Bheemappa 42 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY remarked. Torches directly on the saplings. The villagers Anandan noticed the rainless eyes. He saw that the leaves did not shrivel or droop recalled having seen the dead rivers. in the heat. The water seemed to have retreated into the Bheemappa’s story seemed like a folk-tale to womb of the earth because it was scared of Anandan. Like the laments of an old man in the sun. To touch water, man has to dig a psychedelic state. How could one deep into the earth. Only rich farmers who disbelieve him, when every word, with tears could afford it could turn their fields green. on edges, proclaimed that it was not a story, Everywhere else there would only be barren but the Truth? grey. It was the place on earth where the sun “As they presented the story as Truth, we hunted and killed the twilights. were cheated; we believed them.” His voice Anandan looked at Bheemappa’s eyes and was faint. that made him feel like listening to him. In The harvest that year was astounding. his words resounded the cry of the farmers Saplings of corn shone with such bright cheated by the seeds. Bheemappa regretted green colour that none of the villagers could having thrown away the seeds that were remember seeing in the past. It was as if the handed down to him by the previous crops were drinking in the sunlight and not generations. His words lapsed into tear- water. Even in twilights the saplings shone stained grumblings. with their internal sunlight Statues of gods were As the villagers came to realize as electric lights. The erected at the entrance of the depth of the pitfall into villagers would never get the village. There were more which they had fallen, fed up of that sight even if such statues inside and everything was lost. By then, they looked at them outside the temples too. the sturdy set of old seeds that without sleep in the nights. Maruthi, Bhairava, had come down from the When the baby corns Renukamma, generations, had disappeared appeared, not a single pest Mathangi,and many other from the villages. came to attack. May be the deities on vermillion- pests were also scared of smeared stones under the neem tree. The the light of the plants. The villagers believed that those powerful gods plants stooped with the weight of the yield, would protect them forever. and everyone was delighted. Bheemappa remembered how the The villagers abandoned the old, traditional representatives of the ‘seed’ company had seeds for ever. The company- representatives come in search of the dried up fields. They took all those seeds away with them. had brought with them saplings of corn Bheemappa would never forget how heaps which they claimed could withstand the of reaped corn were taken in long rows to the worst drought. local market in Sureban. The traders there The saplings were wrapped up in plastic gaped at the corn with open mouths. They covers. They looked as if they too were made asked, will you, the corn-farmers, eventually of plastic. purchase the whole village of Sureban? The representatives also showed them But the happiness was short lived. That first Torches. The heat of their lights could make harvest was obviously the last. The villagers blisters on human faces. To show the thought that their fields have become villagers how the plants would resist the heat possessed. The corn seeds, set aside for the of the sun, they turned the light of these next farming refused to sprout — not even

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 43 one of them. were special in construction as both did not As the villagers came to realize the depth of have front doors. When they go for weddings the pitfall into which they had fallen, or pilgrimage, the houses would be left open. everything was lost. By then, the sturdy set It was their strong belief that even devils of old seeds that had come down from the would fear to enter their houses that were generations, had disappeared from the without doors. Bheemappa was dead sure villages. that he would find the seeds he was searching for, in one of these homes, for the After listening to him, Anandan asked marks of the ancients were still there. Bheemappa : “What were you going to sell now? Why were you in the market today?” That was when he asked Anandan about his job. “Nothing. We have nothing to sell. Everything is gone.” That was the sad reply “I’m a traveler, making a living by selling my he received. travelogues to publications.” When they let go the seeds, they were letting Bheemappa’s eyes were filled with a strange go the memories of their own forefathers. light. Anandan realized that Bheemappa’s sorrow “Do you know where Hagri Bommanahalli was that of the famer bearing their curses. is?” He has not bought anything from Sureban. So Bheemappa was talking so far about a What can he, who has nothing to sell, buy village that he had not even seen! from others? Was it a village that existed only in his When Bheemappa told him that he was fancy? journeying in search of the seeds he had lost, Anandan’s heart missed a beat. Anandan told him that he had never heard of Bheemappa’s face became more familiar. it—maybe such a village never even existed, The pock marks looking like ancestral he added. stamps. “Of course it does. I will find it one day.” Bheemappa wanted those tiny seeds of corn Bheemappa was confident. that he had thoughtlessly given away. It was a belief related to resurrection and A handful would do. revival, and marked a new turn in Anandan’s journeys. Anandan was actually taken Or, at least seven seeds. aback. But soon he took a decision to follow Bheemappa’s travels were for those saplings Bheemappa’s faith. May be the seeds that of corn that would drop their heads in Anandan’s father had lost could also be sunlight and wake up at the magical touch found in Hagri Bommanahalli. of water. After wandering in the depths of the Deccan, Bheemappa talked about a village called Anandan finally reached a gateway between Hagri Bommanahalli, a place where no one two giant boulders. was afraid of burglars or thieves. They had “Mayel…Mayel…”he looked at the rocks and temples, but no deities. Therefore there was mumbled. From the rocks, a path stretched nothing mysterious about their way of faith. to the inside. Roofs of the village homes They were an innocent, open minded lot. could be seen at a distance. A lonely, They believed that no deceit could ever enter deserted path where sunlight was boiling their village. They were never tempted by mad. anything. Their houses, like their temples, As he stepped on the pathway, a strong

44 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY wind rose, raised the dust from the ground, also floated away in the breeze that swept made Anandan falter, and then it came to an the corn fields. end, hitting a rock. Anandan knew that only the seeds were true. Bheemappa was no longer to be seen. The All else seemed to melt away. His memories of the travailed paths seemed to innumerable journeys disappeared from the fragment. May be Bheemappa was only an memory-lane. illusion… He stared at the small bundle, not knowing There were fields on both sides of the what to do. He knew there was a hole in the pathway. Fields where emerald green was bag, and that the seeds were falling down just spreading. through that hole. He saw that they were As he stood there, staring at the fields, a paddy seeds. small boy came out from the green fields Then Anandan heard from within the seeds, and walked towards him. He held out a like the bustling of the wind , a cry – small cloth bag to him. As Anandan took it, “Son….my son. . .” the body of the boy disappeared, Only an outstretched arm hung in the air. That hand Translated by Dr. Dhanya Menon

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 45 The Book of Job V.M. Girija

But ask the animals, and they will teach you, Or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you, Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, Or let the fish in the sea inform you. [Job 12: 7-8] “Wave after wave . . . and behind that, like a water Himalaya pain is sprayed by the rage of tempestuous waves raised to the sky by unknown winds.” You say , smiling. Shriveled petals, butterfly hues, moth wings, yellow leaves, crumbling clod of earth . . . Wherein lies the excruciating pain That aches to pulverize even Life? Can the toxin of pain be contained in some enchanted pot like the proverbial spirit? Don’t know, says Man’s book, his weapons, his ideas, the huge cities that he erected, the houses for the sick, the medicines that never heal.

46 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY II Yes , I ask the plants, meadows, trees, how can the pain be healed? The pain that men, winds, fauna and fowl bite, spit, stretch, pull down and rip off, how can it be pacified? Do you know the art of healing? Body is ecstasy and body is pain. Know how to extend ecstasy beyond the body? To split the pain, not letting the body know? O medicinal herbs, if uprooted, won’t you also end? III O my animals … when tusk, toe, nails, teeth, hide and flesh are removed, cut and sold, when you fall as victims, thunderbolts charring you, what’s the medicine for your stabbing agony? Is it Mother? Love? Or the lap of God? O the lineage of birds that stretches beyond the vulture and the house-sparrow, when your wings and feathers and tiny eggs are pulled out, is there a way out of the pain that spreads to the endless milky way? IV Dear water flowers, do you know the hunter who, leaving the green book of life casually, bestows terrible pain on the vulture, the fledgling, the flower, the woman who breast-feeds and her babe? Walking together, laughing together, together in breathing, his body and soul is pain. As he touches, the flowers of smile begin to fade. Bathed in tears, they bloom into precious stones. Is pain the shadow of his being? V It is born with life—it knows not love; has only an all consuming hunger, frustration, An insatiable thirst, fury in its blind eyes! Yes…let me ask: O birds, meadows inseminated by rain,

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 47 body of soil where the seed falls, flowers, animals…O divine will, …tell me, when pain comes like a raging wave straining to touch the skies, as the tiny roots of life are pulled out one by one, when cries soar up, when darkness engulfs, Tell me dear ones, how do I call it back? Translated by P. Shyama

48 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY Enmakaje a Literary Voice of Environmental Crisis G. Sangeetha

Ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment, reminding us about environmental crisis as the consequences of human action which damage the plants’ and animals’ basic life support system. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) has brought about a huge revolution in the West which resulted in the ban on DDT and other highly toxic pesticides. Most of the ecocritical writings seem to share a common motivation: The ecocritic wants to track environmental ideas and representations wherever they appear, to see more clearly a debate which seems to be taking place, often party concealed, in a great many cultural spaces. Most of all, ecocriticism seeks to evaluate texts and ideas in terms of their coherence and usefulness as responses to environmental crisis. (Garrard, Ecocriticism.4). K.C. Narayanan, the Malayalam critic, analyses ecological images and metaphors, of earth, water and plant as three major ecological images in the scope of environmental literary criticism (71). Inducting/installing these three fundamental ecological images, the new environmental literary works attempt to discover and present the heartless core of modern civilization and they become the part of new ecological awareness (70-71). K.C.Narayanan defines ecological aesthetics as the aesthetics of investigating how far a literary work extends to human life through the presence of the metaphors of earth, water and plant, which are fundamental to the existence of man (71). In the concluding paragraph of this theory and practice of ecocriticism, Narayanan assays a defintion-proposal (76):

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 49 There are three basic countries of the mind trouble starts as Kerala Plantation that can be seen through the perspective of Corporation began the aerial spraying of the ecocriticism - they are nature, civilization and pesticide. In order to increase the yield by ecology. The ecological writings express a protecting it from pests, the authorities had malady of modern culture through a wound been spraying endosulfan since 1970’s. As on Nature. The present ecocriticism is the a result, the insects, the cattle, the reptiles aesthetics in seminal form that will devolve and the birds start disappearing —either they into a full, thoughtful, creative expression are terminated or they migrate to other (76). Man-made wounds and harms upon unpolluted areas. People who continue to Nature find literary expression in man-made live in the area suffer the most. Children are creative works. The analysis of them can born with disabilities. Many die or are struck work out the practice of literary criticism, and down by mysterious diseases; there is also a in that way, it can evaluate how far a literary sharp increase in mental illnesses. work points towards the concretization of It is to this place that Neelakantan and environmental topics. In Kerala writers like P. Devayani come searching for peace, after a Surendran, Ambikasuthan Mangad, Sugatha painful life in the city. Neelakantan’s open Kumari and Vishnu Narayanan Namboothiri house with no doors and windows is a fight for the protection of environment shelter for lepers, destitute, and prostitutes. through their literary works Devayani whose body was as well. torn by human beasts also The present paper attempts Enmakaje has been known as gets protection in that to analyze Enmakaje by the land of hills, the land of house. For the poor Ambikasuthan Managad truth, the land of languages, the villagers, Neelakantan is a from the point of view of land of nature’s beauty and the silent saint. He rarely Eco-criticism. land of water. Now all these speaks even to Devayani. have been lost with the arrival She occasionally goes to Ambikasuthan’s novel of endosulfan. Now Enmakaje is market. They lead a very Enmakaje has become the the land of Man-made simple life, eating the fruits voice for the people who Environmental Miseries. and roots that they can find suffer due to the prolonged around. Once Devayani use of endosulfan in comes upon an abandoned child; she learns cashew plantation owned by Kerala that its parents have committed suicide. The Plantation Corporation in Kasargod district in child’s wails force her to bring it home. Kerala, Enmakaje, a small village in Neelakantan becomes angry, as he doesn’t Kasargod, becomes a metaphor for the want anyone else, even a human child in movement against endosulfan. These people their life. He leaves his home and spends a are fighting against the Government and the few days in the forest. But a change comes business magnates, trying to protect their over him after he enters a cave and had a land as well as their life against this deadly mystic talk with his own conscience. He chemical. Enmakaje has been known as the returns home as a changed man and land of hills, the land of truth, the land of notices the suffering of the child with languages, the land of nature’s beauty and wounds all over the body. the land of water. Now all these have been lost with the arrival of endosulfan. Now It is the tribal chief and doctor ‘Panchi’ who Enmakaje is the land of Man-made explains to the bewildered Neelakantan that Environmental Miseries. The Government it is not a kid, but a grown-up who had not has controlled and converted a major part of grown up. There are many such people in the natural flora into cashew plantation. The and around Jadadhari hills who are born

50 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY with missing limbs, some with tongues must have been highly contaminated with hanging outside; many are crippled, while some deadly poison. some are mentally challenged. This “child” It becomes clear that endosulfan is the killer whom Devayani brought home is one such which has been showering ill-fate not only case who has not grown up as per his age. for Jadadhari hills but for the entire The village folks believed that such people Enmakaje. were paying for the misdeeds of their ancestors. Now, Neelakantan feels that he has committed a mistake by keeping himself Neelankantan goes around Jadadhari hills away from these innocent people. He with Panchi and is mesmerized by the myths gradually changes and comes out of his and hidden history of the hills. The beauty of isolated life to fight for the cause. In order to Jadadhari hills and other hills makes him put an end to the suffering of innocent realize that Enmakaje is the land of the hills. people, he joins a group of people who People know more than five languages — knocks at the doors of Government offices Tulu, Malayalam, Marathi, Konkani, and and politicians in vain. He believes that it is Kannada. Enmakaje is also land of truths. his duty to find a solution There are “steps of truth” for this inhuman activity. around the place. Once you Now, Neelakantan feels that he Now he considers “the climb these steps you have has committed a mistake by child” in this house as his to speak only the truth. The keeping himself away from own. He gives the best belief is that a liar will not these innocent people. He medical treatment to him, climb down if he speaks gradually changes and comes but the boy succumbs to anything other than truth. out of his isolated life to fight death. Hurt and sad at his Many disputes have been for the cause. settled with the help of inability to cure and save these steps of truth. the boy Neelakantan plunges more deeply into hi cause and Neelakantan sees the abundant source of becomes the leader of the movement to fight water also. The houses have no wells; against the Government for the needs of instead they have natural springs and ponds Enmakaje. Neelaknatn, Devayani and the which provide them with immense water group protest in front of the plantation supply. Then he encounters the harsh reality corporation with the body of the dead child; of Enmakaje. The pathetic condition of the the government brands them Naxalites and people who live in Jadadhari hills haunts him arrests them. They are tortured along with like a nightmate. Each house has one or another activist. more patient with mysterious diseases. Moreover he also notices that the rivers and Enmakaje is an eco-critical novel in the true streams of Enmakaje have no living sense of the word. Ambikasuthan Mangad organisms like Fish, Snakes and frogs. captured the attention of the whole of Kerala Panchi explains that all these sufferings are to the environmental hazard through the due to the curse of Jadadhari. Neelakantan novel. True to Garrard’s quote at the is not ready to accept this. He feels that beginning of the paper, the novel tracks the there must be other reasons for all the environmental ideas with a view to setting unnatural happenings at Enmakaje. right what has been going wrong. Earth, water and plant, cited by K.C. Narayanan as A chance meeting with Dr. Arunkumar gives fundamental to the existence of man, are him an insight into the issues of endosulfan. seriously affected in the village Enmakeje, The doctor feels that the air, water and land resulting in endangering human life.

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 51 Ecological balance has to be kept for a neat Reference and healthy life for human beings. When the Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. 1962 Gioa: Other India Press, balance in upset, the existence of human 2004 beings will be threatened-as the deformed Garrard, Greg. Ecocriticism. London: Routledge, 2007 and malformed children of Enmakaje prove. Mangad, Ambikasuthan, Enmakaje. Kottyam: DC Books, The novel has been instrumental in making 2009. the Government take steps to deal with the Mangad, Ambikasuthan. Kunnukal Puzhakal : Paristhitikathakal (Hillockes Rivers: Environmental Stories, 2009). endosulfan problem. Eco-critical/creative Thrissur : Green Books, 2012 writings can go a long way to bring about a transformation for good in society.

52 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY Short Story The Amphibian Santhosh Aechikkanam

Half-soaked in the warmth of the running stream, a plumpish frog lay peering at the wintry sky through the wet grass bushes. It was the wee hours of the morning and the hard earth moaned under the ploughing hooves of the oxen. The frog could almost sense the earth sighing. Its crystal eyes seemed to search the sky for some bliss unknown. It felt like a disembodied soul groping under water through a sea of weeds. Just before light suffused over the myriad shades of green in the fields around, the frog turned its eyes to where it heard a rustle in the Berinjal bushes near the brook. With a shock, he spotted the foe, rushing at him mad with hunger. Startled from its reverie the frog took a blind leap into the unknown dark. He knew that he must run for his life. Death is within striking distance from him and in the circumstances life is all that mattered. The flight lasted several minutes. Neither land nor water offered him shelter. Why the merciful God didn’t throw him even a leaf for cover, he grumbled as he fled. In the course of the lightning chase the water-snake collided with the frog and the force of the impact threw them both into a deep well. It was an old and abandoned water-hole but it still had water up to a man’s height. It was overgrown with wild foliage and had no round foot-holds on its inside walls. As a result it was pitch-dark inside even at mid-noon. It was the frog which first shook off the trauma of the accident. He struggled to his feet and clung to a slippery boulder that stood just above the water. The snake opened its jaws in frustration and aimed to creep up the boulder. The frog saw death breathing down on him and addressed the reptile:

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 53 ‘My dear friend, may I have a word with you choice but to gobble you up right now.’ He before you eat me up? ’ stretched his neck through the plants and The snake eyed the frog. What a rich feast, crept towards the boulder. he thought. The frog’s fat, green-lined belly ‘ That’s okay, but what’ll be your fate once I was inviting and its beady eyes were ‘m gone? Have you given a thought to that? bordered with white circles. He smacked his Where will your next meal come from? Who’ll lips relishing the taste of its juicy jelly-like listen to your woes? Have you thought of thighs. ‘I’ve no time for your philosophy. I’m that? If my death can solve your problems just too hungry’, he snapped. once for all, then please go ahead. I am ‘Okay, I understand. But just take a look ready for you.’ behind you. Isn’t it so horribly lonesome The reptile had his ready retort, ‘ Look, you down there?’ are mine in the biological food chain, The snake looked behind and saw that it marked out for me like my uncle’s daughter.’ was true. The surroundings wore a deserted ‘Granted,’ said the frog shifting his position,‘ look except for some stray insects and In a broad sense, yes. We have to come to dragon flies. terms with whatever situations we encounter The frog continued, ‘You can easily swallow in life accepting all laws of biology or me up, I know. But who will take care of your whatever. But where we are now, is a chasm, loneliness once I am gone?’ remember, and we are trapped in here. Try as you might, you just can’t work your way up. That had the snake in a real quandary. He The more you struggle, the more you get foraged the water for some small fry, and, pulled down. It is a hopeless place like the seeing none, turned back dejected. Gentle hollow eye-pit of a dead man. But if you are ripples caressed the leaves on the well’s sure you have found a way out, then you are edges and gave the reptile a certain delicate welcome to have me. I’m all yours.’ balance. The snake found himself in a quandary The snake surveyed the scene around. The again. The frog’s words stung him right in rotting remnants of grass revealed tiny the middle of his empty belly where it hurt vermin which stirred a bit and remained in most. A cool after-noon breeze blew over the their place. On the surrounding wall strange well and gently fondled the leaves of the insects busied around for no obvious banyan tree. reason. A little way off, a car honked, near a gate ‘But I am hungry!’, he cried. perhaps, seeking entry. From the engine ‘Don’t you think life is more than hunger?’, sound it was clear it must be a luxury car. quipped the frog. Two kids cried out in unison,‘ Daddie! ’ They Far off, the sound of a motor bike was kept reeling out names of chocolates, toys heard. May be there are people living across and children’s books. They must have asked the road on the other side of this patch. But their dad to pick up the stuff from the store the well must have been abandoned long on his way back from office. But he has back. That’s for sure. clearly forgotten to do that and is deeply sorry. He kept showering apologies and tried ‘ Hey, you! ‘, shouted the reptile, ‘ I bet your to console his children. It was a cute little theories are outdated. I believe in pushing domestic scene. A lady’s laughter joined the ahead when I see an opportunity. I don’t chorus and made the scene even richer. bother for the future or cry over the past. The present is all that I care for. So I have no The frog said,‘ I guess there is a family staying somewhere close by.’

54 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY The snake was silent. So the frog went on He knew his end was in sight. It was a like a soul free from all bodily concerns, horrifying feeling. His pathetic cry rose to a ‘ I know you‘re still worrying over your crescendo and slowly ended in a whimper. appetite. But mind you, it’s your tomorrows After a short while two motor bikes whirred that make your life worth living. So, for the towards the house and stopped at the time being you must manage your hunger porch. The door opened and the host with whatever worms you come by. Slowly welcomed the bikers with hearty ‘Hi’ and you will get used to feeding on leaves for ‘Welcome, Welcome’. The frog knew there is survival.’ going to be a party in the house outside his The snake hissed in a hurt tone,‘ But I am a world. The mouth-watering aroma of carnivore, remember!’ cooking was for these guests. It must be a stunning variety of dishes specially prepared ‘ I know, I know’, replied the frog, ‘ But here, for them, a honey-moon couple, perhaps. such distinctions hardly matter. This is a The host might perhaps say something like world of omnivores and you have to settle for this touching his wife’s shoulder, small compromises if you want to pull on in this wilderness.’ ‘ Dear friends, she is everything for me, my world, my treasure. Look, my young friends, The snake sighed,‘ How long can I or you’ve been just married. Remember, it’s anyone for that, co-exist with our natural only through sharing and caring for each prey? I can’t imagine!’ He gently shook his other can you carry on body and slid under water. with family life.’ He re-emerged quickly through the weeds to Life’s arithmetic has only one It was very late in the night make eye-contact with the answer no matter how many when the bikers sped frog again. The frog felt times you add or subtract. The away. The frog perked his his gaze like the thrust of sum total will always remain ears and thought of all the a needle. With this fellow the same and it is death and meandering roads that sleeping next to him, how nothing but death. And our life stretched infinitely in the many sleepless nights can ultimately will be judged in distance which he could he possibly live through? terms of the fight we put up with not see. He felt jealous. His insides burned. death. Soon the moon rose and descended through the Which son of a frog can leaves on the well’s shake off this ghastly feeling and snatch a surface. The moonlight shimmered across wink of sleep, he wondered. the waters. But it was an imperfect moon. The chime of children’s nursery rhymes Still, the glory of the winter night’s sky was disturbed his thoughts. Dinner for the family breath-taking. It erased the dark anxieties was getting ready and its frying and grilling and the numberless perils that lurked in its smells wafted in the air. It is prayer time as depths. The grandeur of the moon was a fit usual, time for lighting the lamp. The frog sight for the snake to see. But before the frog sensed the mood and decided to pray. But could call his attention the creepy fellow had the snake was confused and withdrew into a started to snooze, coiled among the stinking, dark corner. He was too famished and no rotting garbage. logic would satisfy his hunger. Days rolled by uneventfully. Nothing Eventually the night spread its shroud on the happened but for the varied noises from the well and soon it was pitch-dark. The frog’s house outside and the endless solitude that fear multiplied and he croaked inconsolably. haunted the well. The snake and the frog

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 55 continued to gaze at one another in spite of A gale blew all on a sudden and something their built-in hostility. An occasional smile heavy came splashing down into the well. was exchanged. The snake hopelessly The water shook and rose with a mighty roar. stretched its neck towards a leafy plant. The Circles of waves hit the walls of the well frog couldn’t help sniggering whenever he violently and layers of earth fell into the water saw this sight. from all round. The frog was caught in a On his part the reptile enjoyed the frog’s tangled mesh of fine black thread. Stupefied discomfiture every time he aimed his tongue for a while he slowly recovered and saw that at some flying insect and missed it almost it was the lush hair on a woman’s head. The always. Apparently they preferred to snake too barely managed to survive the maintain a profound silence between them quake and came close to the frog. which was perhaps a sign of their maturity. They looked at one another wondering what Then one day a small-sized chameleon on was happening. The frog looked up and saw its way along the edge of the well, slipped a shadow stalking by the edge of the well. and fell in. In a lightning motion the snake Cigarette smoke hung heavily in the air. He struck with precision and caught it between hopped up and settled on the woman’s face his jaws. As its body slowly disappeared in and sat mournfully peering into her lifeless his mouth the frog watched, his heart eyes and blue-veined neck. It was obvious thumping. The snake’s vegetarian taste that she was a stunning beauty decked in suddenly became a thing of the past. He is expensive dress and jewels. It was an now backing to his carnivorous past which awesome sight for the frog. He had never had the taste of blood. Now he is eyeing the seen anything like it. frog with unconcealed greed which The next morning the usual noises were not destroyed his peace of mind. heard outside the well. The frog presumed One day the snake took a lightning swipe at that vacations must have started for the kids him under the pretext of trapping a passing and the whole family would have gone water-flea. It missed him by a whisker. It was somewhere for a picnic. sheer luck. The wily snake turned back Strangely, the arrival of the corpse boosted apologizing for his mistake. But there was no the frog’s morale! The graceful though mistaking the hidden expression in his eyes. decaying body served as a cover from any The frog knew his death warrant was ready sudden ambush by the snake. One day to be issued. when the snake was blind with hunger, he The days that followed witnessed an uneasy urged the frog for an immediate answer. He truce between the foes. It was simply more advised the snake to seriously consider the than what the frog could stomach. He even wasted female flesh as an option. But the considered unconditional surrender to his snake had a doubt, ‘Is it not a sin? ‘ adversary. What difference does it make? The frog smiled pitifully, ‘What sin? Hunger Aren’t we all trapped in a well, every single takes priority over everything else. Ideals and being on earth? This is the ultimate lesson all come only later. he has learnt from life. ‘But..? ‘ That night the frog couldn’t close his eyes at ‘ Look! When you are caught in a torrent and all. He cried unusually loud, banging his sinking, even a carcass can be food to save head on the boulder till his eyes ached. A your life.’ dark melancholy shape performed a fire dance around his body. When the frog insisted, the snake finally agreed to give it a try. He bit off a slice of the

56 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY woman’s plump cheek and broke his fast. Now the water was left with just the The frog enjoyed the sight secretly and had a memories of a glamorous female figure. The hearty laugh. Suddenly the presence of the oily film it left behind lingered on the surface corpse held out visions of great promise for along with the putrid smell. At the bottom of the frog. It was an unexpected lucky break the well gold bangles undetected by human since he got trapped in the well. Until now he eyes sparkled brilliantly. The snake, taken was parched in an endless desert of aback by the drama wriggled desperately nightmares. and finally lay curled in an arch round the Suddenly a way out seemed to open up. He frog. wondered how unpredictably things turn out After the disappearance of the corpse, the in life upsetting all calculations. Life is frog felt uneasy. For him it was a kind of beyond all definition, he thought. It is existential emptiness. Worse still, he was beyond all comprehension and events could overcome with fear. The crowd had now just unfold like in a fantasy! However he is thickened around the well. More vehicles convinced about one thing- that survival is were arriving at the spot. A charming the question of questions. When it comes to butterfly with a dainty pair of ornate wings the question of survival we can compromise, flew into the well almost half-way down. It bend or break any ideal or moral to suit the kissed the grass blades with its antennae context and serve the purpose. Ideals, after and fluttered around gracefully. Do people all are so many high-sounding words history turn to butterflies after death, the frog has burdened our life with. Only a creature wondered. marooned in a dark well can realize this and In the mean time an enterprising camera no one else. man with a leather bag on his back and a For many days no noises reached the well zoom lens camera in hand slid down the from above. The nights were moonless and rope like an acrobat and entered the well. the stench of putrefying human flesh was After clicking a few cheeky shots, he looked unbearable. But the frog was happy because up at his reporter-friend and called out, ‘ he could hide in the many crevices of the Look buddy, two born enemies are in a tight corpse. embrace down here, a snake and a frog! Then one day, around noon, a group of What a role-model! It’s the best Peace people gathered round the well. They uttered Summit I have covered.’ frightening cries looking down at the corpse. Many eyes were turned towards the sight. The frog watched them from the safety of his They focused on the spot where the corpse fleshy shelter. Their pointing fingers cast a lay. It relieved the tension in the air. For a shadow on the water. From the clamorous brief moment the starkness of the tragedy crowd, a huge Doberman dog, the size of was forgotten. The hordes of photographers lion, stretched his head towards the water. merrily clicked away from all possible angles His reflection shimmered on the surface. Two and finally climbed out of the well. When the or three young men with their nose and noise died down the well became quiet and mouth covered, descended into the well the sky grew dark. The winter night down an iron ladder. A big strong chair descended silently into the well like a grim fastened on thick ropes was then lowered by corpse without mourners. means of a winch to reach the corpse. The The frog heaved a deep sigh. He stretched toughest of them gathered the limp body like his legs to their full length and dived a wet carpet and laid it on the chair. As it recklessly into the water to nowhere in was hauled up, the press photographers particular like a kite on a broken string. He clicked their cameras continuously.

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 57 pressed his face on the moss-covered motion the indolent snake’s head was in its stones. The freezing-cold was soothing. His mouth. His jaws closed with tremendous eyes almost closed and he became force coming down one on the other like a thoughtful. One thing is crystal clear for him coffin-lid. The snake struggled once. But the now. Life’s arithmetic has only one answer frog tightened its jaws. His eyes popped out, no matter how many times you add or big as the planet earth itself. His breath subtract. The sum total will always remain seemed to stop. Still the frog drew from all the same and it is death and nothing but the reserves of its body strength and held on death. And our life ultimately will be judged with miraculous endurance. It was an effort in terms of the fight we put up with death. It defying all laws of nature and bio-ethics. It is this grim battle against Death that will tell was a daring journey to the other side of the world that we too had lived a life of our destiny. His pain was beyond all limits of own. endurance. It was a miracle that he could By now the snake too had travelled to the think while in such pain. bottom of the well and lay close to the frog. What if my eyes pop out or my breath He had glutted so much flesh that he badly stops? What if I get totally consumed in this wanted to doze. Quickly he fell into a isolation? Who cares? I only want to wrench slumber. But the frog was sleepless with this monster of death off my back and hurl it disturbing thoughts. His thoughts, however beyond reach once and for all. never went beyond the rough edges of the Just then outside the well, in the glorious well. The sky of his hopes stretched freshness of dawn, newspaper- vans began endlessly like the remote dance of fireflies on their daily journeys. a damp night. Translated by Dr. Antony Fernandez All on a sudden the frog opened its mouth unnaturally, awesomely wide and in a quick

58 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY Ungu K.R. Tony

Have been thinking for long To write a poem on trees. Couldn’t find time Till now. So let me write one now.

There is a huge Ungu tree standing in the courtyard (Alas! I didn’t see it till now!) Spread on its luscious shade Are the fallen Ungu flowers. And Ungu seeds too. Ungu leaves fly in the wind and make slow descent. We can make swings On the Ungu branches And swing away. From atop the Ungu, birds chirp. Ungu is a culture. The trunk of the Ungu is huge. If cut and sold, it will bring a lot of money!

*[Ungu [Pongamia Pinnata] is a medicinal tree]

Translated by P. Shyama

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 59 Ecological Imperialism and P. Surendran Sreekanth. C

The emergence of environmental studies has necessitated a revaluation of the nature of colonial expansion. This increasing convergence of postcolonial and environmental studies is mutually corrective in character; the former provides a historical sense to the environmental studies, while the latter gives an antidote to the excessive humanism. Imperialist ecology and ecological imperialism explain this convergence. Imperialist ecology denotes the colonial regime’s ecological practices like colonial forestry, naming and categorizing (taxonomy) of the fauna and flora of the colonies, introduction of new agricultural practices and exotic species of plants (especially crops) and animals. Ecological imperialism signifies the entanglement of transnational agencies in global environmental movement, often ensuring multinational corporate interests. The term ecological imperialism, first used by Alfred Crosby in Ecological Imperialism (1986), assumes that the success of European imperialism has a “biological, an ecological component” (421). European imperialism was characterized by the creation of “Neo-Europes” outside Europe, countries climatically and geographically similar to Europe, but which had originally different fauna and flora. He cites America, Australia, and New Zealand as instances. To these countries, during the period of colonial expansion there was a mass import of exotic plants, and animals, and European agricultural practices, leading to the degeneration of the indigenous ecosystems. Though the tropics lay outside Neo-Europe, during the period of colonial expansion, there was a deliberate effort to change the ecosystem by introducing new species of crops and animals. Often the colonial conquest of

60 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY land was accompanied by an analogous the Poet by Maragaret, Kallur Raghavan is conquest of its indigenous fauna and flora. the editor of a Magazine, “Samatharam”, the In the postcolonial era, two contradictory proposed aim of which is to unify divergent processes are simultaneously at work: on resistance groups and form counter streams. the one hand, the systematic destruction of Margaret, a young woman full of pure biodiversity; and on the other, the increased idealism, and her lover the Poet are the presence of the global agencies for the protagonists of Jaivam. Margaret writes to protection of environment. This can be called Kallur Raghavan about her plan to bring ecological imperialism in the sense that it Vaiga, a South Indian village, back to its appropriates the emerging discipline of early glory. Vaiga is a village on the banks of ecology for exerting domination. the river Vega. It was very fertile half a The two stages in the imperialist century ago. Now, it is a sterile land with full appropriation of ecology for its own benefit – of lepers and beggars. imperialist ecology and ecological Kallur Raghavan comes immediately, with a imperialism—can be seen project for a rehabilitation in Amitav Ghosh’s The In the postcolonial era, two centre for the leprosy Hungry Tide (2004) and Sea contradictory processes are patients. His sole aim is to of Poppies (2008). The simultaneously at work: on the raise as much foreign fund Hungry Tide (2004) one hand, the systematic as possible. The greedy demonstrates ecological destruction of biodiversity; and Raghavan gets a golden imperialism in which the on the other, the increased chance from the marginalized groups find presence of the global agencies suggestion given by themselves targeted by their for the protection of Margaret. Umpteen own governments on behalf environment. possibilities of foreign of transnational funds have been opened companies, international environmental and through the lepers. The funding agencies in animal conservation NGOs. The global Europe never insist that fund should be given pressure is for protecting the endangered to the missionaries. Kallur Raghavan easily Bengal tiger. It results in the eviction of attains the trust of the villagers. He forest-dependent communities and they are approaches David, a social worker who runs transformed into ecological refugees. In fact, a clinic for the leprosy patients. However, he finally the burden of conservation is forced realizes Kallur Raghavan’s motives and on those who can least afford it. declines his invitation to become a part of Transnational corporate, for furthering their Raghavan’s project. Raghavan senses that interests, sometimes, fund environment- David is a permanent threat to his plans. protection agencies. This is a kind of David is burnt along with his leprosy clinic. ecological imperialism. P. Surendran’s novel The novel ends with Margaret’s Jaivam [The Biotic, 1997] explores a similar disillusionment with Kallur Raghavan and situation. The character, Kallur Raghavan, is such organizers of eco-charity groups. a representative of the NGO class who is In The Hungry Tide, poor tribal people, after the foreign funds. He considers himself including fisher-folk, become the target- as an ex-Naxal who was a witness to many victims of ecological imperialism and in Naxal activities in the past. However, the Jaivam, the good-willed social worker David veracity of his autobiographical accounts is is victimized. David’s tragic destiny shocks rather disputable as the Poet says that many and shakes Margaret and her lover- of his accounts have literary and real cohabitant the Poet give up their eco-charity originals in life. When he is first introduced to

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 61 project-plans. From the path of the red, they farming. deviate into that of the green. At the right Sadasivan finds that meeting the farmers at moment, the seeds of green life germinate in their fields during day will be more effective a broken idol of the Great Mother Goddess, for influencing them. They do not entertain Maariamma. exotic persons with exotic arguments. P. Surendran’s Maayapuraanam [The Myth of Uncanny proposals are blasphemy. Days of Maayapuram, 1997] alludes to another kind ultra gospels of marketing become futile. of post-globalization Moreover, some of the ecological imperialism. Kallur Raghavan comes farmers propose to the Here, it comes in the form of immediately, with a project for Gramasabha that this high-tech- agro-projects, a rehabilitation centre for the diabolic irritator should be with tall claims of high- leprosy patients. His sole aim either expelled or punished yielding seeds, insect-free is to raise as much foreign fund and then expelled forever. crops and wonderful as possible. But, Sadasivan is helped by chemical fertilizers. Nagarajan, a man of some Sadasivan and Snehalatha are fed up with credibility and charisma. Farmers and elders the sterile and sick-hurried life at cities. The agree that they can permit Sadasivan and thirst of mothering inspires Snehalatha to Snehalatha to reside at Maayapuram seek the sanctuary-like-mythical village of conditionally. The condition is that that they Maayapuram. Sadasivan gets the job of a should obey the regulations and observe the marketer at Maayapuram. They decide to live rites there and the devilish messages from in the legendary village of Maayapuram. It is the outer world will not be propagated heard that this wonderland resists to be anymore. Nagarajan is ready to give polluted by global corporate and their cultivable land for Sadasivan and so, he can imperialism. live there. He decides to give up the The director of the high-tech-agro corporate assignment thrust upon him by the global tells Sadasivan that he has to bring forward corporate. Sadasivan like Margaret rescues the farmers of Maayapuram to the new high- himself from becoming a scapegoat at the tech farming. Maayapuram farmers still live altar of post global ecological imperialism. in the Stone Age, with their terracotta earth goddesses. Farming is a kind of fertility ritual Reference to them. Their needs are very few. Seeds and Crosby, Alfred. Ecological Imperialism: the Biological organic manures have not been changed for Expansion of Europe: 900-1900. centuries, it seems. Food crops and cotton Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1986. for clothes are cultivated. Bullocks are there Ghosh, Amitav. The Hungry Tide. New Delhi: Penguin, 2004. for ploughing and transporting. Rich persons —. Sea of Poppies. New Delhi: Penguin, 2008. may sometimes use bicycles. Child-bearing, Surendran, P. P. Surendrante 5 Novelukal. [Five Novels of P. delivery and the like are ritualistic like Surendran]. Kottayam: D C Books, 2010.

62 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY Short Story Deadline E.P. Sreekumar

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but, the one most responsive to change. -Darwin

To buy the latest Nokia N95 on the day it is released is the craze of the youth. They would have no difficulty in getting permission to change the handsets they were using. Multinational companies are like that; they never delay in taking decisions on the requirements of their marketing executives. The first thing that Rajesh did on getting the new silver- coloured N95 was to set the wallpaper. He copied the picture that was kept hidden in his laptop. Keerthana, the computer geek, appeared on screen. ‘Amma, look, this is Keerthana.’ Keerthana stood glowing in the light of colours. ‘Do you like her, Amma? She is an IT professional in Bangalore...’ Rajesh knew his mother would not understand what he means. But he had to tell her this. Rajesh’s father was a man of few words. From morning till evening he carried gas cylinders from house to house; on reaching home he would be too tired and drop off to sleep. Amma had one thousand tongues to wag about Rajesh. Proudly she would tell others – ‘Our son...’ The neighbours would burn with envy : ‘That lady is really lucky.’

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 63 Keerthana , on the other hand, believed that phone. It should always be ready to transmit those topics which could not be opened orders. Often two mobiles would be clinging directly can be easily discussed via e-mail. to the two ears of the software professional. She texted: If in the office, two land phones also would Daddy, to become an Asst. Marketing be competing for his attention. Manager in an MNC at the age of 25 is not a The company is going to introduce two new small thing. Rajesh’s salary is five and a products — a bath soap and a hair dye. half lakhs per annum. Additional incentives Listening to the instructions, Rajesh did not too. His perks and benefits cannot be notice an hour slip by. recounted in full. He is allowed to stay only The market is a battlefield. Selling is the in star hotels while on tour and travel only in warfare. To win, one needs confident words, Benz car. Also, I have cleverly found out that original ideas... his caste is the same as ours. . . ‘Disciplined thinking is of utmost It was not in Keerthana’s mind to worry too importance...’ the boss would say. much about her father’s reaction. There were customer experience Rajesh could call Keerthana only when he management classes to know the fast was able to relax from his busy schedule; changing likes and dislikes of the clients. and often that would be late in the midnight. It was then that he always felt the need for a The products should be promptly dressed close one to share his relief at the temporary up. Taught to smile enchantingly. Adorned spell of freedom. and displayed in thousands of showrooms. They should be able to attract all the five But at that time Keerthana would be in the senses. Then there should be a flood of rush to meet her deadlines, quite unaware of tempting advertisements. the night drawing to a close. So she would have no option but to terminate his calls. Once a new product was launched in the market it would be extreme stress-time for Rajesh could understand the pressure of the marketers. They will have to put off stress on Keerthana, made by the deadlines everything else for at least a year. she had to meet. ‘Kee..., our plans are gone with the wind Software professionals would always be again. Guess we have no option but to fighting with deadline projects to complete. postpone....’ The mind tightens with tension at the order to complete in half the time a project that Keerthana’s current project would be over in requires one thousand hours of hard work. four months. She had asked him to fix a Once the deadline is given, it would be a date in the interval before the next project. mad rush against time. If the project could Keerthana was spotted and chosen by him not be completed when the five hundredth when he was rejoicing over the campus hour is struck, the responsibility for the loss selection. of the company would have to be borne by ‘The MNC marketing executives are the professional. exceptional in their ability to spot and TIME = MONEY. The HR department would acquire good products for themselves’ , always come up with theories. Relaxation, commented Jacob John, Rajesh’s senior rest etc were just the doctors’ attempts to officer who had taught him marketing promote laziness. strategies. Rajesh’s mobile started ringing. The The betrothal ceremony had to be postponed company does not give rest even to the cell as the company decided to send Keerthana

64 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY for a high course of studies and that skies. resulted in the loss of Sundays even. ‘Swami, the company now wants ten ‘Let us go on loving till marriage.’ Keerthana lakhs...’ said. Such a big order requires a contract to be They pondered on how to go on loving. In signed. There would be a time limit in the their dreams of love, they shared their contract. If that wasn’t met, then financial secrets and were happy. Then they compensation would have to be paid. drew up a project for 25 years of married life From the time Swami took a loan of twenty and saved it in the computer. five lakhs from the bank, his problems The sale of the new products would begin all started. over the world at the same time. At 7.30 in Jacob John was sure of one thing: the morning Rajesh got a message that there was a man waiting in front of the ‘Even if he worked 24 hours with labourers central show room of the district for the first twenty times more than the present strength, sale. There seemed to be something odd he will not be able to make it.’ about him. Swami fell at the feet of Rajesh and pleaded Who must he be? for extension of the contract. For obsolete data and They pondered on how to When Rajesh received enquiries Rajesh always relied go on loving. In their instructions to turn down the on his laptop. Instead of ‘spell dreams of love, they request, he leant more about check’ it had ‘life check’. There shared their financial marketing strategies. was much history in it. secrets and were happy. The MNCs will never tolerate a Then they drew up a local competitor. Delving backwards the man project for 25 years of could be located. married life and saved it in There were rumors that Swami Rajesh clicked Swami onto the the computer. who became pauper turned screen. insane and was roaming about. Passionate about chemistry, Swami had marketed a herbal soap made of the The first sale would always be free. But the medicinal plant Mukkutti. When it became old man refused to accept the privilege. He popular among the villagers, Rajesh threw the money at them, took the soap and informed his company about a potential walked away. rival. When the soap reached six chief sale Immediately advertisements appeared as to points in the district, Rajesh received how consumers willingly paid even when the instructions. The entrepreneur needs product was offered free... ‘encouragement’. It was two at night when Keerthana called. ‘Swami, the company wants to buy ten Rajesh was returning home after giving thousand soaps from you.’ dinner to some major dealers and making Swami was amazed. them happy. Initially Rajesh hated these dinners. He disliked even the smell of ‘Swami, your business is going to soar up to alcohol. But the company gave Rajesh the international scenario.’ special training to socialize at such events; ‘Rajesh, you are like a son to me...’ Swami’s he had to partake of drinks at such dinners eyes welled up with tears. and play the perfect host. Most of the One day a purchase order came from the business deals are fixed over drinks after all !

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 65 Keerthana had called to share her anxiety mistake of switching off his mobile. It was over the marriage which kept on getting the day he ate out and had a terrible postponed. stomach ache due to food poisoning. He ‘There will come a day when our holidays had to try a lot to confine the punishment to coincide.’ the barring of an increment only. Rajesh consoled her. ‘How long is it since I saw the world! Keerthana lamented. ‘I have forgotten ‘Hey, that isn’t enough... After the marriage people, the streets, the vehicles...’ how many days will we be able to spend together?’ They were talking after eighteen hours of strenuous duty, both tired and stuporus. That set him thinking. ‘Don’t we too need a deadline?’ ‘I have had enough, man... The campus selection was a mistake. It shut off all ‘We do’, Rajesh replied. avenues to growth in the beginning itself.’ ‘Projects will keep coming and going. New Keerthana sounded disappointed. Later she products will keep on being launched... Let sent messages with suppressed anger to us steal a day for ourselves...’ Keerthana Rajesh. kept on talking as if drunk. ‘With their initial promises which dazzled our ‘On an auspicious day let us exchange immature minds they were actually trapping rings. On that day I want to dress up and us...’ adorn myself. I want to get out of the IT campus and wander around freely. I want to But Rajesh’s mind was preoccupied with buy a lot of things with all the money I have Swamy, the old man. The insane old man saved’. kept on coming back to his thoughts. Rajesh feared the moment when the old man Rajesh too opened up: would turn to him with the mixture of ‘It will be a day of freedom for me too. Lots chemicals in hand ,full of the spirit of of time with no one to control it. On that day revenge ,. I will switch off my mobile....’ ‘Kee..., I was a terrific sleeper once; however And thus they kept watch for a compatible much I slept, I was never satiated.’ Rajesh day. They had a common aim for the first said. time. ‘At night , when returning home, I see The sale of the new products was not people sleeping peacefully on the reaching the expected target. Scolding and pavements. How I envy them!’ Keerthana abuse were showered from all the sides on replied. Then they read aloud their thoughts. Rajesh. The company wanted its business The company never insisted on how much to be increased fourfold. Rajesh started time should be spent in the office. They just inviting the dealers for cocktail meetings. wanted the job to be completed, that is all. There were hourly enquiries from the And for that there were deadlines... superiors about the progress. Rajesh 24 x 7; the unsaid unwritten rule of work. The writhed with tension. interview board had mentioned it. We want On a day of his business tour, Rajesh was your youth. You can ask for any remuneration woken in the morning by a room-boy who in return... delivered a gift from a stranger. Youth should go on working incessantly. Like It was the cut-off index finger of a right a mobile phone. Once, Rajesh did the hand.

66 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY Blood was still dripping from it. Careful more than the set aim will be given higher scrutiny revealed that the finger belonged to targets to meet. There is a theory behind this. a man and it was discoloured and burnt as The Pygmalion effect. The greater the though by chemicals. Rajesh tried to recall expectation placed on the people, the better the stress management classes he had they perform. The leader sets the target taken. Then with trembling fingers he higher for the follower to perform better. So messaged Keerthana. by raising the assignments you are given But Keerthana did not open that message. more chances.’ It was only much later that he learnt that The high jump competition is also like that. Keerthana’s vision had been affected by the Every time you jump over the bar without long hours she had spent before the touching it, the bar will be raised to a greater computer screen that sent out loving rays of height. Rajesh knew that it was the fate of radiation. the high jumper to ultimately stumble on a bar and fall. The company would take care of all medical expenses. The company wants to keep the Keerthana too wanted to jump to heights. cyber coolies in health till they turned forty. Several companies try to win over IT professionals. Companies are many. Salary Knowledge was for the company. Time was is raised to the sky. Colourful incentives. for the company. Intelligence Chances for body and health too were for the Knowledge was for the shopping... US trips... company. Then what was company. Time was for the left for her, she thought for ‘No Rajesh. I am imprisoned company. Intelligence and the first time. by the bonds I had signed at health too were for the that young age, enchanted Once the tests were company. Then what was left by the five –figure salary they completed Keerthana was for her, she thought for the offered.’ fitted with a permanent pair first time. of thick glasses. There were Just then the boss called medicines for cholesterol, B.P. and four or Rajesh and asked: five capsules to make the stomach adjust to ‘Where is the result?’ the medicines. ‘Sir, my father is in the hospital. I have to be Rajesh sat in front of Jacob John and cried: there.’ ‘Sorry Sir, I cannot do it. I will never be able to ‘That’s okay. But I want the result.’ meet this target...’ His father had collapsed, his chest caving in During the training period Rajesh had from the strain of ferrying cylinders. Even crossed the target easily and boosted the after Rajesh got the job, his father had sales doubly. He had received his refused to stop working. appointment order with a special reward for ‘Sir, this target is too much...’ that. The boss laughed. The Marketing Manager had said on that day: ‘Pressure brings out the best in a man. Think of it as intellectual stimulation.’ ‘You were an athlete and that has doubled your qualifications for this appointment. A ‘Sir, will you please terminate my service?’ high jumper will have the competitive spirit to Suddenly the boss became more attentive. cross the high targets’. ‘Have you received any new offer? Hmm. . .’ Jacob John said to him : ‘One who reaches He seemed to ponder a while. ‘Imagine that

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 67 there is a camera behind you. . . always.’ He suddenly recollected the words of his Within moments the boss changed his tone. father that morning. Rajesh was sitting by the bed, going through the ‘Good day’ ‘Rajesh, we are all the products of conditions messages on the mobile when the semi and conditioning.’ conscious old man murmured: Rajesh felt that he had turned into a ‘Gas in the cylinder has high pressure... like company product with which even he was the human mind ...’ not familiar. He did not inform the company of his Keerthana’s message reached him during father’s demise. He thought he would wait day-time which was quite unusual. for the dawn to do it. I had a fall. Had gone to the toilet without The alcohol made his feet falter. specs. Multiple fractures in the pelvis. Three months bed rest advised. There were sobs all around. Sobs and prayers. Preparations for the cremation were Rajesh was caught in hectic work and had being done. no time even to turn around. Yet he asked: The body was ceremoniously ‘Kee, what can I do for you? Should I look circumambulated, rice grains offered, and into the sanctioning of your leave?’ homages paid. After completing the pooja Keerthana burst out laughing. and prayers, the priest said: ‘There is no question of leave in the IT field. ‘The son should hold the head.’ There cannot be a vacancy for more than As Rajesh was carrying his father to the three days. On the fourth day someone else funeral pyre his mobile started ringing. The will join.’ sound made the silent night shudder. It Keerthana became garrulous: sounded like an ill-omen. A hundred faces ‘I really feel happy now. It is as though a frowned in disapproval. They all watched great burden has been lifted. Rajesh, you fix Rajesh’s movements. a date when you become free.’ He took the mobile from his waist and stood Keerthana laughed joyously. hesitating for a while. Then, as he walked with the body, he attended the call. That night, Rajesh opened the bottle meant for official dinners and consumed it himself. As he carried his father’s body to the pyre, Rajesh was listening to the instructions from By the time he reached the hospital his his boss on the mobile. father had passed away. Translated by: Vineetha Mekkoth

68 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY The Green Within Vinod Vellayani

Inside is white, says one. No, it’s black, says another. As the train goes in frenzied speed, crossing the track where white and black have dried up, The green within! The green within! The fields where green has ceased to be. The truth crumbled by the arrogant fist of the city.

The sun has departed From the ring-finger of the girl friend Who waited at the fence From dawn itself.

Flowers with five petals there are. On the first petal, the sky, drab and dull. On the second, dried out wells. On the third, the faltering breath of eternal death. Endless fire on the fourth. And on the fifth, directions and disaster Held captives.

The woods walk down when the green disappears. No bird or flower, no honey or fruit to keep it company. The words etched on the heart by the iron stylus

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 69 have crossed the seas and gone forever.

Words refuse to bloom. Without seeing the woods, without seeing the words bloom, which way leads to homes proper?

No season of spring in the house. No rain, no pomegranate flowers of love, no river, the green fold of love and friendship is also not seen. So the house too walks away.

Green! Green! The inner green! In sounds bereft of green friends meet with death, their heads shattered. Martyrs of the green cause!

Translated by Chandrika

70 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY An Eco-Feminist Reading of Selected Stories of Sara Joseph Radhika. R.

Ecofeminism is an environmentalist perspective that figures gender into the analysis of why human presence threatens its own environment. The primary aim of this movement is to eliminate all forms of domination. In fact Ecofeminism represents the union of Deep Ecology and Feminism . Deep Ecology examines the symbolic, psychological and ethical patterns of destructive relations of humans with nature and examines how to replace this with a life-affirming culture, while feminism concentrates on the connection between the domination of women and the domination of nature. Simone de Beauvoir was the first feminist who wrote of the Nature- Woman link. (The Second Sex). She pointed out that it was in the male-dominated cultures that Nature became The Other. The Woman was found to be similar to Nature and thus she too became The Other. Thus both Nature and Woman became strange to Man who believed that he was building up cultures by making Nature yield to him / by transcending the womanish instincts. Thus developed the binaries between Mother Nature on the one hand and Man- made Culture on the other. According to Beauvoir , man’s destruction of nature is psychological too, for Man wants to forget his dependence and indebtedness to the Mother who gave him life and brought him up. The power to create belonged only to Woman and Nature; the Man-made culture is Man’s effort to transcend the natural creativity of Woman/ Nature. Destroying the woods and mountains of Nature he built up civilizations to prove his ability to create. Ecofeminism can be perceived as a practical movement for social change that discerns interconnections among all forms of oppression: the exploitation of nature, the oppression of

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 71 women, class exploitation, racism, Woman alike. colonialism etc. This connection is illustrated Ecofeminism simultaneously celebrates through female values of reciprocity, interconnectedness and diversity. Life is a nurturing and cooperation which are present web, not a hierarchy; within it diversity is both among women and in nature. Against essential for both healthy ecosystems and binary divisions such as self/other, culture/ healthy societies. We are all different, but no nature, man/woman, humans/animals, and one’s difference is more important than white/non-white, ecofeminist theory asserts another’s. Since our very differences are that human identity is shaped by more fluid valuable, all forms of domination are relationships and by an acknowledgment of unhealthy. both connection and difference. But it must be mentioned here that all Vandana Shiva in Staying Alive suggested feminists do not approve of Ecofeminism. that, “Women, the Third World and nature For instance, Janet Biehl considers become underdeveloped, first by definition, ecofeminism to be incoherent, contradictory, and then, through the process of and sharply at odds with itself. colonization, in reality”(40). Francois de Many of the writers In Indian Literature drew Eubonne, the French Feminist who inspiration from Nature. In the words of established “Ecology-Feminism Center” Vandana Shiva in Staying viewed that man was Alive, ‘Women in India are responsible for the damages Ecofeminism can be perceived an intimate part of nature, caused to Earth and that as a practical movement for both in imagination and in only woman could save the social change that discerns practice. At one level nature earth from him. Eco- interconnections among all is symbolized as the Feminism aims at creating a forms of oppression: the embodiment of the feminine world without gender exploitation of nature, the principle and at another, she distinctions – a world that oppression of women, class is nurtured by the feminine will see both men and exploitation, racism, to produce life and provide women as human beings. . colonialism etc. sustenance’ (37). If the More recently, ecofeminist Romantic writers were theorists have extended their attracted by the sensuous beauty of nature analyses to consider the interconnections and fondled pathetic fallacy, the modernists between sexism, the domination of nature were attracted by the cruel side of nature – (including animals), and also racism and nature as unsympathetic with man’s social inequalities. Consequently it is now predicament. The Postmodernists are aware better understood as a movement working of the predicament in which man has placed against the interconnected oppressions of nature. In 1990s, by the coming of the gender, race, class and nature. consumerist cultures, destruction of But radical feminists are of the opinion that environment increased day by day, for, the the identification of women with nature victims of this culture lacked foresight into reinforces the Earth Mother stereotype and the future. Among the major women writers thereby revives the “essentialism” and of India who write in English , Anita Desai, romanticization of women they have fought Arundhati Roy, Kamala Markandeya and so hard to discredit. In spite of them, Eco- Kiran Desai are some who have been Feminism has now developed into four major apprised as writers with ecological concerns. divisions – Spiritual, Social, Cultural and But perhaps more of ecological concerns Socialist, all the four resisting the colonial can be found in the writers of regional power politics of Man over Nature and languages in India; they remain invisible due

72 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY to lack of translations of their works. says he cannot hear us speak. [ Woman and In Malayalam fiction, P. Valsala is held to be Nature : The Roaring Inside Her] the first woman to show concern for The fighting “ brothers” refuse to hear the environment. Her debut novel Nellu ( The voice of Nature; It is the Mother who hears it Paddy) as well as some of her stories like and resurrects the land. True to Ecofeminist “Varalcha” (Drought), and theories, Sara Joseph makes the woman the “Pangurupushpathinte Theyn” (The honey of savior of nature. The Mother in the story the Panguru flower) are strongly eco- delivers her third baby on the blood-smeared feminist. The next writer to show soil and makes him plant the seed of the environmental concerns in her stories is Sara Bread Tree (Appamaram). It can easily be Joseph . In the stories of other women connected to the Eco-Restoration movement writers like Chandramati, A.S.Priya, Gracy, of the Eco-Feminists where the women take K.R.Meera etc, issues of ecology figure more the initiative in making dried-up rivers and as undertone than as an overt concern. This trees reborn. may be because they are The inter-connectedness more writers than activists. between nature that is But Sara Joseph is a When he gets his salary, he destroyed and the woman feminist and activist and washes all the currency notes. who is dominated can be hence strong ecofeminist Before kissing his wife, he seen in Sara Joseph’s preoccupations can be seen washes his mouth. When he stories. In in several of her stories. writes to his mother, he finds the words coming out unclean “Shaapaayanam” (The Her collections of stories like and washes the pen. He wants Journey Under Curse), the “Kaadinte Sangeetham” ( to go back to his village, and , woman character’s name The Music of the Woods) when he reaches there, he is, significantly, Bharathy and Kaadithu Kandaayo takes the holy texts and idols Amma, and her journey is in Kaantha” (Love, have You from the prayer room to the search of pure water for her Seen These Woods?) hold well and starts washing them. husband and children. She the forest in their titles cannot use the water in the themselves. well of Koman Nayar as she finds in the “Chaavunilam” (Dead Land), one of her best water long strands of girls’ hair and broken stories, portrays the dead face of Earth, killed pieces of their nails – interconnecting the by the fighting brothers who were incited to exploitation of women and nature by the fight with each other by some bearded man. In “Ashoka” and “Thaaykulam” Sara persons dressed in ochre-shade clothes on Joseph tells the subverted story of Seetha. one side and long white-liveried priests on Seetha is born of the Earth , and as such, is the other. They make the Earth the land of the Daughter of the Earth. The wrong done the Dead. Here, the words of Susan Griffin to her by both Rama and Ravana is seems to find an echo. automatically linked to the degradation found in Nature. We are the bird’s eggs. Bird’s eggs, flowers, butterflies, rabbits, cows, sheep; we are The classic example for ecofeminism is Sara caterpillars; we are leaves of ivy and sprigs of Joseph’s story “Vanadurga” which equates wallflower. We are women. We rise from the the destruction of nature with the destruction wave. We are gazelle and doe, elephant and of women. Vanadurga is the family deity of whale, lilies and roses and peach, we are air, Anita , and, Anita has preserved the name we are flame, we are oyster and pearl, we are Vanadurga to be given to her daughter girls. We are woman and nature. And he whenever a daughter would be born. But

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 73 she is forced to engage in a fight with her feels that everything is unclean and has to sister Sushama regarding a boundary be cleansed in water. He thirsts for water, but dispute over the rights on their ancestral sees blood everywhere – under the tram and land. Sushama wins the case legally and the bus, on the road and rail. When he cuts off all the “useless” trees in her share returns home from the office, he rubs his feet of the property. When the trees fall one by on the hard stone to remove the blood- one, Nature seems to weep and rain stains, and he bruises his legs. When he comes down as her tear drops. gets his salary, he washes all the currency It becomes night and Anita sits alone in her notes. Before kissing his wife, he washes his house, tired, as she had not taken any food mouth. When he writes to his mother, he on that day and has an encounter with a finds the words coming out unclean and thin little girl. Anita sees that she is wearing a washes the pen. He wants to go back to his grey dress torn from neck to knee. Soaked village, and , when he reaches there, he in the rain, shivering like a leaf, shaking with takes the holy texts and idols from the prayer fear, the little girl is bleeding from a wound room to the well and starts washing them. on her throat and also from between her Unnikrishnan wanders crying along the river thighs. As Anita tends to her wounds the girl glistening in the moonlight. “ He thirsted for announces her name as Vanadurga – the water, like a mad dog driven away from name of Anita’s beloved Bhagavathy, her memories of liquids”(3). At the end of the Goddess, ‘Mother of all the colours in the story people go searching for Unnikrishnan , world’(96). Anita tries to feed her, but she but he has already cleansed himself, cannot eat, as her mouth is bleeding . Next drowning in the river. morning Anita reaches her to a hospital as “Mazha” (The Rain) is another story dealing she is burning with fever, coughing and with both women and nature. It is the story groaning, The doctor curses “the beasts” of Padma, who, like the rain that wails and who have reduced the little girl to this state. screams, weeps thinking of her life. Her Durga succumbs to death and Anita places husband is a hard hearted fellow, engaged the little dead body in her share of the land in his own activities, completely ignoring the where a statue of the Buddha with a mindscape of Padma. While her children are shattered head lies sleeping covered by the busy making vanjis ( little boats) to play in soil. Anitha lays Durga on the wet earth the rain, Padma tries to console herself. covered with wind, rain and leaves. Nature Suddenly she sees a fledgling, not even the thou art, and to nature returns! size of a hen’s egg, soaked and shivering in The story ties the plight of nature with that of the rain. It reminds her of her little daughter a little girl who undergoes the same and she picks it up. Padma’s husband gets exploitation. The sufferings and the problems angry at her and shouts at her. She too burst of both the nature and the woman have out, enraged — ‘I’ll be dead, killed! By all of been described beautifully by the writer. As you!(130). Frustrated she crushes the Vanadurga’s body is covered with wind, rain fledgling in her hands and kills it. The story and leaves , the union of the exploited ends when she sees the fledgling on her woman and the exploited nature is complete. daughter’s little face and the sin she has committed pins her down. She hates herself , In “Nilav Ariyunnu” (The Moonlight Knows) and, being isolated and lonely she wants to the protagonist is a man, but the story die. Here the woman is the rain that comes reveals the ecological concerns of the writer. down in torrents , but she is unlike the rain Unnikrishnan , a resident of Mumbai, is as she cannot express her pent-up going about on his search for pure water. He emotions. She longs for love and support

74 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY from her husband, but he never even bothers injustice to one as the injustice to the other. to understand her. He exploits her body and In the stories analyzed above, we can see a does not care for the mind. The crushing of writer full of concern for the degradation of the fledgling hints at the extremity to which a women and nature. Man’s exploitation of woman, frustrated and helpless, can go. But both is portrayed with alarming sincerity by Sara Joseph seems to stress the role of the Sara Joseph in her stories. mother here, as Padma sees her own Reference daughter in the crushed body of the little Biehl, Janet. Rethinking Ecofeminist Politics. Boston: South bird. End press, 1991. Sara Joseph writes fearlessly about the Bigwood, Carol. Earth Muse: Feminism, Nature and Art. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993. gender- biased, the marginalized and the Griffin Susan. Woman and Nature : The Roaring Inside Her. body- bound woman in her stories. Her London: The Women’s Press, 1978. women characters rebel against the family Joseph, Sara. The Masculine of Virgin. Trans. Devika, J. and all establishments. Feminism, for her, is New Delhi: OUP, 2012. a tool to attack the injustice against women Panjikkaran, Mariamma. “Sara Joseph : A Writer of Women, in society. And, as an eco-feminist , she for Women.” Kerala Calling (2004): 30-31. equates woman and nature and finds the Shiva, Vandana. Staying Alive. NewDelhi: Indraprastha,1988.

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 75 Short Story The Dance of the Peacocks E.Santhosh Kumar

While walking through the gravel-paved pathway beneath the magnificent trees of the bird sanctuary, my thoughts went to my father. He had evolved for us a strange kinship between trees and birds. Our house was on the slope of a hill, on which just a few trees remained. Several years ago my father used to saw wood in a saw mill nearby. He used to carve sculptures of animals and birds out of the roots of fallen trees. He used to work on their formless roots with a low-width chisel and turn them into heads of birds. A solitary vulture from the roots of an Ironwood tree, a barn owl from a Gulmohur tree that had succumbed to a fierce summer, a wood owl from a lemon tree which was the victim of a wind-storm that uprooted almost all floras.... It made us children come to the conclusion that there was a bird hidden in every tree. The sawing of timber was done almost secretly in the valley as saw mills were not permitted near forests. We used to go to those saw mills which functioned in camera to watch timber being cut down with shining saws. Although children were not allowed to go there, we found a strange pleasure in roaming about those premises. The bodies of the felled trees had a green cloak of moss, a very thin layer. The barks of trees would be scattered all over there, like scales of fish. The saw mill and its surroundings were like a mysterious place under someone’s secret surveillance. Father would ask us playfully, “Do you really think we are cutting wood? No dears, we are just doing a tug of war to get the sword. It’s a game. Haven’t you seen tug of war?” He would go on to explain. “Sometimes, in between the game, the wood may get cut, that’s all.” 76 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY He always had such a mischievous and even bunked work some days. explanation for everything. “Which tree is this?” I asked him. He didn’t At night when he comes home, father used seem to hear it. to bring roots and flakes of wooden pieces. “Which bird are you going to make out of He used to spend a lot of his free time it?” I asked again. among them. Perhaps out of his habit at the saw mill, he talked less when he worked on His eyes which stored the memory of the the roots. It seemed that he never liked birds of various regions opened wide. Wiping anyone watching him while at work. To away the perspiration, he said in a thin voice prevent us from disturbing him, he would with a bit of hesitation -”The Peacock.” He ask, “Who all need a top?” He always tried looked skeptically at me as if dubious of the to keep us away by bribing us with trifles like correctness of the answer. tops and small play-carts. I had seen peacocks in the bushes in the Of all those roots he brought home, only a vale at some distance away from the saw few yielded easily to him to be transformed mill. Sometimes they appeared in flocks of into animal figures. The rest hesitated two or three. At times, there would be a lone stubbornly for days. No one was sure as to peacock. I could hardly believe that a what would emerge from the thick, distorted peacock would emerge with all its glory from roots till the finishing this cluster of roots. touches were given. Till then “I haven’t seen them at they remained riddles to When the last blow of the axe close quarters.” Father told which only he knew the falls and the tree comes down, me as if he had read my answer. But the answer was one can hear a piteous wail in thoughts. Putting the chisel always Birds. He the air. Shattered nests, the down, he got up. experimented with the roots fledglings in them, the broken “Peacocks and parrots are in many ways — cutting, eggs - the whole environment not like vultures and owls. correcting, adjoining. He would seem to reverberate with They run away as soon as gave them ears and eyes cries. May be the trees they see us. Birds usually by making small incisions standing near would also get have a fear for with the chisels. Although frightened. woodcutters.” they never needed food, he I pointed to the valley and made an incision for mouth too. He made said,”But you can see peacocks over there.” them life-like with the chemistry of one or two colours mixed. He was as busy as God in “I really want to see them dance displaying the week of Genesis. their plumage. I may have to give up my timber work for that.” He continued, “After all, Once he struggled with a strange looking who doesn’t get scared when a tree falls?” root for long. It had the dwarf look of a big tree which had lost all its leaves. One or two He was right. I too have seen trees falling. It branches stood in disarray. No one could is such a horrible sight to see them losing recognize the tree. Or perhaps it was not a their last grip on earth and come shattering root at all. May be it was a small tree. Father down, all the leaves shaking violently. When did not bother to trim down its lush root the last blow of the axe falls and the tree growth. Neither did he paint or polish it. comes down, one can hear a piteous wail in Which bird was lying dormant in it? It the air. Shattered nests, the fledglings in seemed that father too did not get an them, the broken eggs — the whole answer. Totally disturbed, he grew sleepless environment would seem to reverberate with

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 77 cries. May be the trees standing near would Another peacock appeared from behind the also get frightened. bushes. It had its tail feathers spread out . That evening we went to the bushes to see Sunlight drained away from the hill slope. the peacocks. The sun was down. I walked The flame went out from the yellow flowers. in the front, through the narrow path that led The peacocks came nearer. to the bushes. While following me, father It was difficult for father to have a good view spoke of the animals and birds and the thick of them from behind the trees. He tried to get forest that used to be there till a short while a better view standing on his toes. Then, ago. Now big trees have become a rarity. gently he climbed on to a branch of that What remained were midget plants which small tree. It seemed as if he were preparing dreamed of the soaring heights. The yellow himself for a rare sight, bracing himself up flowers on those plants seemed to catch fire behind an invisible curtain. It occurred to me from the evening sun. that not only we, but all the remaining trees The past of the forest seemed to unfold on the slope, and the valley itself were before me through his words. The waiting for it. Theeppaala tree which shone like embers at He could not remain on the branch for long. night, the wild climbers which stored water in The branch broke with a strange sound. Did them, the Cher tree which gave rashes all he hear the leaves screaming? He slid down over the body if touched, the wild leaves that together with the broken branch. The noise healed wounds, the strange fragrances… made the birds alert and they looked around. everything- all made me feel that I was Sure, they saw us. walking through primeval woods. How fast they disappeared! “I have seen the peacocks spreading out their feathers,” I said a bit proudly. Father did “They saw me,” father said in not reply to this, but he looked at me in disappointment. surprise. Night had fallen. We walked back through Sunlight started fading. We stood waiting the wild pathways darkened by night. All on under a small tree near the bushes. a sudden the path seemed to become strange and unfamiliar. When I looked back, “You climb up. I shall wait at a distance.” He the hill suddenly evolved in to a gigantic root suggested. I managed to climb on to a low and seemed to stare at us. Somewhere birds branch. The place was silent and deserted. were chirping. I listened: I suspected it to be We waited with bated breath, along with coming from the roots of the very remaining wind. I remembered seeing them here, while trees on the hill, roots which were waiting to we kids roamed about the area, playing. But be transformed to birds. I was scared a bit. now where are they? The faint glow of light which we saw from Just then, a peacock appeared at a afar must be from the saw- mill. Sometimes distance. A single peacock that had come they worked during nights too. out of the bush. While strutting about, it moved its neck in a particular way and In the faint light of sleep, I dreamt of two watched its surroundings. I called out to peacocks with soiled feathers looking at us. father: “Over there…” A gigantic tree with many branches swayed violently in the wind and fell down with the He signaled me not to make any noise. leaves screaming. I woke up. Night seemed A gentle breeze blew, blowing away the dried to spread out its feathers. leaves which settled down at a distance. Father had not slept even then.

78 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY I drew on that day the picture that every child I have drawn the picture of the old man would draw first. An old man feeding feeding pigeons later in life too. But in them, pigeons. A whole flock of pigeons the seasons changed. In the place of surrounding him. The light of summer. The summer came rain and snow. Pigeons broad shadow of the peepal tree.. Father themselves changed their nests and watched me drawing it with a blunt tipped sometimes, even their trees. Along with pencil. He did not work on roots that day. childhood, those pictures also disappeared. One of the workers from the saw-mill came Some other child might be drawing the old in search of father. man now. Perhaps the old man alone remains unchanged all through the years. He said mockingly,” Just came to check if you are dead or alive.” Today, years later, I, who am no longer an artist, have come with my little daughter to “I will die only after you Ananthetta,” father this bird sanctuary where birds are kept in laughed. “Don’t you need someone to imprisonment. She has come to see those mourn your death?” birds she had met only in textbooks. How “You can do only things like that,” he chided times have changed! More than living things father.” Get ready. There’s a lot of work to do. she is used to lifeless dolls -not dolls of birds The supervisor has asked for you.” but of symmetrically made humans. “Not today,” father said. “I don’t feel well.’’ It was not a crowded day at the bird But the man was stubborn. He made father sanctuary. We walked under the shade of the go away with him. prop roots that had grown longer than the main trunk. Birds brought from six continents But that turned out to be a disaster. Father looked at us from behind the netted cages, might have dreamed while sawing. Blood painted green. We tried to read their names dripped down the saw-blade, wetting the written outside the cages. wounds on the wood. Father lost his index finger on that day. “Have you ever seen it father?” my daughter asked to the tune of a nursery rhyme. Father stayed at home with his wound dressed in white bandage. Workers from the “What?” I looked at her. mill visited him occasionally, blaming his “ Dance. Dance of the peacock.” She carelessness and expressing remorse at repeated the song about peacock from her having compelled him to come for work that textbook. night. When was it that I saw a peacock’s dance? I “The one who saws wood is not destined to pondered while searching for a peacock’s have all his fingers forever,” they cursed cage to show her. All of a sudden, I themselves. “It is one’s fate.” remembered all those trees which had fallen Father smiled at them. “So what? You don’t screaming and all those birds that lay latent have to point your finger at someone while in their roots. talking, nor will you be asked to point out the Standing in the solitude of the bird way.” sanctuary, I was overwhelmed with the He no longer was a wood cutter. The roots memory of a child, who stood waiting on a he had kept back to work upon, got old, and gloomy evening for the peacocks to appear, withered away. Their lives ended thus; they in order to show them to his father, a wood never evolved in to birds. cutter, Translated by Gita Janaki

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 79 The Elephant S.Joseph

The elephant in the forest Is the fish in the water Fish is caught from the water Water remains in tact Elephant is caught from the forest Forest is left in tact Fish is turned into curry fried Elephant is made to lift logs It is caparisoned and paraded in the festival The water only going on moving The forest smuggled by the elephant burst out Men flew, scream The elephant in the forest is not the fish in the water

Translated by K.Sachidanandan

80 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY Short Story The Album of Green Dhanya Raj

Himani was seeing such a hospital room for the first time in her life. The sea-blue walls had innumerable paintings displayed on them – the slanting drizzle over the valleys, the new shoots budding from the damp earth, sprawling energetic mushrooms that suddenly sprang from nowhere… Each painting evoked in her a thousand reminiscences of the yester years of rain and green. Floating over some cool experience hooked with her own past, Himani asked, “Why do you have so many paintings over here?” The young duty doctor laughed lightly. The sound of his laughter reminded her of the sound of a tender drizzle. “These are not mere paintings but cute little worlds of comfort… something that the patients here need the most!” Two nurses assisted Himani to the bed with utmost care. Himani lay there quietly, her dull eyes touring the place all around. It was a special ward for the sun-burnt people. On the cots lay fatigued patients with their hurting eyes tightly shut. Some of them occasionally woke up, with thoughts of some hot and lonely pathways without shade-giving trees. Then they involuntarily looked at their feet to check whether there were blisters. Himani noticed that all the patients were females — small girls, middle-aged or elderly women. “Isn’t this strange?” Himani asked quite shocked. “Are only women subject to sun burns? “The male ward is just adjacent.” The nurse said, pointing towards her right where an array of beds was arranged in the same way in a room that was separated by a side screen. Himani noticed that the room was as silent as a graveyard.

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 81 As she was being given the intravenous drip, His mobile phone rang just then, mocking Himani decided to keep the rest of her the sound of the rains. As he moved to a queries to herself. The cream-coloured liquid corner of the room to speak over the phone, was entering her bloodstream drop by drop. Himani looked fully at the doctor for the first While she lay still, Himani discovered that time. A figure brimming with youthful vigour. the clock in the shape of a rain drop on the The first three buttons of his shirt were green wall has gone dead. She wondered if undone as if to intentionally display the time itself had come to a standstill. Behind abundant thick hairy growth on his muscular the closed windows there was only a faint body. He was so handsome that it was light, making it hard to find out if it was difficult even to imagine that he would ever morning, noon or twilight. get old. Unlike the other doctors, Sooraj Ravi When the drip was finally over, the nurse had put on a yellow overcoat but Himani’s freed Himani’s hands, but much to her eyes fell on the dark-coloured tee-shirt that distress, she realized that she was still he wore under it. Immediately her eyes thirsty. started burning. “Water, please…” her dry lips mumbled. She saw the girl on the corner-bed mumbling something to the doctor, moving her parched But the nurse pretended not lips with great difficulty. May to hear it and ignored her After lunch, Himani was given be she was telling him about need. After lunch, Himani some capsules which were the fearful dreams that came was given some capsules used in place of water. She up in her disturbed sleep. which were used in place of looked at those crystal tablets The red soft skin on her neck water. She looked at those with disgust. had blisters and some parts crystal tablets with disgust. of it had started peeling off. “You should not throw them away,” the “This is not sun burn … hmm, might be nurse said, “lest your body be dehydrated. If some allergy caused by an over exposure to you take this, you will feel as if you have UV rays. Why did you go out at noon?” drunk lots of water.” The nurse assured Himani heard Sooraj Ravi asking the girl. Himani that just as hospitals have blood Though Himani strained her ears hard, she banks, this was the only one hospital in the could not hear the girl’s reply. Sooraj Ravi entire city that had the facility of a ‘water turned back after giving some instructions to bank’. the nurse .His movements revealed that he The “crystal droplets” went down her throat was conscious of the female gaze on him and her whole body experienced a cooling from all the women in the ward. effect. She was able to sleep peacefully till When Sooraj Ravi finally left the room, all the evening. When she woke up after a restful mumbled talks in the ward turned to him. sleep, she found Dr. Sooraj Ravi, the Doctor Two middle- aged women commented that on duty, standing beside her cot. he was the most handsome man they had “How do you feel now?” The doctor asked ever seen in their lives. As they searched their her, moving a bit closer to her bed, but with brains for similes to describe his energetic his eyes turned to the old woman lying in the youth, they slowly drifted off to sleep. The adjacent bed. old woman on the adjacent bed went in “I don’t have headache and nausea search of an old memory: anymore, but I feel dead tired,” Himani said, “My youngest son, Shankaran, looked her gaze too straying to the old woman. exactly like this doctor. Many years ago he Sooraj Ravi nodded his head thoughtfully. left the house on a rainy twilight, holding an

82 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY umbrella. What a downpour it was…and that “Himani, please get up.” too in the month of Makaram1. The muddy As she heard Sooraj Ravi’s voice from very water that formed in the courtyard and lands near, she slowly opened her eyes to find him around rose up to our knees.” standing very close to her, in light yellow What might have happened to this young hue, without the ferocity of the scorching man who had walked out during a heavy sun, downpour, wondered Himani but the old “Were you dreaming?” Sooraj Ravi asked. woman did not say anything further. The memories of the old woman swirled and Himani rummaged in her mind for the relic of floated around like muddy water. May be some dream in the past. Then, with the that was the last day on which it rained cats insecurity of a woman rejected by dreams, and dogs. Hence, the flow of those she raised her face towards the doctor. memories would never dry up. “Himani, you are a teacher, aren’t you?” After sometime, all the sounds became still Sooraj Ravi asked her. “Perhaps you were and the ward was plunged into complete thinking about your school and work. Or, do silence. Himani got up with great difficulty you have any tension about the extension of and walked over to the your leave?” verandah. She saw that the “No”, Himani said feebly, Though she walked for long on small building near the “The schools have all the main roads on that day, she main entrance to the closed down.” could not spot even a single hospital was the canteen. student anywhere. Formerly, “That is right!” Sooraj Ravi Some of the bystanders her students used to give her said in an embarrassing were going there holding pleasant surprises by greeting tone.” It just skipped my pastel -shaded umbrellas her from all the nooks and memory.” over their heads. But a corners of the crowded city. sudden dusty wind rose up After the schools were What would have happened to and barred Himani’s vision closed down indefinitely by them? for some time. The people the government due to the who came out of the dangers of sunstroke, canteen walked away with unhappy steps in Himani had gone by the road in front of the the dust. Himani noticed that the red and school only once. Since the government, to pink colours painted on the walls were slowly prevent sunstroke in general, had forbidden being peeled off and instantaneously her the people to step out in the afternoon, all thoughts went to the sun-burnt patients the public roads were vacated as if curfew- whose skin had also been peeled off stricken. similarly. The sight of the schools without students Dr. Sooraj Ravi visited the ward only in the made Himani restless. She had gone to next evening. As Himani looked at his light school last on the day when two of her yellow coat, she felt that she was standing students had collapsed in the playground in without any shelter directly under the heat of the evening due the extreme heat of the sun the red scorching sun. She experienced that and were admitted in the hospital. The very each time this man came in to the ward, the next day the government issued the order temperature rose involuntarily. Refusing to that schools should be shut down for an open her eyes to the burning sensation of indefinite period. As the temperature during the heat, she lay on the bed for some more the day time had risen up sharply, all the time. class timings had been changed to the

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 83 evening. Himani recalled that even so, the you please get up from your beds.” attendance was still very low. Other than the old woman, all the women Though she walked for long on the main painfully got up from their beds and sat, roads on that day, she could not spot even a listening. single student anywhere. Formerly, her “So… You might have read today’s students used to give her pleasant surprises newspapers!” by greeting her from all the nooks and corners of the crowded city. What would All the women in the ward looked at each have happened to them? The thought made other wondering what would be so special the faces of all her students pop up in her about that day’s newspaper. Himani mind one by one. She felt for a while that stretched her hand to find three newspapers she was in a classroom… Himani stood in lying on the coffee-table and carelessly the middle of the lonely road and sang browsed through the pages. The news aloud: stories in all the three were much the same. Needless to say, even the editorials were Come away, O! Human child similar. Her eyes caught on some repeated To the waters and the wild phrases —- “global warming”, With a fairy, hand in hand “environmental disaster”, “scarcity of water”. For the world’s more full of weeping The leading news story on the international Than you can understand. page was that secret agencies have Himani saw a completely dried up vaka tree discovered the plan of the colonizing nations on the road side. As she walked slowly to attack the small countries which still towards it she felt the sun’s heat rising owned some resources of water. The inner sharply. She raised her face to look at the pages carried the news that there was a sky. The cloudless sky seemed like an ocean public protest against the Bollywood director of light as if it dared to cover even the sun. who spent millions of rupees to shoot a rain The very next minute she felt a burning dance under an artificial shower. Various sensation on her body. public organizations initiated the protest “You were lying unconscious on the road, against the director who wasted lots of some of your colleagues brought you here.”, precious water for a petty dance scene, while the nurse had informed Himani when she millions of people were dying due to the regained consciousness in the hospital. scarcity of water. But the director responded Himani saw with a surprise that she was that such a controversy was quite uncalled clad in white pajamas – the patient-uniform for. of the hospital. She had never heard of this “The scientists have succeeded in collecting hospital before. Himani wondered who the pure water from the moon…,” Sooraj Ravi colleagues were who brought her here. She folded a paper from the newspaper to show failed to guess who it might have been. Then it to everyone in the ward. she went through the countless loving faces “The earlier predictions have come true , that that passed through her life. Each memory we will be able to achieve this aim by 2050, burnt her like the sun. She consoled herself but…” Sooraj Ravi paused. “The very same that the minds of all middle-aged women Americans are behind this project too.” would be the graveyard of memories. Himani saw that his face had darkened “Most of the patients here pain themselves abruptly. with unnecessary worries, which is the main problem,” Sooraj Ravi said in a rather serious “What do you think of such an tone. “This will destroy your health. So, all of achievement?” Sooraj Ravi asked them.

84 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY He did not get any reply. All the women kept never cease, she thought. The birds with on looking at the doctor without any change dripping feathers and the flowers drooping of expression. with the rain drops waited for the rains to “Doctor, when will it rain here?” the girl who stop. Suddenly, something cooler than the lay in the corner-bed asked him anxiously. rain drops came from the skies and hit against Himani’s shoulders. Sooraj Ravi did not reply to this. Himani thought that perhaps he would be searching “Hail stones!” the girl in the corner yelled out his mind for an answer. All the people looked with a glee. at each other in anxiety as the minutes “Off with a feathery umbrella… to pick up ticked by. Himani felt that the ward was now the hail stones, la..la…,” the middle- aged slowly becoming hot, as hot as it was never woman sang aloud an old movie song. Her before. Sooraj Ravi walked from one end of voice died in the sound of the rains. the ward to the other twice, after which he “What a rain it is!” another middle-aged called the nurse and told her something. woman murmured in a cold, shivering voice. Within seconds the nurse came in with some capsules. The old woman on the adjacent bed returned to the trail of old memories, “It was on such “What are these medicines for?” A middle- a heavy rainy day that my son Shankaran aged woman asked her. left the house…, and that too in the month “Please take this,” Sooraj Ravi said with a of Makaram …” smile. Slowly the wind subsided but by then the Without any further query everyone pathway to the woods has become a stream swallowed those capsules. of water . The rain slowly came to an end. “How do you feel now?” he asked them after The women in the ward opened their eyes sometime. one by one , and looked at one another. Himani could feel the heat coming down in “All of you would be discharged from this her body; she felt a coolness embracing her. hospital tomorrow.” Himani heard the Within minutes, she started seeing certain doctor’s words as if coming from another visions. It was like an album of greeneries. world. The green meadows… woods full of giant “But I am sure that you will come back here trees that touched the sky with their again, fatigued by the sweltering heat of the branches… a green pathway that winds into sun. Then I would be waiting here for you to it … butterflies with lustrous wings dancing present you with visionary worlds of showers on the red flowers of the bushy plants… To and coolness. Please take rest now.” Sooraj which spring season she has left behind is Ravi slowly said in a low tone. this path leading her, Himani wondered. All of them closed their eyes for a peaceful The cool breeze that came through the sleep. The hot and lonely pathways without boughs of the woods made her shiver. She shade-giving trees did not trespass into their heard the rumblings of the first thunder that dreams. heralds the rain. And rain started to pour ------down, to the rhythm of the dancing boughs. Makaram > The Malayalam month that falls between the She felt the music of the rain becoming mid-January and mid- February. In Kerala it is not usually a intense with the accompaniments of the rainy season. spring. A primordial harmony that would Translated by Meena J. Panikker

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 85 The Dumb M.R.Renukumar

Have to wake up Before the crow descends Have to stack away dung And clean the cow shed Before the Milker arrives. The milking bowl And the bottle of oil Have to be arranged. When the milker leaves With his measured share of milk, Have to write down On the calendar With a pencil And without forgetting, That day’s share of milk. Reaching out from the threshold Some straws from the Thinning haystack Have to be pulled out for it. Have to go To the backyards of Three houses in the neighbourhood To collect kitchen scraps for cattle feed. While returning, With the earthen pot on hip, Have to pass The searing gaze Of those fishing On the banks of the canal.

86 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY When the cow dives Searching for the oilcakes Which haven’t dissolved, Have to stir it well. Have to kill The tiger fly Perched on its back To suck blood, With a single smack Of the hand Smeared with yesterday’s rice gruel. As it stands ruminating , Its belly full, Have to fondle The folds on its neck. Have to sharpen the sickle A little. By grinding it against the washing stone. Have to go to the Potty’s field To cut grass. Have to wait for the passersby To help raise the bundle of grass. Have to be careful Not to trip While crossing the wooden bridge Made of a single coconut tree. After Having the rice gruel, Washing the bowls, Putting off the lamp, Making a pillow of the left hand, And turning on one side, Have to sleep hollow. Before the crow descends Have to wake up. Translated by Dr. P.Shyma

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 87 An Ecocritical Reading of C. Radhakrishnan’s Thee Kadal Kadanju Thirumadhuram Meena J. Panikkar

C. Radhakrishnan’s Thee Kadal Kadanju Thirumadhuram (hereafter referred to as TKT) has most of its setting in the erstwhile province of Vettam (Light). An ecocritical reading of the novel may prompt one to negate the very intertwined threads of facts and fiction, focusing only on the middle space between the ‘scenic sublime’ and ‘the countryside’ that contains the larger elements of both culture and nature. The setting, historical and literary, becomes pivotal in analyzing the natural potencies of the area that govern individual thoughts and ideologies and thus become politically relevant. Here, the very title and the four broad sections that span the entire work display the thematic ecological importance of the setting, that has been quite decisive in the life and career of the protagonist, Thunjathezhuthachan. Despite the temporal distance separating the Victorian pessimistic writer Thomas Hardy and Radhakrishnan, a view through an ecocritical lens would make it clear that both of them irrevocably linked geography and culture, as nature for them exists as an entity beyond our very selves, continuously intersecting and dominating the trajectory of human life. Radhakrishnan’s writing style can be essentially marked as ecocentric because each reading opens up a broad prospect of ecological thinking, “a keen awareness of the growth processes” of the work itself, “how it builds in several layers across a lifetime, and does not come into being in a single flash of inspired imaginative insight which has no visible

88 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY means of support” (Barry, 259). cult mainly saw such texts as potential While the “hymns of the coconut groves,” means to create a spiritual awareness to “crickets” and ‘birds” set in the backdrop of protect the Dark Ages from further the “roaring waves” marked the almost decadence of superstitions. The removal of peaceful setting at the introduction of the the filth of social inequality caused by the first section, “Thaniyur”, (Ezhuthachan’s brahmiinical hegemony must also have been birthplace), in the concluding part, the a subconscious aim. This may validate the striking imagery is that of “fallen leaves” to argument that it was the “cultural symbolize the natural process of death. geography” that determined how the Radhakrishnan uses the red gravel path to physical nature prompted the attitudes of the remind us of the gory deaths of protagonist. The peaceful and serence mamankamchaver to illustrate the death of Sokanasini and the huge lonely rock that martial kshatriyahood icon, his brother-in- bifurcated its flow in the midst of the forest law, Unniettan. The death of his mother, and densely populated with tall trees and musical the “huge tree” situated at the entrance to birds set the ecological reference in the their home, consumed by flames are fourth section, ‘Mahaprasthanam’ which is equated together. The fire of destruction is a about how Ezhuthachan manages to set up recurrent image throughout the work. The an educational mutt at Chittoor, the place second section, ‘Thiruvur’ (where he shifted where he spent his last prayerful days. to, due to political pressures) exploits the Radhakrishnan has voiced overtly through kanjiram (strychnine tree) as many of his works that Nila cultural symbol; the has always inspired and Radhakrishnan’s writing style adjacent serpent groves influenced him as in the can be essentially marked as infested with wild fowls and case of most of the writers, ecocentric because each the ominous cries of ravens critics, and readers of reading opens up a broad negotiate the features of Malayalam. Nila has been a prospect of ecological thinking, superstition and fear, the prominent witness to the “a keen awareness of the place was once infamous significant episodes that growth processes” of the work about. shape history, for instance, itself It is only the third section the age old blood-feud and ‘Sabarakottam’ that we see fierce and revenge story of Mamankam turbulent Nila displaying all its rage. The that still continue to dominate the Malayali topography is also bleak perhaps to mirror perceptions of awe and astonishment. the same misery cast in the life of Ecocentered readings have always Ezhuthachan because he was sentenced to concentrated not on the thing itself but on spend the rest of his life as temple slave to the externalities which define the very thing. support his entire family. Coincidentally, it is “It uses the ideas of energy, entropy and the same place which provided enough symbiosis”; while the energies are provided supplants of ola (plam leaves) so as to by “drums” and “thottams,” the entropies compose hymns and it is the midst of such which are negative energies that cause the misery and bleakness that he transcreates disorganization or the breakdown within a the Ramayana. system is caused by the will to defy the Lawrence Buell’s coined phrase “impossible” tasks of going against the “environmental imagination” refers to how existent social system, the result of which the physical enviromnent could shape would be brutal persecution — to defend imagination. The proponents of the Bhakti death, in general. Symbiosis may be suggestive of how the different systems of

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 89 caste and power, myth and belief operate in “For communities dwelling in the hills, she is singularity, being essentially plural. Here, the the spirit of the mountains; for lowland chaver and his troop move forward slowly agriculturalists, she is the paddy and the but steadily as if in a hypnosis governed by earth from which it grows; for toddy-tappers both a strong will and bloody thirst to the graceful coconut palms is her form” (10). avenge the blood feud. This productive It must be realized that though environment harmony of the individual and cultural is dependent on objective parameters, how it landscape is ominosuly interrupted by the merges with man’s spirituality must be destructive festival of mamankam where each considered because the end product is chaver would ultimately and inexorably be certainly “a new and objective entity.” Alan killed by the thousands of warriors deputed Gipon’s quotation of the European Union’s by the Zamorin to guard his status of being definition of environment as “the the Rakshapurusha. combination of elements whose complex Ted Hughes, the extremist poet, has always interrelationship make up the settings, the identified a violent beauty that is constantly surroundings and the conditions of life of the manifested in nature and these energies and individual and of society, as they are or as entropies simultaneously suggest both the they are felt” is noteworthy (74, italics symbiosis of beauty and violence as is added). incorporated in the Bhagavathi (nearly 400 It is also quite obvious that social inequality village deities-and is naturalized, a situation indigenous Shaktha cult), in which is inescapable, but whose praise and adoration Therefore, such a reading becomes diverse and eclectic, also at the same time thottams (heroic ballads) realized as clear politics and are sung and also in the not bound alone by some kind of esoteric symbolism or power struggle and hence Nila (in her numerous reversible. The ideologies appearances) who bears a drawing allegorical parallels but operates itself through and the perceptions of silent testimony to all these. loyalty of the martial Nayar These are mainly diverse fields such as historic and textual. community voicing anthropomorphic in their kshathryahood and conceptual portrayal of chaturvarna polity if the myths which are actually far more society are also discernible. The lines also psychological inputs than a part of religious remind us of the anecdote in the observances (Namboodiri, 292). ‘Madhyaparva’ of the Mahabharatha when Unlike the British caste system the Kerala Yudishtara replies to Yaksha that the greatest caste system is demarcated according to wonder of the universe is man’s wish to live vocations that are most seriously related with forever despite witnessing thousands of men its ecology. They monopolize these different dying each way. thottams that range through a variety of This reminds us of the cosmic battle between themes varying from the glorification of the good and the evil in not just the ritual martyrs in wars and their unusual deaths to realm mirroring the one in the core and sons killed and sacrificed. Most thottams are periphery of ecological sustenance but of a dedicated to Bhagavathi and it is the very real human struggle for power, politics, land - its ecology that is the goddess for culture, belief and honour; the scope of the these separate castes as is invoked through debate being how crucial the matter of such thottams. Sarah Caldwell sums it up in relationship between culture and nature, a comprehensive way: really is. Therefore, such a reading becomes

90 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY diverse and eclectic, not bound alone by Clark, Brandi Christine, Thomas, Hardy as EcoFeminist Author some kind of esoteric symbolism or drawing with Example from his Major Tragic Novels. Diss. Wichita State U, 2004, Wichita. Web. 14 Feb. allegorical parallels but operates itself 2014.. such eclectics is often marked by ecocritical Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. The. The Dance of Shiva. New York: The Sunwise Turn Inc, 1918. Print. readings. Summing up, ecocriticism is an approach which incorporates an J.T. Gilpin, Alan. Dictionary of Environment and Sustainable Development. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 1996. understanding of the kind of issues and 74-75 Print. considerations, with a new alertness to such Logan, William. Malabar Manual. Rev. Ed. N. Delhi. Asian dimension that always hovered about the Educational Services, 200. Print. text, but which has not received such Namboodiri, M.V. Vishnu, ed. Jivitavum Samskaranavum. Vol. attention before. 4. Kannur: Kerala Folklore Acadamy, 2004. Print Namboodiri, M.V. Vishnu. “The Myth and Valarous Deeds of “Thottam Pattu” Malayalam Literary Survey, 14.3 Reference: (1992): 80-89 Print. Ayyar, K.V. Krishna. The Zamorians of calicut: U of Calicut, Namboodiri, M.V. Vishnu. Thottam Pattukal - Oru Padanam. 1999. Print. Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1990. Print. Barry, Peter, Beginnings Theory (An Introduction of Literary Potti, Narayanan Chetarappally. Malayala Sahitya Sarvasum and Cultural Theory), 3rd ed. N. Delhi: Viva Books, (Vitnjana Kosham). Thrichur: Sahitya Adademi, 2010. 239-261. Print. 1987. 534. Print. Buell, Lawrence: New England Literary Culture. From Radhakrishnan. C. Theekadal Kadanhu Thirumadhuram. Revolution through Renaissance. Cambridge: Kochi: Hi-Tech books, 2005. Print. Cambridge University Press, 1986, p. 283) Ulloor, S. Parameswaran Aiyer. Kerala Sahitya Charitram. Caldwell, Sarah. Oh Terrifying Mother (Sexuality, Violence Vol. 2. Thiruvananthapuram. Kerals University, 1990. and Worship of Goddess Kali). N. Delhi: OUP, 1999. 528-613. Print. Print.

MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY 91 Our Contributors

Vaikkom Muhammed Bhasheer (Late) E. Santhoshkumar Well known Malayalam Novelist and short story writer IIA, Pallath Apartments, P.O. Poonkunnam, Thrissur - 680 002 Vishnu Narayanan Nampoodiri Sreevalli, Sastha Gardens, Thaikkad, S. Joseph Thiruvananthapuram Kanjirathadathil, Pattithanam P.O., Ettumanoor 686 631 Dr. P. Rohith Dhanya Raj Assistant Professor, Department of English, Deen Sreedhanya, Panthapplavu, Dayal Upadhyaya College, University of Delhi. P.O. Pattayi, Kollam 691 522 Dr. Vinayachandran (late) M.R. Renukumar Well known Malayalam Poet. D Palace, Kudamaloor P.O., Kottayam - 686 017 Ambikasutan Mangad Meena J Panikkar, Department of Malayalam, Nehru College, P.O. ‘Aswathi’, Pudussery Garden, Padanna - 671 328 Engeering College P.O., Thrissur 680 009 S. Devila Dr. Vyrassery Vamanan Nampoothiri, Nalanda, Associate Professor of English, Vyrassery Mana, Vettuveni, Harippad - 690 514 HHMSPBNSS college for women, Variath Madhavankutty Neeramankara, Trivandrum. 34/60, Edgmont Soulevard, P. Surendran North Vancouver, BC, V7R 2P5 Prarthana, Vattamkulam P.O., Malappuram - 679 578 Saritha Mohanan Varma V.M. Girija J25, Poornima, Janvilla Lane, Sasthamangalam, Thanal, P.O. Trikkakkara, Kochi. Thiruvananthapuram 695 010 G. Sangeetha Dr. Radhika P Menon Uthuveli Mana, T.C. 50/489(II), maruthoorkadavu, P.O. 56, Vrindavanam Colony, Pattom, Karamana, Thiruvananthapuram - 695 002 Thiruvananthapuram - 695 004 Santhosh Aechikkanam Dr. Dhanya Menon Upahar, Udaya Nagar, Ayyanthole P.O., Thrissur-680 003 Sruthi, Adiyatil lane, Poothole, Thrissur - 680 004 K.R. Tony Dr. P. Shyma, Shyma Nivas Pulari, Civillane Road, Poothole P.O., Thrissur - 680 004 Menoki Road, P.O. Pilathara, Via. Mandur, Kannur - 670 501 Sreekanth C Karthika House, Valayanchirangara P.O., Ernakulam Dr. Antony Fernandez 683 556 Paduva Villa, Beach Road, Azhiyoor - 673 309 E.P. Sreekumar Vineetha Mekkoth, Harisree, Kanal Road, Thrippunithura, ‘Sathyaa’, Kottakkunnu, Chevayur P.O, Calicut - 673 017 Ernakulam 682 301 Gita Janaki Viond Vellayani T.C. 5/471, Chandrajith, Poozhikkunnu, Thiruvananthapuram 695 019 Indira Nagar Road, Peroorkada, Thiruvananthapuram-5 Radhika R. K. Sachidanandan Dept. of English, VTMNSS College, 7C, Neethi Apartments, Dhanuvachapuram, Thiruvananthapuram Ist Extn, New Delhi - 110 001

92 MALAYALAM LITERARY SURVEY Department of Cultural Affairs Govt of Kerala Kerala Sahitya Akademi

ISSN 2319-3271

Kerala Sahitya Akademi 2014 June 2014 June

ecology malayalam& literature Printed and published by R. Gopalakrishnan on behalf of Kerala Sahitya Akademi,Thrissur 680 020 and printed at Simple Printers, West Fort, Thrissur 680 004, Kerala and published at Thrissur, Thrissur Dist., Kerala State. Editor: R. Gopalakrishnan.