CHINDAMBARASMARANA

 

"ഷാഹിനയ്ക്ക് മിണ്ടാൻ കഴിയും മുമ്പേ ഞാൻ അവളുടെ തീപ്പൊളളിച്ചരണ്ടു പോയ കവിളിൽ അമർത്തി ഒരുമ്മ കൊടുത്തു."

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This is one of my favourite lines from the poet's autobiography titled Chindambarasmarana. Written in an ordinary layman style devoid of the heftiness of any poetic interferences, Balachandran Chullikad has allowed his readers to know about him and an era when he barely was aware that he was laying foundations to his poetic career while living from hand to mouth, feeding his hunger using his eloquence for expressions. There are no pompous decorations of self as an acclaimed poet, but there are instances of vivid descriptions of his unapologetic humane weaknesses, intimate moments, the troubled waters he sailed through disdaining his family.

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Sounding undisguised as ever, Chidambarasmarana is a closely knitted affair weaved out of the poet's worldly experiences. A deeply touching work.

ETHIRU

"Ethiru" by M.Kunjamman offers a profound academic exploration of the economic injustices meted out to the sub-altern, dalit and adivasis in the society. Written in a scholarly language, his writings unearth the deep seated casteist intrusions of a highly polarised society into the personal development of an individual who belonged to a dalit community. The book begins with an anecdote about a day when kunjamman was served porridge on soil and how the landlord's dog too wrestled with him for the same porridge. Little Kunjamman doesn’t give up. He accepts his struggle as the struggle between two dogs!

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Though written with a personal touch, the book is not just throwing light upon kunjamman's life. It is a deduction of his academic experiences, scholarly research and interaction with his community. He clearly manifests the struggle for land rights and land ownership of the adivasis and the dalits and sarcastically criticizes the left ideologies for their lack of empathy for the downtroddens. He breaks light to the fact that only the rich and the upper caste get seated in the top rungs of the political parties irrespective of whether it is politburo or the planning board and it is their decisions that get manifested into actions. 

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Kunjamman envisions the adivasis and dalits to become a property owning democracy and advocates them to shape their life to par with a capitalist society. Sometimes found as an utopian idea, but his academic expertise as a Professor of Economics and his indepth know-how give way to the thought that only wealth can save man from the clutches of caste or religion. "Ethiru" is indeed the fight of Kunjamman. An intelligent piece of work