Dreaming of a perfect world

RECENTLY SAHITYA Akademi, Chennai had organised a 'meet the author programme,' with N. P. Mohamed, the celebrated author from Kerala who has written novels, short stories and critical essays in Malayalam. Time and again, many orgaisations have given him awards for his excellence in writing. Foremost among them are the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award and the National Sahitya Akademi Award. N.P. (as he is known to friends and admirers) is the Executive Board Member and Convenor, Advisory Board for Malayalam, at the Sahitya Akademi.

A short, slender, fair man, N.P. exudes an air of peace and calm. Born in 1929, near Kallai, in the suburbs of Kozhikode, N.P's childhood impressions were filled with the events in the lives of the poor people who made a living out of fishing or working in timber yards, or the events that took place in connection with the Independence struggle of India. His father C.K. Aboo was an active participant in the Independence struggle.

N.P. began his speech by stating that one must be proud of one's mother tongue. So, his speech was mostly in Malayalam interspersed with some explanations in English. He spoke of his early life in the suburbs of Kozhikode, where most people were not educated.

He was the first person to pass the S.S.L.C examination from that area. He too did not have any further formal education. So, he calls himself "a small Brihaspathi". The Kallai river, which flows through the suburbs provided the main source of livelihood to the poor and wealthy people of that area. Kallai was at that time the second timberyard in the world. Now the glory and wealth have gone and only the memories remain.

Their language too was a special one. It was neither Malayalam nor Arabic. It was a blend of the two. But, it had its own individuality and vitality.

I wanted the resonances of that language to be retained in my writings. In fact, that was one of the inspirations for me to write. I did not know whether it would be accepted even among the Malayalees. But, I had to try."

To the eternal question, why he writes, he has a very simple answer. "I write to satisfy some unknown quest in me and to establish the existence of my inner self". How did he, who had very little formal education begin to write? "A writer's mind is shaped by childhood impressions. I am on firm ground when I write on childhood." He related an incident during his childhood, which led to his fascination with words.

When he was studying in the fourth standard, his main hobby was to make paper doves in an artistic manner. He had a friend, Mohammed Koya who also tried to do the same thing. But, Koya never succeeded in the art of dove making.

His doves would go straight up in the air and fall straight down to the ground without flying. Koya was jealous of Mohamed and used to utter magic words of curse to kill the latter's doves. Mohamed who used to dream of his birds falling dead, realised the magical effect of words even then. The other fact which developed a fascination for the magical cadences of words was his mother's recital of the verses of Koran.

Another incident from childhood which made an unfailing impression on him and even created poetic visions is connected with poverty. They lived in thatched huts; come rain, that too the strong incessant monsoon of Kerala, the thatch would start leaking. All that the inmates could do at that time was to stand close to the walls so that their heads would remain dry. After ten days of such incessant rain, there would be an intermission, when the sun would peep from the sky; it's rays, golden in colour, would creep through the holes in the thatch. The sunlight, if captured at that time within the fold of cupped hands would give the illusion of gold coins. But, sadly who could hold the sun's rays in their hands? They would escape the temporary imprisonment and with it would disappear, the illusion of the gold coins too. After relating this incident, N.P. humbly said, "My friends, the great teachers of literature gave me the inspiration to be a writer."

The three main facets of his writings are - the desire to portray the lives of the lower middle class of his native place, the aversion to dictatorial tendencies, the seeds of which were firmly planted in his psyche through the freedom movement in which his father was an active participant, and the need to develop desi literature, by which he means, the regional language writings of various states in India, which contain the real spirit and dreams of the people. For him, the simple and yet lyrical presentation of events in day-to-day life is the most meanigful aspect of literature.

He cannot relate to the Western theories of literature. To him they are artificial. What develops from the local soil and the language of the common man alone will form the grist of his literary mill.

N.P. ended his simple talk saying. I am a writer and I dream of a perfect world. But, my perfect world would not be the perfect world conceived by the politicians. Mine is not a Utopia. All Utopias are socially organised. A writer's concept of the world is not socially organised, but individually organised."

VASANTHI SANKARANARAYANAN

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