Kerala

A master story-teller

K.P. Ramanunni

Communal strife continues to spread its tentacles in modern society much to the chagrin of social thinkers and writers. Combating the menace is no mean task, but there are a few who pick up broken threads of communal amity from the annals of the past and weave golden stories for generations to come. K.P. Ramanunni belongs to this genre of writers, writes R. Ramabhadran Pillai.

nglish and French. The book has won Kerala Sahitya Academy award and Edasseri award. Filmmaker Priyanandan is making a film based on the book.

“There existed a ‘shared space’ for the Hindus and Muslims from ancient times”, says the writer. In fact, he was born and brought up in Ponnani where the two communities shared cultural, linguistic and devotional traits. Religious faiths came closer and often merged with each other even when communal polarisation was taking place elsewhere.

In one of the Malabar stories of yore, a Hindu woman had eloped with a ‘Musalman’ and was converted into her husband’s religion. The woman remained unhappy because she was unable to offer prayers at the Bhagvati temple, a trait so deeply ingrained in her. The Musalman constructed a temple to fulfil her wish. He was killed by the antagonised people, but his burial place became a place of worship later. The spell cast by such stories prompted Ramanunni to write ‘Sufi Paranja katha’.

The theme of his novel ‘Jeevithathinte Pusthakam’ is woven around the life of a bank officer in the grip of amnesia. It was urban hypocrisy and the rural benevolence that he tried to portray in it. Experiences from his own life had added colour to the story, he says. How would he describe his banking career spanning over two decades? There was dreariness that stretched out of a routine involving figures and currency notes, he says. To the writer in him, it was an existence sans the throbs of life.

‘Charamavarshikam’, another novel, deals with the life of a migrant factory worker. It unravels the superficiality of life through various situations faced by the worker.

Among the laurels won by the author for his novels are Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad award, Padmarajan prize and Shakti award. His short stories have also won awards.

‘Sufi Paranja Katha’ has attracted the attention of many artists and writers from different countries. It was after reading the English translation that Luc Roger, a Belgian philologist, decided to get the book translated into French. He came to Ponnani to visit the scene of the novel in a bid to understand the cultural nuances.

The story assumes much relevance in the contemporary social milieu and more translations are in store.

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