Reading The Roots - 'Verukal'

The book called 'Verukal'...The roots.

The old novel by Malayatoor Ramakrishnan. Malayatoor as he is popularly known, had written this novel towards the end of his literary career. As is well known in Kerala, he was a member of the IAS and a very senior beaurecrat. From among many of his books, this book seems to be the reflection of his life..!

The angst of a middle aged man when he looks back to his life of youth and childhood, any of us would go through such experiences, which are silently recorded in our minds to be buried wiith us in our graves, when our departed near and dear would rejoice with us on it! Such a situation makes it an unusual story of ayone in any circumstance. Here the author belongs to a Brahmin family, but with relatives of all sorts, rich, poor educated and some in very precarious circumstances.

He paints his Paatavu, Paattti (Grand father and Grand mother) and his own Dad in so colourful paint that they starts living in our hearts and we also feel the pain and love they impart. Through them, we also start seeing in our minds our own Grand mothers and Grand fathers who gave us too much love in their own way and our dads and moms who did everything for us sacrificing themselves!

Nine in Hundredand Fifteen

Nine is Chapter 9, Hundred and Fifteen is Page number 115. Just reached Chapter 9. Only reached, not read as yet. As it takes time to read in this busy world of too many other urgencies like TV, mobile, inter net and all. But the reading shall continue, nonetheless! By the time I reached one hundred and fifteen, the main character of the novel had been through college almost. But not fully. With the candidness of an open youth, he relates his escapades while away to town and college of smoking and slowly trying to quench his curiosity of drinking, first with the local desi 'arrack' and then with the other English liaquor forms like Gin and Whisky. He gets a friend in college called Rajappan who decides run away from the college uninformed and he joins with him in his running away without much thought as all youths do to face the reality later the hard way. As there was no chance of his having heard the story of the 'prodigal son' he slowly sees the reality in the far off city of Madurai (It was a far off city in those days when travel facilities were not this far as we have now) where his friend gets selected to the Army and he is left high and dry as he himself could not get selected. The hardships clears his head and he comes to reality and wise as he is, he takes the decision taken by the prodigal son by returning to his father and home where every body was living only half way due to his unannounced absence from college. That was a time when phone and other facilities were not as prevalent andhis return fills them with new hope.

As we read, if we are in the elderly group, we will be filled with emotions of our youth times and later lifes and we can see our parents whom we may also have pained in some way or the other and the great silent way in which they would have suffered it and still smiled at us and would have discussed among themselves as to what would have happened to us and if we have to be treated for the mild little derangement of youthhood as some one jelous may have tried to poison their loved son through some desi foods etc. In the further treatment in which everyone in the family and near relatives take part it is definitely established (?) that 'yes, it is certainly some body poisoning their loved one which was reason for his loss mind and consequent running away. The boy is treated with ayurvedic medicines and treatment methods in which it is shown that some spirit is in possession of the boy and that spirit is sent away by a priest (temple pujari) which appeases all in the family especially the parents.