The Man who Never was

ഓട്ടോറിക്ഷക്കാരൻ്റെ ഭാര്യ | Autorikshawkkarante Bharya by M. Mukundan My rating: 3 of 5 stars In a series of short stories, M. Mukundan, the eminent writer of Mayyazhi, paints for us the day to day, slice of life fictionalized tales of the people in everyday lives. The tales he composed range from OK, to good, to head scratching, to thought inducing, a full cornucopia. But sad to say, there isn’t much meat to these stories, a collected anthology from the stories he’d penned in various news publications. Mukundan himself seems the most soulful and engaging, when delving into the semi fictional tales that he crafts about his beloved Mayyazhi; with its colorful history and ever more colorful coterie of characters. Out of all the collections of stories which are printed here, the one which connected with me the most, is the one titled ‘Malayali Daivangal’ (Malayali Gods). The tale is about a French tourist couple that come to visit Mayyazhi and Kerala ...

Anubhavangal Palichakal by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai My rating: 4 of 5 stars Rating 4 out of 5 | Grade: A Premise: Like most of thakazhi’s works, this book is set during the post-independence era. It details the day-to-day grind of the farmers, manual laborers and other blue-collar workers in Kerala. At a time when the nation had barely gained independence, when there was a gross inequality in wealth, when few influential landlords had control of all the arable land, industries and lucrative businesses, most lived just one of two steps above poverty. Your average worker had to perform 12-hour days of back breaking work, just to earn enough for food and boarding. Thye owned no lands, had no knowledge of their rights, were cavalier with their limited assets, and hence were ripe for exploitation by the ruling bosses. Being from weaker sections of society, as well as illiterate, they were incapable of even understanding if they were being underpaid o...