Review: ആരാച്ചാര്‍

ആരാച്ചാര്‍ by K.R. Meera
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Synopsis

This story of ours is set in Calcutta, in a family of hangmen known as the Grrdha Mullicks, who boast an ancestry as old as the land. Who have been executioners for Kings, Emperors and men since ancient times. Their heritage is something which they take great pride in; every child born in this household knows how to tie the executioner’s knot from the time they are in their mother’s womb, they boast.

Recent years have not been kind to the family. In a time of (relative) peace, and under a socialist-democratic regime, the whole society of reformers are against the death penalty. Where once there used to be tens of executions conducted on a daily basis, and the family had regular work, nowadays it’d be a wonder if they got one every decade or so.

But the approaching execution of one Jathithranath banerji, a murderer on death row, has made hope spring anew for Panibhooshan Grddha Mallik, the aged patriarch of the family, who, in his long live of over seven decades, had personally hung over 100 or so people. The approaching execution, the lack of viable candidates to be hangmen, as well as the bureaucracy of the whole governmental affair, has given the elder his 60 minutes of spotlight. Panibhooshan, a natural showman, shrewd to boot, plans to use this publicity to squeeze more benefits from the government, and perhaps secure a lucrative governmental posting for his daughter, thus securing the future of their family.

The one caught in the center of this whole affair, is Panibhooshan’s youngest daughter Chetana Grddha Mullick; a smart girl who had to abandon a bright future due to her family’s impoverished stature. With an aging father, a disabled elder brother, and an uncertain future, Chetana, who has the natural instinct and steel mind of the executioner’s family, must be part of this media circus and bureaucratic carnival, to secure her place for the future.

During which, she has to overcome the societal prejudice of a female being a hangwoman (traditionally a male domain). As well as the ever pervading leering of men in powerful places who eye her like a prize on display. Not to mention the opposing socio political forces who are trying to use her for their own selfish gains, While dealing with her fluctuating feelings of love, loss, desperation, hopelessness, helplessness, hate, rage, and seething anger at the seemingly unfair hand that fate and life has dealt to her family in general, her in particular.

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The Grddha Mullicks are a family of hangmen, who boast lineage extending back to the ages of the Mahabharata, or at least to the ancient Philosopher kings and Buddha himself. It is also a fact that they never fail to remind you, in every conversation.

Chetana Grddha Mullick is the youngest daughter of Panibhooshan Grddha Mullick, a hangman of over five decades and someone who has personally overseen the executions of over hundred death row inmates.

Panibhooshan is himself a man who lives in the past, while revealing his present. A man filled with delusions of grandeur, he is sort of an attention whore, and would do anything to get his 60 minutes in the limelight, and is not above manipulating those around him to fulfill his needs.
Chetana herself was once a bright young student, who passed her higher secondary with flying grades. But afterwards, had to abandon any hopes of higher education, in light of their family’s impoverished circumstances.

Other than the father and daughter, their household consists of Chetana’s mother, her paternal grandmother, her paternal uncle and his wife, as well as her older brother, Ramu da, a quadruple amputee.

The Premise of the story is the impending execution of the death row inmate Jatindranath Banerji, for which Panibhooshan, as the only living hangman is being courted; both by the government and the media for their next sensational news cycle.

Despite being a borderline con man, Panibhooshan is, or at least was, until recently, someone who viewed his family trade as something sacred. Something which scores of generations of his predecessors had followed with absolute faith, and something which shouldn’t be desecrated.

Making off money and benefits from the government and media, money which he’s owed is totally fair game. But his faithfulness to the trade of hangmen has caused several personal tragedies to him. Chief among which was what happened to his son.

Ramu-da as Chetana calls him, was the eldest son of the Grddha Mullick family, and was not a natural hangman. A kind soul at heart, he was a passionate and talented football player, someone whose future was bright and boundless. That is until that fateful day.

It was the eve of the execution of Amartya Ghosh who had committed multiple murders. Previously, the aged father of the convict had approached Phanibhushan, trying to save his son. He tried to bribe, plead, coerce and threaten the hangman, to make him dissuade from hanging their son. But a man true to his trade, Panibhooshan, refuses these attempts outright. Then perhaps, as a means of impotent revenge, the father had approached Ramu da, and in the middle of the street, hacked up all the limbs of the innocent young man.

Years later, Ramu-da still remains in that household, as a living corpse, as a reminder of the actions of that day. But who was to blame? Her father for carrying out his duty? For the government and courts for sentencing the killer to death? Amartya Ghosh for his crime of murder? Or his old father, who took what impotent revenge he could against someone who he saw as his son’s murderer? None would be able to heal the scar on their family.

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Themes Explored:

Death
Female Oppression
Misogyny
Poverty
Social injustice
Indifference of life
Media Sensationalism of news
Bureaucracy and Corruption in governments

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Themes & Characters in Detail

Death & the Hangwoman:

Much like in ‘The Book thief’, death plays a key role in the story of the Hangwoman. It is an ever pervading, omnipresent force; an unseen player/ character whose presence has touched or influenced everyone. Due to her heritage, and family business, Chetana is intimately familiar with death. Either as an impersonal force of nature, or as an agent of violent change, which has, on a personal level, altered the course of her life on multiple junctions.

As the story progresses, death also provides an avenue for betterment, the impending execution of the death row inmate, opening the possibility of a better future, for Chetana and her family.

The Media Circus & reality television:

Jatindranath banerji is on death row for the murders he has committed, and the verdict regarding the final date of his execution is slowly approaching. As one would expect, the whole media army is ready to cover every detail of the first hanging to take place in years, as well as exploit everyone involved to quite literally milk the cash cow dry.

Everyone is out to profit from this person’s death; including Chetana and her family. No one really cares what happens to the man. The government officials and the hangman's family want the person dead, because they stand to profit from it. The humanitarian and ‘progressive’ organizations are in on it to gain publicity and media attention.

The media personnel themselves are fools playing both sides, fanning the fame to get the most sensational coverage possible out of the affair. And as key players in the whole affair, Chetana and her father find themselves on opposite sides of the manufactured debate, as loyalties shift and motivations become murky and sinister.

Chetana is set to be the first female hangwoman of the nation, perhaps the world. Which is not a prospect which the establishment, and entrenched orthodoxy is comfortable with. So they leave no stone unturned to dissuade and discredit her, to raise doubts about her capabilities, and generally doubting whether a ‘woman’ can perform such a crucial role.

On the other hand, the social justice warriors and progressivists, chief of them the feminists, want to use Chetana as a poster child for their movement. Much akin to Katniss Everdeen for the resistance. They want to parade her around as the first hangwoman of the nation, and thus reinforce the notions of women being just as capable if not better than men, and ‘deal a fatal blow to the entrenched patriarchy’.

But in trying to uphold ‘the greater good’, these high society madams often forget the person. Chetana is just a symbol for them. Or more pragmatically, a tool for pan national appeal. The flavor of the day, which they too, like the media, aim to exploit to her fullest.

Sanjeev Kumar Mishra & the endemic case of Misogyny:

Now here is a contentious and reviled character if there is one. Misogynistic, chauvinistic, bigoted, duplicitous, treacherous, narcissictic, vindictive, manipulative, hypocritic, closeted kleptomaniac and all around toxic are but some of the adjective which can decorate the mantle of this piece of work.

I haven’t read a more reviled character in literature in recent times, and he is someone I love to hate. You know how they say the brightest smile hides the darkest of hearts and intent. Well, this guy is the personification of that sentiment.

At first glance Sanjeev, the reporter & anchor at a prominent Media outlet, is someone charismatic and personable, who is everyone’s well wisher and friend. He approaches Panibhooshan and Chetana with intent to get exclusive coverage of them in the days leading to the execution. And to develop a reality show with the premise of course being, ‘Day in the life of a hangwoman’. He easily takes in the palm of his hands Chethana's entire family, save Ramu-da.

For Chetana herself, despite her irresistible attraction to him, that primal part of her lizard brain was constantly giving her warning bells about this character. For good reason; as the story progresses, and the layers are peeled back, we start to like this character less and less, until finally we are yelling at Chetana to simply break his neck and escape from his oppressive presence. This feeling doesn’t leave, even as against her will, Chetana finds herself yearning for him, and even if one sided, betrothed to him by her family.


Death & Chetana:

As mentioned before, death plays a big part in the life of Grddha Mullicks and Chetana. More so than for your average Joe. Her family lives near the Nimtala Ghat, where everyday hundreds of diseased are brought in processions for funeral rites and to be burned on the pyre and the remains immersed into the river for religious rites.

She lives literally a scant few feet away from the procession of death. The dead lull her to sleep; the dead wake her up. This, plus the fact that her ancestors deal in death, means that Chetana equates everything in life to it. From the insignificant death of some gnat on the roadside, to the human tragedies which affect several lives, death is her window for understanding the world around. It's her guidepost, her religion, her first love, and salvation from this miserable world.

Which is not to mean she’s suicidal. When put in uncomfortable situations, Chetana often reverts back to the tales of her ancestors, and their own trysts with death. You could say that it’s the only topic which she speaks of in passion. Making her a version of a feminist Edgar Allen Poe, with all the talk of death and gloom. Her keen understanding of death’s finality and indifference, gives her an inherent strength to deal with the inadequacies and injustices she has to bear with. Making her quite a force to reckon with, to those who would choose to exploit her.

The oppressed feminine:

The story is an allegory of the oppressive treatment of women in the strict patriarchal society of the nation at large. Chetana has steered her whole life while being dictated to by her father. When Sanjeev Kumar Mishra enters the picture, her father and rest of the family sees him as the perfect groom from an affluent background. While Chethana's reservations are kicked to the curb.

Throughout the story, her father is set out to make her the celebrated Hangwoman, while Mishra wants to own her as his trophy wife. Neither care what she wants. So the story is in many ways taking back agency from the indifferent world.

The debate around death penalty:

This being a story about a family of executioners, and the premise is the impending execution of a death row convict, there is naturally a debate regarding the pros and cons of the death penalty. But the weird thing is, nobody cares about it. The ones who support the penalty, either stand to gain from it, like the Grddha Mullicks, or believe it to be a fitting deterrent to vile crimes of murder.

While those to oppose it, are either the families of the murderers selfishly wanting to still save them, or human rights groups who want to abolish the death penalty as its barbaric and inhumane. Pageantry and platitudes, that’s what it is. The reasons either side has to support their cause doesn’t go beyond surface level motivations. Which is what the writer, who serves as a neutral moderator of the intended.

I’m reminded of an old Kamal Hasan movie ‘Virumandi’, where this topic was discussed with better nuance, even though that was not the focus of the movie. Another question raised is, why just these people? The execution of murderers such as Jatindranath Banerji is carried out in pomp with all the media attention. But what of the countless others murders, crimes and offenses, carried out by the multitudes who never even get caught, or by those in power? It’s not just that the Death penalty is inhumane, it fails to serve the very purpose it was instituted in the first place.

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Chetana as a character:

Despite the interesting premise and the rich world narrative which K.R. Meera has created, it is undoubtedly our protagonist Chetana who carries the story forwards and keeps us engaged. She is our conduit, not only for present happenings in the story, but also the link connecting the ocean of stories from Grddha Mullick’s of lore, all of whom are invariably linked with death and execution.

At the beginning of the story, Chetana is in a position of weakness. Born and brought up in an impoverished household, with nothing but tales of past grandeurs to speak of. With a bleak future, that could at best end in a loveless marriage and a semi-normal existence. Spoilers, towards the end the situation doesn’t get any better; in fact, you could say that it got worse in many ways. But what sets her apart, is the decisions which he chooses to make, which stay true to her character, even when those decisions don't seem to make much sense in the grand narrative.

One of the more contentious narratives of the novel, is her undue borderline toxic relationship with Sanjeev Kumar Mishra, who is for all intents and purposes a charming sociopath. We fear that Chetana, who had so far shown integrity and a strong moral core, would be corrupted by this human trash. But at the same time, we understand where she is coming from. It goes beyond simple knight in shining armor, or prince charming syndrome.

For Chetana, based on the strata of society where she was born, brought up and continued to exist, Mishra represented something unattainable. Something which was beyond her wildest imaginations to acquire. And when that dream started to become reality, she was conflicted. That is until the man revealed his true nature to her. Which, after a lot of soul searching allowed her to come to her final resolution; regarding him, her father and every other person in her life, who thought themselves worthy of making decisions on her behalf.

The final chapter when all of it comes to head, Chetana accepts her destiny as the Hangwoman and puts to death all of her insecurities, trauma, problems and obstacles, finally free, as someone who has embraced death as an old friend, and no longer afraid of what life had in store for her.

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The Narrative:

The narrative of the hangwoman works on multiple levels. By interviewing the inner thoughts and present day struggles of Chetana, with countless stories of the Grddha Mullick ancestors, each chapter feels like a self contained parable. Often leading to depressing moral tales.

These also help us understand what exactly characters are going towards, as well as the inner workings of Chetana’s mind, who falls back to them, as a form of self soothing meditation. Plus, these countless tales interspersed throughout the book, are entertaining as standalone tales. I would like to go and reread the book, just to revisit and compile the stories as an anthology alone.

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K.R. Meera’s writing:

As befitting of its central themes, K.R. Meera’s Hangwoman lacks any sort of flowery or comforting prose. Rather she seems to lean heavily into the gloomy, depressing, gritty, rustic and nausea inducing aspects of the city of Calcutta, which is a character in itself in this story. Which is not at all an insult to her writing, nor does it take anything away.

Lately it seems most literature I’ve read, which takes place in Calcutta, embraces the old world, ruinous and dilapidated spirit of the old city. The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh comes to mind. But for this story, it works quite well.

Whether it be us spending extended periods of time in Chethana's small, broken down, smelly, dirty home in all of its hopelessness. Or traveling around Calcutta in its torrential rains, mud, crowds, humidity and stifling grayness. Or being unforgettable in the contrast as Chetana is paraded in front of screens, with her out of place wardrobe and countenance, against the well ironed, perfumed, groomed men in positions of power who don’t give her a second look, unless to leer at her. Or even when we are indulging in the repeated trysts into the fabricated past, to the tales of kings and generals, and the Grddha Mullick ancestors with their heroic tales.

K.R. Meera weaves a beautifully morose yet hypnotic narrative, which manages to keep you engaged despite the repetitive references to death and nihilism.

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