Naalukettu

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 17 August 2020 

There are certain books you read that make you realize you are taking part in something momentous, right from the beginning. Naalukettu by M. T. Vasudevan Nair is among them. A sweeping inter-generational tale comparable to One Hundred Years of Solitude and reminiscent of films like Manjadikkuru, it is the travails of a young man living in a feudal, highly patriarchal and casteist society in North Kerala. A tale of high - standing wealthy families and their disintegration steeps the reader engaged in a wave of very humane emotions - the need to belong, growing up as an outcast, the complexities of adolescence magnified by poverty and familial discord, a mother's love that is unmarred by family feuds or economic standing, the need to escape from debilitating roots, and the strange ways in which fate works towards retribution. It reminded me of how much we have changed as a society, and yet still remain clinging to old social mores. It is a splendid roller-coaster of a novel, a must-read for every Malayali out there. Proud to have a copy on my shelf, though belatedly. 

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