Kumarananthan has chosen to take the road less traveled, unveiling new vistas, addressing the margins within the margins, namely the social deviants, and the issues thereof... It’s time the world stood up and spoke for them. What else could initiate such a monumental mission than literature?
My reading of The Pale Twilight, a translation of Kumarananthan’s collection of Tamil short stories by Prof. S. Vincent and Prof. M. Lawrence triggered a recall of my memories of a couple of journeys- one to the Maharishi Ashram at Aazhiyaar (Pollachi) in 2004 and the other, Anugraha Institute at Nochiodaipatti (Dindigul).
The former visit occurred in 2004 when I desired for
an immediate retreat from the maddening institutional crisis; the latter in
2008 when my elder daughter’s health crisis called for a relief. Blessings in
disguise, these visits provided me with an opportunity to take a journey into
myself. The programmes I attended there offered me the space to unravel human
mind- a rewarding experience indeed.
I must confess at the outset, I am not a literary critic.
Yet, a brief exposure to psychology, disciplinary knowledge of human biology
and the learning experiences like the ones mentioned early might make one raise
such simple questions: What is ‘mainstream’ and what is ‘deviance’? What is
‘sanity’ and what is ‘insanity’? Everything is relative in space and time.
The factor that causes molecules to go about restlessly
is the same operating in life forms including humans, namely, unfulfilled
desire. Molecules stay at a low energy level once their valence requirements
are fulfilled; the scope of human behaviour too is to fulfil its desires.
Evolution of all life forms on earth was exclusively biological while that of
the primates (human’s forefathers) was both biological and cultural. As for all
other life forms, culture is never an impediment to seeking relief. There is an
on-going conflict in human mind- between ‘chemical (neuro-secretions) values’
and ‘cultural values’. One’s environment provides the backdrop. War, peace,
conflict and violence are basically the functions of the inner self. In other
words, deviance is an integral element of human mind.
Deep within each of us is a ‘child’ craving to be
caressed, quenched, recognised or accepted. This inner child symbolises the sum
of our childhood experiences- love, care, pain, anxiety, fear, rejection, let
down… Negative strokes are more incisive imprints in our memory. The
personality of an adult is shaped by childhood experiences besides genetic
factors. To unknot the human mind is a journey both exciting and challenging.
q q q
Public awareness of mental wellness is dismally poor in
the east. 99% cases of mental illness/ psychiatric disorders in our
neighbourhood are either misconstrued or deliberately projected as handiwork of
some evil spirit. The victims and care givers pay a heavy cost to the social
stigma behind mental illness. Needless to say, basic understanding of mental
hygiene is vital for everyone in order to live life to its fullness. It has got
ramifications including the family’s well- being and economy.
Readings/researches on mental wellness are one area that
has received utmost attention in the west which in turn has produced enormous
body of text and literature that enlightens common man. Conversely, in the
east, dearth of literature on this subject adds to the social stigma over this
serious issue. Psychiatric counsellors and physicians I chanced to converse
with expressed deep regret over this stigma. On the other hand, medical science
experts wish to keep this discipline beyond the comprehension of common man
claiming that it is unintelligible to the latter.
Literature is perhaps handy to tide over this impasse. As
good will ambassador of world cultures sans borders, it is the best tool
capable of addressing the marginalised and the invisible, cutting across space
and time. However, our chances of exposure to cultures across ethnic groups are
limited by dialect. Ethnic dialect, as the vehicle of its culture, enshrines
the dialectics of life, avocation, lores, beliefs, practices and faiths of the ethnic
groups. While the need for each ethnic group to write its life arises, the need
for importing literature of the world can be minimised. Literary translations
are the only way out.
Coming to translated works, I hasten to place two
critical factors that define the success of a translation, namely, the choice
of literature and cultural sensitivity and a sense of history.
Prof. S.Vincent richly deserves the Tamil readers’
commendation and gratitude at this point. He chose for his doctoral studies
Chinua Achebe’s works, a path breaking feat in Black literature, to begin with;
eventually he focussed on literature on the marginalised, translating some of
the finest works from English to Tamil. Most of them seek to rebuild hope among
the subaltern. And, with equal elegance, he has translated some Tamil fictions
and text (including one of mine- The
Gordian knot) into English. Prathapa Muthaliyar
Charithiram, the first fiction in Tamil literature is one example.
Among his works I must make a special mention of the most
recently translated work- Oliver Sack’s ‘The
man who mistook his wife for a hat’ (1985). Venerated as a benchmark, this
work of Sack’s addresses the neuroscience of human behaviour substantiated with
categorical cases. The myth that neuroscience and psychiatry are disciplines
unintelligible to common man needs to be broken. The reactions of Tamil readers
to Prof. Vincent’s Tamil version were mixed. The general remark was that ‘Medical
and behavioural terminologies are forbiddingly tough!’ In my opinion, the issue
pertains more to the limitation with medical vocabulary in public space,
besides the general lack of public awareness in the field of psychiatry. Also, we need to relieve our medical
vocabulary from street side vendors with caution. For someone from humanities
discipline, it is really a bold and daring venture to have chosen Sack’s work
for translation. Prof. Vincent has accomplished this stupendous task with some
degree of success.
One can see the same passion and elegance in the current
work of Prof. Vincent (assisted by Prof. M. Lawrence) in The Pale Twilight.
q q q
Pavannan’s introduction to the original script duly
recognises the unique nature of Kumarananthan’s narrations. The author displays
exceptional craftsmanship as a story teller. But what sets his fiction apart is
placing the day-to-day life in our neighbourhood in a different light, facilitating
the reader to take a journey into the soul of the characters.
The thread that knits together nearly all the stories in
this collection appears to be ‘deviance’. In an ethnic culture deeply rooted in
traditional values and beliefs, deviance is as dreadful as a crime. Gandhi, for
instance, was a deviant, though positive. It takes nothing to go with the
mainstream. While mainstream behaviour is shaped by environment, ‘outliers’ are
its by-products. An individual’s attitude to life, after all, is structured by
the set of experiences he/she had had. Every deviance has got its cause(s).
Literature is open to the theory of probability. For, the
course of life, like that of time, obeys this theory. Life never binds itself
to a set of norms and the scope of literature is to mirror life, not to arbitrate
or prescribe. Every story need not carry a moral. Of course, one can approach
the scriptures for a preaching on values. The society that tends to pass
judgement on individuals, conveniently forgets its collective responsibility
for the collateral damage.
Kumarananthan’s writings neither tend to pass judgement nor
do they generalise. He resorts to documenting nuances of life with utmost
honesty. His senses are alert to the micro realities and are open to the many
possibilities (or probability, as I would define) time can take one to. His
stories picturize the human mind that is eager to untie the knots of suspense
time presents and encounters mere absurdities (An Accident); humans putting on masks for day light and night fall.
The former pretends to fall within the ‘cherished values’ while the latter
seeks a relief from the same and employs tantrums (Real Image Virtual Image). The yoke of life puts one to desperation
and, the subconscious mind, attempts a vent. This sometimes takes the
expression of a dream. To many of us, life keeps swinging between the hard
reality and the soothing dreams (An
evening Scene with God). An individual ostracised, jilted or rejected by
the society often boomerangs as its bane. The print and visual media carry lots
of such glaring cases every day (Thoughts
that are Afire in the Rain).
The
Pale Twilight is
another piece of class. The world has a skewed view of things. The hapless
innocents who treasure affection and caring become first casualties of this
distortion. The affection Gomathiammal is craving for is denied from all
quarters. Her husband ditches her, and her children dessert her. Damodhran, a
teenager who helps her with errands, suddenly stays away from her for no reason.
When he happens to meet her in a public place, Damodhran is scared to face her
and Gomathiammal knows not the reason. The society metes out such brutalities
to the voiceless. Taboos, gender discriminations and traditional beliefs become
handy tools of oppression which assumes a different form in Poorani’s shadow everywhere. It forces
women like Revathi to go to mindless extreme no mother would imagine (The Land of Thorny Bush). Her resolve to
kill her baby boy personifies her hate over male oppression. To her, the world
is overflowing with thorns like Venkatesh and Varathan and she doesn’t wish to
add one. As for Vennilas (The River),
Gomathiammals (The Pale Twilight) and
Revathis, the world has got nothing to offer but pangs of pain. Anyone who uses
to watch TV or read dailies might agree that Revathi’s case is not a stray
incident, but the tip of the iceberg.
Getting
lost is one of the stories that deeply disturbed
me. Perhaps each of us has encountered a replica of Ponrasus in our streets.
The deviation begins with Ponrasu’s struggle to comprehend the abrupt vacuum in
life caused by the death of his parents. The fact that he can no more have
Selli’s hand in marriage deepens the
gulf. To make good something irrecoverable, he seeks an escape/ substitute. In
this case the hero substitutes himself for what he lost. Transition between
conscious and subconscious states causes a sense of guilt in him and he
alienates himself from his villagers. The narration puts us in the shoes of
Ponrasu and makes us feel, for once, the agony of having to pull on. The
empathy that accrues in us is largely credited to Kumarananthan’s fine sense
and his exceptional craftsmanship.
Kumarananthan has chosen to take the road less traveled,
unveiling new vistas, addressing the margins within the margins, namely the
social deviants, and the issues thereof. I record my commendations to the story
teller and the translators. It’s time the world stood up and spoke for them. What
else could initiate such a monumental mission than literature?
Blessed with a grandson now, I have got yet another
opportunity of play time for my inner child. Spending time with a child mellows
you down and lets you take a journey into your soul, rejuvenate and recreate
the inner self and to strengthen such virtues as love and empathy, something
the world is impoverished of.
#5/518, A6, Swathi Apts., VareethiahKonstantine
24.09.2018.
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Note: Introduction to Kumarananthan’s ‘The Pale
Twilight, a collection of short stories in Tamil, Translated by S.Vincent and
M.Lawrence.Panmuga Medai, 2018.
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