My book "Daughters of Kerala"

     "The Daughter of Man” is by Lalithambika Antharjanam. You may recall her earlier story “In the Shroud” posted on June 16. This story shows the impact of the Land Reform Act enacted by the democratically elected Communist Government in Kerala and how it impoverished the wealthy land owners.

     Based on the land relations and regulation under the British Raj, at the time of independence, India inherited a semi-feudal agrarian system, with ownership of land concentrated in the hands of a few individual landlords. The Land Reform Act set an absolute ceiling on the land a family could own. The tenants and hut dwellers received a claim in the excess land, on which they had worked for centuries.

     The upper class land owners lived well from leasing land to people who cultivated it and paid the land owner a significant part of the income from their hard work. When the Reform Act took effect the size of the land a person could own was drastically reduced and leasing became unlawful. Tenants who lived and worked on the land got at least a tenth of an acre as their own. Land owners who considered the number of tenants as a sign of their status in society lost the most when each tenant had to be given a tenth of an acre.

     The story is about a generous Nampoothiri woman who routinely feeds the hungry people around her house on a daily basis before she has her meal, while her family was rich. But after the Land Reform Act takes effect her family loses all the income. These upper class land owners know no other way of making a living other than leasing the land they owned. Slowly, they sell whatever land is left, piece by piece and in the end there is nothing left to sell. This generous woman and her family become so poor that she wants to send her grandson to school just for him to get the free lunch given there.

     For getting him admitted to school she asks the help of a politician who practically grew up in her house, but has forgotten all about it. Hearing her request he realizes what an ungrateful man he has been. Kneeling before her he asks for her forgiveness for being an ungrateful, vicious man. He says, “We (the politicians) destroyed your house. We were the reason for your not getting rent. In our fight for the poor, we forgot the hands that fed them. … Even now you are showering blessings on us. They are more powerful than your curse….I have one request….Please pass on this love, affection and sincerity to the next generation. Only your heart is still filled with these qualities.”

     He sends his apology to the organizers of a political meeting he was to attend saying, “There are some more important matters that I must finally deal with. I am the son of the Daughter of Man.”

The car that is waiting to take him to the meeting takes the woman back to her house.

Achamma Chandersekaran

Blog: http://achammachander.blogspot.com/

Website: http://www.achammachander.com/

India Edition: www.rainbowbookpublishers@gmail.com

Kindle Edition of "Daughters of Kerala" on Amazon.com

My book "Daughters of Kerala"

     "Arya Reborn" by Chandramathy is a complicated story as is life in a joint family. Written in the early nineties, it reflects the complications of the time, including college students experimenting with drugs.

     Arya is growing up in her ancestral home where Muthassan (grandfather) is still in complete control of all financial matters.

     One day as Muthassi (grandmother) is getting ashes for pooja from a kudukka – a globular pot made from the hard shell of a gourd like fruit-hung from the A-frame of the house, Muthassan kicks her from behind and she falls down and dies. Arya is at an age when she imitates sword fight using broomsticks.

     Muthassan follows the dead body being taken for cremation crying aloud and eliciting sympathetic remarks from others: “She is gone leaving no one to take care of him in his old age.” But he resolves that problem easily. After the 16the day prayer for the deceased the cook who used to sleep at the foot of the stairs, moves up to grandfather’s room and takes control of everything in the house. As a symbol of that authority she carries a bunch of keys that locks everything in the house. After two weeks Muthassan takes her to the temple, dressed in an expensive silk saree and wearing several pieces of gold jewelry, making her position in the house legal.

     Arya’s mother is a stubborn woman who always looks disagreeable and ready to punish Arya for the least thing. She doesn’t know what love is and never has a kind word for anyone. After Muthassan remarries, Arya’s father wants her mother to go with him to his small house along with Arya, but she refuses. Finally, she ends up being the servant to the stepmother and doing all the household chores.

     Meanwhile, Arya’s father finds a pretty woman who dresses well and can play veena for him. They have a child who looks like the father. But life is not happy and he takes to drinking and starts beating up the woman.

     All the cooking, cleaning and washing is too much for Arya’s mother and one day she vomits blood and dies. Arya comes home from the hostel and sits at the head of the body laid out in the foyer, feeling no emotion. Nobody has any tears for her mother. Seeing her being taken for cremation makes Arya feel relieved of the responsibility for the mother.

     After going back to the hostel Arya decides to try taking ganja (marijuana.) The impact of whatever tablet her friend gives her is unbelievable. Her uncles are sent for and they take her to sanitarium where a member of a women’s organization visits her along with her husband, Menon. She promises to help Arya resettle in one of the homes run by the organization.

     In the end, the home Arya goes to is the one where Menon’s mother lives. She welcomes Arya who is happy to be in a pleasant atmosphere. But her thoughts go to having someone (Menon) to wait for, all dressed up, learning to play veena for him and having children who will look like him. The story is worth reading.

Achamma Chandersekaran

Blog: http://AchammaChander.blogspot.com
Website: www.AchammaChander.com
India Edition: www.rainbowbookpublishers@gmail.com
Kindle Edition on Amazon.com