Naalukettu: A Book Review

Visakh S Nair

Naalukettu is a Malayalam novel written by M.T Vasudevan Nair. The novel is about Appunni, the protagonist’s life journey, the unwritten history of Kerala. The novel progresses through real family situations, customs and caste system during the olden times. This is one of the great works in Malayalam literature. Appunni passes through his childhood and teenage days and became a successful person with his hard work. The novel runs through the various life phases of Appunni and the author takes the reader through the whole journey.

Appunni’s father Konthunni Nair was a courageous and respectful person in the village but was murdered by his business partner. He was considered as a rebel by the community because he used to mingle with people belonging to different castes. It was a time when caste segregation was in its peak. Appunni’s mother belonged to a wealthy Nair family. Appunni’s parents were married against the wish of their family and they were not considered as part of the family anymore. After Konthunni’s death Appunni and his mother were stricken by poverty, once a wealthy lady now has to work at the backyard of another house to run her own family.

Appunni was good at studies and started going to school regularly. Once he entered his teenage, he gets annoyed with the growing relationship between his mother and Sankaran Nair. He was an aide at his mother’s work place. This provoked him to leave the home and go to the Tharavadu. He got kicked out of the Tharavadu by the head of the family during a family event. He earned scholarships more than enough to cover his education and expenses.

Once he faced difficulty in paying the exam fees of 15 rupees, his close friend Mohammed arranged the amount. Only after paying the fee, he came to know that it was his mother who gave money to the Mohammed. He cleared all the exams with flying colours. Then he started searching for a job. At that time, he received a letter from his father’s old business partner Seythali, the man who supposedly poisoned and killed his father. Seythali asked him to come to Wayanad, where he can arrange a job for Appunni. He quickly packed up and left the boundaries of his village.

He reached Wayanad and he joined as an employee in a tea estate and worked his way up through five years to become a field surveyor. He didn’t had any plan to go back to his village until he saves a lot of money. When Appunni reached his hometown after a couple of years, his uncle by whom he was kicked out from his tharavadu in a family event in front of his grandmother and other family members came and met him. And he was requesting him for some financial support, why because the tharavadu was in a pathetic situation even the building itself was mortgaged for loan. With his earnings through all the years, Appunni paid the loan amount and saved his tharavadu. Then he brings back his mother and Sankaran Nair to the tharavadu, from where Appunni and his mother kicked out earlier.

In the entire novel, one could find the caste disparity that was present in Kerala during those days. Vasudevan Nair is a great literary figure and his work is able to present before the readers the confusions and dilemma felt by a teenager and the process of his growth. He grows physically, emotionally and psychologically. The readers are able to connect to Appunni feel the entire journey. The beautiful language used by Nair, has also enhanced the beauty of this work.