“Translations are creative works”
Winner of the JCB Prize 2020 talks about the Sangh Parivar’s opposition to his novel Moustache in his native Kerala
1 Moustache
met with stiff opposition from certain conservative forces in Kerala. Did the writing of the novel (Meesha in the original Malayalam) and the experiences reveal new facets about your state?
Your question actually contains the answer to that. Although we speak a lot about renaissance and progressiveness, inwardly ours is a conservative society. As in other parts of India, caste is what determines how political parties place candidates and how people vote. People see no contradiction in being a member of the Communist Party and the convenor of the temple committee at the same time. Malayalam cinema has been able to, in recent times and to a certain extent, overcome its entrenched upper-caste aesthetic imagination. But Malayalam literature still has a long way to go in this regard. The influence of the Sangh Parivar is increasing within Kerala. The speed at which Kerala society is being subsumed into the Hindutva agenda is frightening. The campaign against Meesha was spearheaded by the Sangh Parivar and a foolish caste leader. The owner of the publishing house that published the novel in one of its magazines – a Lohia socialist and an MP from a left-wing party – went to the caste leader’s house and apologised, and forced the editor to resign.
2 Would you have any regrets if you were not translated?
Absolutely yes! What happened to Meesha in Kerala is an example of how controversy can negatively affect how a book is read. Most of the attention was on the bits that were deemed controversial. The public even saw it as a work of pornography. All in all, Malayalam media tried very hard not to talk about Meesha. So I think the English translation has been a lifeline from shame and ignominy. Without it, the book would have been buried forever in the underworld of Malayalam literature.
3 You write in Malayalam. Translation opens a new readership for you. Henceforth, who will you write for?
Translations are creative works. I like to consider Jayasree (Kalathil) not the translator of Meesha, but the co-author of Moustache. I don’t think it is possible to write with a specific reader in mind. I try to write in a way that I think is good. Even if I were to imagine a reader in mind, it will be a Malayali reader.