‘Nila Choru’ the debut novel of Shabu Kilithattil, has made a record of sorts. The first edition of the novel was sold out in just over a week. The book is a fictionalised re-telling of the story of Uma Preman, noted for her charity work for kidney patients. ‘Nila Choru’ choricles her story as she travels to Kolkotta to work for Mother Teresa and returns to serve the people of her village, even as life unveils its bizarre designs for her.
Since it related the life story of Uma Preman, I was positive that it will touch a chord with readers,” says Shabu., who heads the Malayalam radio station of Arab Media Group in Dubai. “The kind of hardships she has endured and the sacrifices she has made will shame even the most imaginative fiction.” Even so, the book had a phenomenal reception among the Malayalee community in the Gulf region. It was released at the The Sharjah International Book Fair on November 4 and by the time the curtains came down on the festival on November 14, it was sold out.
Shabu says that it is not a novel in the strict sense of the term and prefers to call it a biographical novel. The names of the characters, including that of Uma, has been retained. “But ,the backdrops, the conversations are all imagined. With these fictionalised elements, I have recreated incidents from Uma’s life,” he says.
He has never been to Chinthamanipudur, a village on the outskirts of Coimbatore, where Uma was born. It took shape in his mind from her descriptions and so did the people and incidents that channeled her life towards social service. The book is written in three parts, each chornicling three different phases in the life of this remarkable woman who now runs a community care centre at Attappadi.
“I don’t know if there is a river in Chinthamani pudur. But there is a scene in the novel that is set on the banks of the river I imagined flowing through the village. It is a moonlight feast, a ritual that is still prevlant in many parts of Tamil Nadu. The villagers bring many different kinds of ‘sadam’ (rice), and they call it ‘nila sadam’ which translates to ‘nila choru’ in Malayalam. The scene leads to the unravelling of the central character. To me, this scene embodies the message of sharing and caring which is the corner stone of Uma’s charity work,” says Shabu.
The royalty from the first edition was handed over to Santhigramam, the community centre run by Uma that facilitates dialysis for the poor and education for their children.