KOZHIKODE: 38-old Yasar Arafath C shot into prominence in the Malayalam literary scene this year after his debut novel — Mutharkunnile Musallakal — bagged the Nooranad Haneefa prize. He has authored three short story collections too. Before becoming a writer, the Ramanattukara native had donned many hats in life: mason, electrician, driving school staff, book seller and proof reader. If anything, Yasar’s life — and that of his close relatives — has been stranger than fiction. Something which he has marvellously translated into words.
“I get shudders when I look back at my life. Whenever I come across orphans or abandoned people, I see myself, and my eyes turn moist,” he says.Yasar’s father C Abdulla was among the rare folks, in the 1960s, who went to college. But he was also a man who slipped into bad fortune wherever he went.
“My father had to flee from Ramanattukara after his travel agency ended in great loss during 1992-94. He had a debt of Rs 12 lakh then,” Yasar recalls. His family — comprising his mother, brother and a sister – went through an ordeal at the hands of money lenders. “They barged into our lives showering threats and abuses. At school and during family functions, I felt isolated like an orphan because of the absence of my father,” he says.
Abdulla contacted the family through letters that arrived once or twice a year. It took 16 long years for him to return. The debts were cleared and the proud father saw his family flourishing before his demise last year. “After Class 10, I joined an ITI. I completed Plus Two, and the bachelor’s and master’s courses under distance education while working as a mason, electrician, driving school staff, book seller and proof reader at various points,” he reminisces.
Yasar also sold books at many schools and colleges, knowing little that he would get an opportunity to be a researcher -- which he could not take – or that he would become an author. His search for a permanent job ended in 2011, joining a public sector enterprise as a pump operator. In Mutharkunnile Musallakal (The Prayer Mats of Muthar Hill), published by Mathrubhumi Books in 2020, the writer has presented a fictitious account of his own close relatives’ tumultuous lives.
“My paternal grandfather Abdulla’s (Vayichi) story is much more than the storyline of a film. He had to turn a murder accused to save his kin. The British court sentenced him to death but it was later reduced to repatriation to the Andaman Islands. After serving the term, he became a government servant there. I still remember Vayichi telling me stories of Japanese soldiers killing an elephant and having its raw meat when they invaded Andaman in 1945,” says Yasar. Mini Prasad, a teacher and critic, had this to say about his novel: “The time portrayed in the novel is fabulous and remarkable. It is the solitary life of several women in one account.”