Baalyakaalasakhi

"Baalyakaalasakhi" (Childhood Companion), a Malayalam novel by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer is tale of tragic love. Published in 1944, it is considered by many as Basheer's best work. The story revolves around Majeed and Suhra, who are in love with each other from childhood. By Basheer's own admission, the story is largely autobiographical.

Plot summary

The childhood romance between neighbours blossoms into passionate love during adolescence. Majeed leaves home after a skirmish with his father, and wanders over distant lands for a long time before returning home. On his return, he finds that his family's former affluence is all gone, and that his beloved Suhra has married someone else. He is grief struck at the loss of love, and this is when Suhra turns up at his home. She is a shadow of her former self. The beautiful, sunshiny, vibrant Suhra of old is now a woman worn out by life, battered hard by a loveless marriage to an abusive husband. Majeed commands her, "Suhra, don't go back!" and she stays. Majeed leaves home once again, but this time with plans on his mind. He needs to find a job, to ward off poverty, and thus he reaches a North Indian city. He finds work as a salesman but one day he meets with a bicycle accident in which he loses a leg. The day after he is discharged from hospital, he is informed that he's fired from his job. He again sets off on a job quest knocking at every door, wearing off his soles. He finds work as a dish-washer in a hotel. As he scrubs dirty dishes each day, he dreams of Suhra back home waitng for him to return. He must make enough money to return home and repay debts, before he can finally get married to the woman of his life. His mother writes him that Suhra is sick. Then one day, he receives a letter that informs him of Suhra's death.

Majeed's father was rich once, so could send him to a school in the distant town, although he was not very good at studies. Suhra's father on the other hand had trouble making both ends meet. Even then he wanted to send his daughter, who was good at studies to the school. But after her father's tragic death, all her hopes of further studies was ruined. Majeed begs his father to sponsor Suhra's education, but he refuses.

Literary significance & criticism

The first half of the story, dealing with childhood and adoloscence is pleasant, delightfully told. The latter half is grim and filled with sorrow. Yet, it tells about the hope that people living in near poverty have about their future. They accumulate their dreams and keep their most secret sweet desires to themselves and go on with the hard grind of daily life, struggling to eke out a living.

The lightness of narrative style disguises an undercurrent of poignance. Even in the moments of utter grief, the author cannot let go of humour. Intense tragedy is dished out as if it were something meant to make the readers laugh.

The novel talks about love in its truest, sincerest form; yet that very kind of love goes unfulfilled. The lovers have to face harsh reality of life, they have to go through hell, and even worse, separation, but all their sacrifice fetches no rewards. As M. P. Paul suggests in his foreword to the book, "Jeevithathil Ninnum Oru Aedu", it is a page torn from life, bleeding at its edges.

"Immini vallya onnu"

One of the phrases that is always associated to Basheer's name. While at school, Majeed discovers a new mathematical result, that one plus one must be "a slightly bigger one". Majeed is puzzled when the teacher punishes him for this discovery, for he had seen two rivers merge into a slightly bigger one. This could be considered as a manifestation of Basheer's talent to think creatively and subjectively. Later when he knocks doors for a job, such skills in mathematics cannot help him find a decent paying situation.

Basheer on "Baalyakaalasakhi"

Basheer said that Majeed of "Baalyakaalasakhi" is himself. He started work on the book after seeing a terrifying nightmare which reminded him of his childhood companion Suhara's death. At the time, he was living in Calcutta. He used to sleep on the rooftop of a building after a heavy day's work. One night, he saw a monster in his sleep. Waking up, he found that he was standing on the edge of the rooftop, a step away from falling. He began writing the book in English. Highly dissatisfied with what he had written, he destroyed it. Later, he rewrote the story from scratch and perfected it through countless revisions. (Basheer was a hard labourer at writing. His simplicity of style is no accident. Almost everything he wrote was reworked and revised innumerable times before they went into press.)

ee also

Jeevithathil Ninnum Oru Aedu