My [brother] (https://keyaar.in) had come to Bombay during the last weekend. He told me he had bought books from the Mathrubhumi bookshop back in Calicut, two books Kalpetta Narayanan Master had written on Kumaranasan and Thakazhi. I am currently rewriting the first chapter of my dissertation, and it happens that the chapter reads Thakazhi’s Randitangazhi. I wanted to know what Kalpetta had to say about Thakazhi and I searched online for it but I couldn’t find the book. I texted my brother and it turned out it was a book on Basheer, not Thakazhi.

I placed an order for the book on Asan which Kalpetta told me is his masterpiece of criticism and that the one on Basheer wasn’t good enough; I found the book on Basheer on my eBook app. For some respite from the dry prose of Randitangazhi, I pulled up the book on Basheer and started re-reading it. I reached the essay on Ntuppuppakkoranendaarnnu, read through most of it, and realised that there was much more in it than what the words meant, and I decided to pick up the novel (I found a PDF online). I ditched Randitangazhi and finished the novel in one sitting and went back to Kalpetta’s essay.

Now, Kalpetta’s essay has a lot of things to say about the novel. Each of them are beautiful. But there was one observation Kalpetta made about the novel that terrified me. It was that Nisar Ahmed, one of the major characters in the novel, was able to find a naisargika soundaryam (a beauty that one is born with, natural, or fundamental) in Kunjuppathumma, the woman Nisar falls in love with (the novel is a love story in its core). This is a peculiar ability. How often does one look at a person and see, instead of that person, a concept?

This is one thing to think about.

Fast forward to today, and I’ve been reading the next essay in the Basheer book, this one concerning Basheer’s Mathilukal (later adapted to screen with Mammootty). I repeated yesterday’s strategy and started reading the novel. Few pages in, I come across this passage:

ഓർത്തപ്പോൾ പണ്ടത്തെ ഒരു സുന്ദരരാത്രി ഓർമ്മ വന്നു. ഒരു ചെറു ഗ്രാമം. പിന്നെയങ്ങോട്ടു് ആയിരമായിരം മൈൽ വെറും പൊടിമണൽ നിറഞ്ഞ മരുഭൂമി. ചക്രവാളം, മഹാചക്രവാളം നിറയെ ഇതുപോലുള്ള ഒരു സന്ധ്യ. ഞാൻ ആ മരുഭൂമിയിലേക്കിറങ്ങി. ഏതാണ്ടു് ഒരു മൈൽ നടന്നു കാണും… ചുറ്റും വെൺപട്ടു വിരിച്ചതുപോലെ… മണൽപരപ്പു മാത്രം. ഞാൻ ആ മഹാപ്രപഞ്ചത്തിന്റെ ഒത്തനടുക്കു് തനിച്ചു്… തനിച്ചു് തലക്കുമീതെ കയ്യെത്തിച്ചു തൊടാവുന്ന ഉയരത്തിൽ തെളിവേറിയ പൂർണചന്ദ്രൻ.’

‘കഴുകി വെടിപ്പാക്കിയ നീലാകാശം.’

‘പൂർണചന്ദ്രനും നക്ഷത്രങ്ങളും.’

‘വളരെ മുഴുപ്പോടെ തിളങ്ങുന്ന നക്ഷത്രങ്ങൾ. കോടി… അനന്തകോടി… എണ്ണമില്ലാത്ത നക്ഷത്രങ്ങൾ.’

‘പൂർണ വൃത്തത്തിൽ ചന്ദ്രൻ.’

‘നിശ്ശബ്ദപ്രപഞ്ചം… എന്നാൽ… എന്തോ… ഏതോ… ദിവ്യമായ നിശ്ശബ്ദസംഗീതം പോലെ… നാദബ്രഹ്മത്തിന്റെ അനന്തമായ വിഭ്രമം… എല്ലാം അതിൽ മുഴകിപ്പോയിരിക്കുന്നു. ആനന്ദാത്ഭുതത്തോടെ ഞാൻ നിന്നു. എന്റെ അത്ഭുതവും ആനന്ദവും കണ്ണുനീരായി മാറി. ഞാൻ കരഞ്ഞു. ആവതില്ലാതെ ഞാൻ കരഞ്ഞുകൊണ്ടു് മനുഷ്യരുടെ ഇടയിലേക്കു് ഓടി.’

‘ലോകാലോകങ്ങളുടെ സ്രഷ്ടാവേ…! എന്നെ രക്ഷിക്കു്. എനിക്കിതെന്നിൽ ഉൾക്കൊള്ളാൻ തീരെ കഴിയുന്നില്ല. നിന്റെ ഈ മഹാപ്രഭാവം… ഈ മഹാത്ഭുതം… ഞാൻ വളരെച്ചെറിയ ഒരു ജീവിയാണല്ലോ. എനിക്കു വയ്യ. എന്നെ രക്ഷിക്കു്!!’

The last paragraph: “The creator of all worlds! Save me. I am utterly unable to contain this in myself. Your measureless spread…this boundless miracle…ain’t I a tiny creature? I cannot. Save me!” (I would translate the rest, but the key bit is this paragraph.)

Where else do we know of a person, in a desert, coming across something so great that he is frightened to the core and runs towards people? In Al-Bukhari’s Hadith. In the first chapter,

Thereupon he [the angel] caught me for the third time and pressed me, and then released me and said, ‘Read in the Name of your Lord, Who has created (all that exists). Has created man from a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood). Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous.’" (V.96:1-3) Then Allah’s Messenger returned with the Revelation and with his heart beating severely. Then he went to Khadija bint Khuwailid and said, “Cover me! Cover me!” They covered him till his fear was over and after that he told Khadija everything that had happened (and said), “I fear that something may happen to me.”

See the parallel? This is the second thing to think about.

I wish I could illustrate this parallel better, but for now I merely want to record this. To say…”Hey, here is a writer who sees the world the way prophets see the world.”