Adityan Radha and Others and myself...

Today finished my second reading of Adityan Radha and Others of M. Mukandan. The first reading was on the Malayalam original. 

Acclaimed as the work which gave the clarion call of the advent of postmodernism in Malayalam literature, it earned good reviews from the critics.


A typical postmodern work - metafiction, irony, fragmentation, temporal distortion, everything put in its right configuration

Like the vidhooshakans of Indian Theatre, we have three narrators here to interrupt the course of the story(there is nothing called a 'course' here..still) . Brihaspati good choice of name), Romi Fernandez and Abhimanyu Jalan.

 

Radha and Adityan enjoys the center stage.

 

Adityan is the product of postmodern age born with silver spoon on their lips, but their mind and wings tied by the parents of the bygone modern era. Adityan and his generation is born to fulfill the dreams of their parents. They suffer from the plenty of rotti, kapda aur makan (food, dress and shelter).

 

Radha is there – to represent the middle class of the postmodern age. She is bold enough to listen to her inner call.

 

The emotion that runs through out – dissatisfaction - none is happy to the core – parents, child, the one pursued the dreams and the one who did not – every here are big failures ultimately.

 

Mukundan is successful that he has made the Malayalam readers sit aghast (after Anand) to find Adityan comfortable walking along with Dulari who lived in the age of Akbar and Tansen…