Saw an interview of Sethu ( famous Malayalam literary figure who recently won the Vayalar award) in which he describes the premise of one of his novels that did't get too much attention. Apparently in a Tamil Nadu village there was an unusual number of deaths among people working in a particular company when they turn 59. The company itself heralded modernity in a once idyllic village with all the assorted cacophony it brings. It seems the sons kill their father when he turns 59 so that he gets the father's job. The mother and other female members remain passive if not active accomplices in the crime. It has become a sort de rigueur in the village that nobody in the community or the police raises an eyebrow against it. And the twist of it is that fathers start to suicide when they near 59 so that they can save their son's of the horrendous crime. In Indian tradition Father is equivalent to God and he doesn't want his son to be stained by such a big crime. Sethu's story goes on to describe how an idealistic personnel officer fights against it but the crux of the novel is not fictional.
Was really disturbed by this. It portrays the depths to which we can go. Even some animal species who eat their offspring's pale before such barbarity. In some senses it is an indicator of the despair in our villages and rural hinterland. It is hard to imagine the mental landscape of the father and son as they near the d-day. Don't know if we can ever rationalize this.
2 comments:
Hmmm...reminds me of the premise of the Murali/Jayaram starrer 'Karunyam'.
It reminded me of an American movie (can't remember its name), in which a young man in search of his roots reaches a remote village where every year, on a certain day one person in the society is chosen to be given in (christian)sacrifice. They draw lots to decide the person and then the whole crowd stone the person to death. But of course the people being father and son makes it impossible to imagine!
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