You could mistake him for a wayside mendicant, snake oil seller, tea vendor, uncared grandpa....Anything but a romantic, a lunatic, a prolific teller of tales. Vaikkom Muhammed Basheer spent the last years of his eventful life with a friendly moniker, Beypore Sultan, ensconced in an easy chair under a Mangostene tree in the compound of his home. With birds, bees, butterflies and snakes for company. Through his last years he wore just a lungi, without covering his chest and spent his time on the writing board under the Mangostene Tree. He would reply to every letter from his many fans.
Last year I went to Alliance Francaise auditorium to see a play (Under the Mangostene Tree) based on Basheer's Stories. The play captured the essence of Basheer, his life and his stories. Most of his famous stories were written in the 1940s/50s. I read most of them while I was a schoolboy. I had missed the subtle humour, incisive observations and deep emotions of his characters. When I read them today I feel transported across time zones. Basheer's life is the stuff made of legends. He ran away from home, participated in the freedom movement, was jailed, took on many roles as English tutor, Beedi maker, palm reader, homeopath, face reader, sanyasi.....He spent time travelling the length and breadth of undivided India. His life took many turns. He lived a rich but ordinary life. But he captured the romance of life, the humour and the sadness.
Last month I saw a another play by the same theatre group called "Perch". This time it was called Moonlight and skytoffee. The stories were based on Basheer's stories "Love letter" and "Three card poker player's daughter". Although this time around it wasn't as good as "Under the Mangostene Tree", I was enchanted by the performance of Aparna Gopinath....lively, fiesty and full of beans. Skytofee and Moonshine being the secular kind of names that can be carried by the offspring of keshavan Nair and Saramma, the protagonists in "Premalekhanam" (Love Letter), one of Basheer's famous stories.
"One Bhagavadgeeta and plenty boobs", is the title of a rather provocatively named story by Basheer.. But I don't remember any bigots in Kerala having an issue with that. As I mentioned elsewhere in this blog, when someone asked him what he would do if all Muslims in India are sent to Pakistan, he said he would masquerade as a Nambudiri Brahmin and continue living in India. Story goes that during his time in jail, he'd dress up as a Brahmin and murmur slokas and splash holy water on those entering the portals of the jail. It was seen as an eccentricity by other inmates. He worked as a sports goods seller and would go around in a bicycle dressed in jacket and suit and a bowler hat to boot. Story goes that he could instantly judge whether the hapless customer would buy or not. One day he fell from the bicycle and lay splayed on the road in full splendour, sports goods scattered around him....
Reading these romantic stories from the 1940s, we get a sense of the time. They were better times. And they were original stories, from the rich tapestry that was his life. Several of Basheer stories have been made into successful movies. One of the earliest ghost stories " Bhargavi Nilayam" was based on a Basheer story. The characters in his stories are the earthy, every day kind of guys. There was no right or wrong, good guys and bad guys. A Basheer character is unique in that they represent humans with all failings and eccentricities.
Life is fun....because I have no one...murmurs another lonely soul from his stories. Those words could be a balm to lost souls. To the desperado who has reached the tether of life, it could be a shot of adrenaline. It is also the quest of the lonely soul for elusive love... An entreaty to love. And behind all that humour, there is that huge sense of loss
Basheer found his life partner Fabi in 1959. Reading through his old letter many women wrote him it is clear that he could be flirtatious with his many fans. Fabi was not someone who could match his intellect. But every visitor to his home in Beypore was treated like family. He was immensely proud of Fabi's cooking and he loved her deeply.
It is said that when Basheer returned five years after running away from home, he slowly knocked on the door at midnight and his Umma (mother) asked him to get in, wash his feet and sit for dinner. He asked his Umma how come there is food at midnight. Then it struck him....His mother has waited with his dinner for the past five years , hoping that her lost son would turn up one day....
Last month I saw a another play by the same theatre group called "Perch". This time it was called Moonlight and skytoffee. The stories were based on Basheer's stories "Love letter" and "Three card poker player's daughter". Although this time around it wasn't as good as "Under the Mangostene Tree", I was enchanted by the performance of Aparna Gopinath....lively, fiesty and full of beans. Skytofee and Moonshine being the secular kind of names that can be carried by the offspring of keshavan Nair and Saramma, the protagonists in "Premalekhanam" (Love Letter), one of Basheer's famous stories.
"One Bhagavadgeeta and plenty boobs", is the title of a rather provocatively named story by Basheer.. But I don't remember any bigots in Kerala having an issue with that. As I mentioned elsewhere in this blog, when someone asked him what he would do if all Muslims in India are sent to Pakistan, he said he would masquerade as a Nambudiri Brahmin and continue living in India. Story goes that during his time in jail, he'd dress up as a Brahmin and murmur slokas and splash holy water on those entering the portals of the jail. It was seen as an eccentricity by other inmates. He worked as a sports goods seller and would go around in a bicycle dressed in jacket and suit and a bowler hat to boot. Story goes that he could instantly judge whether the hapless customer would buy or not. One day he fell from the bicycle and lay splayed on the road in full splendour, sports goods scattered around him....
Reading these romantic stories from the 1940s, we get a sense of the time. They were better times. And they were original stories, from the rich tapestry that was his life. Several of Basheer stories have been made into successful movies. One of the earliest ghost stories " Bhargavi Nilayam" was based on a Basheer story. The characters in his stories are the earthy, every day kind of guys. There was no right or wrong, good guys and bad guys. A Basheer character is unique in that they represent humans with all failings and eccentricities.
Life is fun....because I have no one...murmurs another lonely soul from his stories. Those words could be a balm to lost souls. To the desperado who has reached the tether of life, it could be a shot of adrenaline. It is also the quest of the lonely soul for elusive love... An entreaty to love. And behind all that humour, there is that huge sense of loss
Basheer found his life partner Fabi in 1959. Reading through his old letter many women wrote him it is clear that he could be flirtatious with his many fans. Fabi was not someone who could match his intellect. But every visitor to his home in Beypore was treated like family. He was immensely proud of Fabi's cooking and he loved her deeply.
It is said that when Basheer returned five years after running away from home, he slowly knocked on the door at midnight and his Umma (mother) asked him to get in, wash his feet and sit for dinner. He asked his Umma how come there is food at midnight. Then it struck him....His mother has waited with his dinner for the past five years , hoping that her lost son would turn up one day....
