Casting a timeless spell

Translator Venugopal Menon talks about SK Pottekkat’s ‘The story of the timepiece’, which has just been published in English

Pics: SK Pottekkat. Illustration by Tapas Ranjan. The book cover; Venugopal Menon   

By Shevlin Sebastian 

In 2014, retired engineer Venugopal Menon was travelling from Pune to Thrissur on a train. At Kannur, two youths got in. They took a seat next to Venugopal. Soon, the duo started discussing books. As a bibliophile, Venugopal could not help but listen in. 

While one mentioned that his favourite authors are Madhavi Kutty, Paulo Coelho and Amish Tripathi, the other youth said, “There is no one like SK Pottekkat. I will prostrate myself before this gentleman.” 

Venugopal was intrigued. At Kozhikode, their destination, they stepped out. At this moment, a bookseller entered the train. Venugopal asked him whether he had any books by Pottekkat. He had one: ‘Oru Theruvinte Katha’ (The Story of a Street). “I bought it and started reading it at once,” says Venugopal. “And I liked it very much.” 

Little did Venugopal realise that within a few years, his friend, veteran editor Mini Krishnan would give him the commission to translate Pottekkat’s short stories into English. 

And the book, ‘The Story of The Timepiece’ (A collection of short stories) has just been published by Niyogi Books, in an elegant edition, priced at Rs 395. 

And when you read the stories, you realise that Pottekkatt has a God-given gift to cast a spell. The moment you start reading a story, you have no option but to read till the end. The writing is simple, clear, and accessible.

Or as Venugopal says, “A boy in Class 10 will like his stories and so can a 90-year-old man. Anybody can identify with the characters. Secondly, there is always some kind of intrigue. And thirdly, there is a sense of pathos. People are attracted to that because, at the core of life, there is pathos.”  

For most readers, including Venugopal, the classic story is one about a character called ‘Ottakam’, a cart-puller of simple intelligence who is taken for the ride of his life by a cunning hotel owner. And pays the ultimate price. “It takes some time to understand the ending,” says Venugopal. “And then it is as if a light bulb has been switched on all of a sudden.” 

The other story which Venugopal considers as one of his favourites is set in Nigeria and is called ‘Quahe-Ri’ (this is Nigerian for goodbye). An Englishman Seles falls in love with a native woman called Kabeena. A scion of a wealthy family, he leaves, but then realises he actually loves Kabeena. So, he returns, marries her and settles down to live among the blacks. Much later, he was shot dead by members of the white community, who were angered by what he did. 

The English translation is a very competent one. And Venugopal has followed some simple tips given by Mini. “She told me the text should be simple and to the point,” says Venugopal. “It is important to omit unnecessary words and avoid long sentences. Make the words breathe.” 

Venugopal took eight months to finish the book. And, he says, translating has had a good impact on him. “It is a very creative activity,” says Venugopal, who stays in Irinjalakuda. “You are putting your brain to work. Every sentence you write has to be thought over. That itself is therapeutic. If you are down and out, do some translations and you will feel on top of the world.”  

As for Pottekkatt he was a prolific writer. He had an oeuvre of 60 books, which included a book about personal reminiscences, three poetry anthologies, four plays, 10 novels, 18 travelogues and 24 collections of short stories 

But his forte was in travel writing. He travelled to many countries in Africa and Europe, as well as Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, and wrote entrancing pieces about his many experiences. “He was a very sharp observer,” says Venugopal. “And initially he made his mark as a travel writer.” 

But today, he is among the pantheon of the greats of Malayalam literature and won many awards. These include the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award and the acme, the Jnanpith Award in 1980. His works have been translated into many Indian languages, as well as English, Italian, German, Czech and Russian. 

Married to homemaker Jayavalli, he had two sons and two daughters. For one term, (1962-67), he was the CPM Member of Parliament from Thalassery. He died of a paralytic stroke, on August 6, 1982, at the age of 69 in Kozhikode. By then he was famous and widely respected as a writer. “I remember [Jnanpith Award winner] MT Vasudevan Nair saying that the style of Pottekkat was worth emulating,” says Venugopal. 

(Published in The New Indian Express, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kozhikode)