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Oru Sankeerthanam Pole
Oru Sankeerthanam Pole is one of the best
selling Novels in Malayalam by Perumbadavom Sreedharan’s, a noted
figure in the Malayalam literary field. This novel has acclaimed the position
of the best selling novel in a very short span of 6 years, spanning several
editions, also winning several awards including the prestigious Vayalar Award. Oru
Sankeerthanam Pole is based on the life of the Russian novelist, Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
who was an epilepsy patient. This literary work in Malayalam goes into the
emotional turmoil's of Dostoyevsky during the period in which he meets
Anna Dostoevsky, who comes in as a writer for his work "The Gambler" and
later graduates to be his lady love. Though Mr. Sreedharan's
work is purely fictional, one cannot escape noticing the
painstaking research and background study which went into the
development of this book.
The novel plotted in the backdrop of the
Russian social setup starts by describing the main weakness of Fyodor
Dostoyevsky, who himself is a novelist, his addiction to drinking and
gambling. He is pained by the loneliness and blames it for the disaster
which he is. At times, he tries to find solace in the hands of his servant
fedosya, whom he treats as if she is his beloved aunt.
Perumbadavom goes on to explain his
feelings while putting himself on Dostoyevsky’s shoes-“I could feel
that divine moment as if when one faces his fate or as if he faces the infinity
or as if he is in front of the god himself. I could feel the agony,
the frustration, the misery, the loneliness and the contempt which
Dostoyevsky felt and his inner turbulence and misery”. The reader could very
well understand the pain Perumbadavom has gone through to detail
the agony of Dostoyevsky’s life.
It was in a moment of desperation to gamble
that made Dostoyevsky sign a contract to start his new work. And to uphold
his commitment he took the help of Anna as a copy writer. For Anna it came
as a big relief, as she herself was from an impoverished family as her family
was shattered by the death of their beloved father. For Anna, the new
job was that last ray of hope from the misery she was in. At first, Anna
was annoyed at the short tempered nature of Dostoyevsky, but later as he
works with her on the book, she realizes the real person in Dostoyevsky. At
some point of time she realizes that this man, who is rude to her at times
but doesn’t shy away from apologizing, who considers his epilepsy as a god
given blessing, has made her to knowing him better to develop a soft
corner. She realizes that this soul, who is full of contempt for himself, starves
for love and his thirst for love can only be satisfied by absolute selfless
dedication and not by moments of compassion.
Perumbadavom goes on to carve out the reflections of Dostoyevsky’s personality from
each of his works through the memoirs of the Novelist and Anna herself. Through the
words of Dostoyevsky, the Novelist describes Anna as a very compassionate
and intelligent woman, her underlying intellectual and moral capabilities
showing at every aspect. Dostoyevsky is tempted at every single idea to halt
the current work and start a new one as soon as it strikes him, but his commitment
with his publisher makes him to come into terms with reality which
denies the freedom and forces him to stay on to finish his work. Through
the narration of Anna, the author tries to portray all the characters that influence
Dostoyevsky’s life. The main character of his new work Alexi derives his life
from the author’s own persona and Paullina, the lady of his work, is his real
life friend whom he meets in his first love and wife’s death bed. Anna does not agree
when Dostoyevsky claims that he is one of God’s many mistakes. For her, this man
looks like the best of god’s creations. As Dostoyevsky says, he is overwhelmed
by the number of ideas which flood his mind and the subjects to write on, unlike
other authors for whom scarcity of subjects was the biggest concerns. Dostoyevsky
brings in much pain for himself out of the sympathy which he extends
towards his close relatives and friends. Anna wonders whether Dostoyevsky’s
characters are all from his life, with all of them sharing the pain which he
suffers in his own life, which surprises Dostoyevsky. At one point he talks about
writing a novel with a very decent person as the lead character, which personifies
all the good things Dostoyevsky had ever done in his life. He thinks that this
work when completed will grow all bounds and will leap as the best work he
has ever done.
At some point Anna realizes that she is in love
with Dostoyevsky and this cause for a lot of turmoil and trauma for her. During
one occasion when her mother asks about the novel, Anna goes on to explain
the character of the novelist, which surprises her mother. Dostoyevsky explains his
new love for Anna as if it’s his new work. Even though Dostoyevsky is afraid of his
new affair due to the large age difference between them, Anna holds on to defend
the same. Anna realizes that the gentleman whom she leaves every night turns out
to become like a savage the next day morning because of his addiction for
gambling, and she spares all her life’s saving to Dostoyevsky to
let him gamble. But in the end when Dostoyevsky comes back home after
loosing everything which he won in the gamble, Anna feels sympathetic
and feels pity for him. The novel explains the character of Dostoyevsky in a
very poetic approach so as to arouse the reader’s sympathy, instead of
contempt for this drunkard and gambler. In the author’s words, Anna rises
like a brave woman in his life. As Perumbadavom says 'Dostoyevsky looks onto Anna with
all the desire he had to live and felt the divine presence when he held Anna
in his arms, the god himself standing guard for those wonderful moments. He
felt that moment as delightful as if two love torn souls separated
by death or a tragedy found them selves together in heaven'.
The words of Perumbadavom inspire us to appreciate the life of Dostoyevsky, the
Novelist who is acclaimed to have a heart autographed by god, due to the
strength and quality of his writing. A must read for all malayalee’s, this
book is published by Sankeerthanam Books.
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