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Basheer, the sultan who spoke the rustic tongue

Thiruvananthapuram: Literary critics and the common man alike have been making a beeline to Vaikom Mohammed Basheer’s home. He is fondly remembered as the ‘Beypore Sultan’ for taking Malayalam writing off the beaten track.

The house in Kozhikode district and the tree under the shade of which Basheer relaxed in an armchair have become part of the legend as the State celebrates the birth centenary of the novelist, short story writer, humanist and freedom fighter.

Basheer spent many years there with his wife, Fabi, son Anees and daughter Shahina after release from jail. He was incarcerated for taking part in Gandhiji’s ‘Salt Satyagraha.’

Born on January 31, 1908, Basheer was a maverick to the hilt. He paid scant regard to grammar and syntax preferring rustic language and kept the British Raj fuming with his anti-establishment journal ‘Ujjeevanam’ (Rejuvenation). “Basheer used to say he was never sure about the Malayalam alphabet. This apparent inadequacy compelled him to invent an idiom closest to the everyday life of Malayalis which revolutionised the art of story-telling,” says poet and critic K. Satchidanandan.

He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1982, two years before he died.

He, it is said, once used a citation he received for his role in the Independence movement to chase away a fox that sneaked into the compound of his house.

During those days, he was on the brink of starvation and worked as a newspaper seller, fortune teller, loom fitter, cook, hotel manager, accountant, fruit seller, sports goods agent and watchman.

Basheer also spent five years among Hindu and Sufi mystics. His work ‘Mathilukal,’ was made a film by Adoor Gopalakrishnan with Mammootty in the lead. After watching the film, Basheer told Adoor in a lighter vein that he looked ‘more handsome’ than the matinee idol in his younger days. He wrote 13 novels and 13 collections of short stories besides several articles, essays and plays. Basheer suffered mental breakdowns too. His ‘Pathummayude Aadu’ was written while he was under treatment at a mental asylum. — PTI

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