FICTION
Secrets in the family
NIMI KURIAN
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Eraly portrays various aspects of relationships — some dark, some fiery, some sleazy.
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Night of the Dark Trees; Abraham Eraly, Penguin, Rs. 325
A MAN with a strange name, a penchant for servant women, and a creative genius that waits to be realised. This is the core essence of Abraham Eraly's book Night of the Dark Trees.
The book begins with the name "Zerubbabel, Zeruba for short". All through school he has had a problem with this preposterous Old Testament name and was often called Seruvaval. Jokes about his name are aplenty. But he "didn't give a damn". He has so named because his grandfather hoped that like the Biblical hero, Zerubbabel would lead the family out of their misfortunes.
At a cocktail party hosted by a Madras socialite, Zerubbabel meets Aditi. And even before he knows what is happening he is in bed with her, in love with her, courting her and marrying her.
At the same time, he ensures that the young servant maid he is sleeping with is married off with a sizeable dowry to a "good" man. The story meanders through the rocky marriage of Zerubbabel and Aditi, with both of them cheating on the other, knowing about the other's infidelity and ending up in righteous anger.
Some semblance of order comes to his life finally with the introduction of Anjali.
Dispassionate style
Bits and pieces of the history of the Syrian Christians are thrown in, together with the downfall of Zerubbabel's family wealth, the loss of land and finally their loss of status in their village in Kerala.
The bitterness and rancour of a once wealthy family now descended to nothing is explained in great detail and may be it is the dispassionate, unemotional style that adds to the deep sadness of loss.
Eraly's prose is easy and lucid. But at times it seems as if Eraly is simply recounting the events of the day: They were still fighting with each other occasionally at that time, and that was a good sign. As long as they fought, there was some hope of sustaining the marriage, for it meant that they were still involved with each other, and it was to force changes in each other that they fought. But soon they gave up on each other — at least Zeruba did — and there were no more spats.
Well written, Eraly portrays various aspects of relationships — some dark, some fiery, some downright sleazy.
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