The Better Man- A Novel
by Anita Nair
SYNOPSIS OF THE BETTER MAN
The Locale: The Better Man is set in contemporary
India in a little fictitious village called Kaikurussi in the northern
part of Kerala . This region was once known as Malabar during the British
regime. After Independence, Malabar as a state/region ceased to exist.
Though Malabar has no geographical boundaries, no presence
on a map of India, it still exists as a state of mind: laid-back, slow,
to live and let live. So much so, the northern Malabaris treat the enterprising
and hard-working southerners with a disdain bordering on contempt. A person
from Malabar is so entrenched in the past that thinking of the morrow
is almost impossible. And yet, there is a discontent that is almost palpable.
Perhaps this is the reason why the region that was once
Malabar saw the growth of Naxalites [extremists who combined Marxism with
violence against all organized systems]; still has the highest recorded
number of lunatics and suicides in India and has fundamentalist political
groups thriving side by side with communist strongholds.
Kaikurussi the village is in a little hollow surrounded
by several hills. It has nothing there that would make any one come looking
for it. It is neither the birthplace of a Mahatma nor a movement. No miracles
have ever happened there. In fact, nothing of significance ever happens
there to any one. [ So when something does happen to a person, he is revered
to the point of worship.]
There is not even a road running through Kaikurussi or
a river flowing alongside it. All Kaikurussi has to define its topography
are fields, wells, a mountain and distant hills.
The Plot: An elderly bachelor and a retired
government employee, Mukundan is forced by circumstances to return to
Kaikurussi, the village he was born in. A village that he fled when he
was eighteen. And now back in his ancestral house, he finds himself unable
to cope. He is haunted by a sense of failure. For having abandoned his
mother. For not measuring up to his still alive and domineering father
Achuthan Nair's expectations. For having gone through life without really
living it....
And then there is the village itself. Mukundan realizes
that he has no role to play in the village. In fact, he discovers that
what should have been his rightful place had been usurped by an upstart
Power House Ramakrishnan.
In the first few weeks of his exile, he meets up with a
wayward genius. Bhasi or One-screw-loose-Bhasi as he is known is a house
painter and a practitioner of a mongrel system of medicine he has evolved
by combining several kinds of healing processes - herbal cures, principles
of Homeopathy..... Bhasi is deeply disturbed by Mukundan's anguish and
decides to mend the cracks in Mukundan's much battered psyche. He cajoles,
manipulates and shapes Mukundan's transformation.
But the superficiality of the change is revealed soon.
Power House Ramakrishnan on a cruel whim decides to build a community
hall in the village. And chooses Bhasi's piece of land as the site to
build on. When Bhasi refuses to sell his land, Power House Ramakrishnan
threatens to break his business and run him out of the village. As the
richest and most powerful man of the village Power House Ramakrishnan
was capable of doing just that and Bhasi knows this as well. So he turns
to Mukundan to intervene on his behalf.
Mukundan sets out to save Bhasi's home but is completely
swayed by Power House Ramakrishnan. The latter knowing how recognition-hungry
Mukundan is and how easily he would succumb to flattery uses that as his
weapon to sweep over Mukundan's objections and has him actually agreeing
to become a part of the community hall committee.
Mukundan betrays Bhasi his friend and alienates Anjana,
the woman he is in love with. [ Anjana is still married to another man
and would therefore be considered an unsuitable love by the community
hall committee.] Mukundan however does not perceive it as betrayal and
stubbornly clings to the belief that what he has done is right.
But it takes the death of Achuthan Nair, his father to
make him realize how empty his life was and would continue to be without
either Bhasi or Anjana. He is stricken by both remorse and guilt. And
the realization that he was no better than his father whom he had despised
all his life. With this comes the real transformation.
Mukundan decides to make amends. And how he goes about
it is an indicator to how much Mukundan has changed.
From a fastidious and colorless man lacking in courage
to take even the slightest of risks, Mounding becomes a man capable of
finding love and happiness. A man who discovers the varied vibrant hues
of life. A man who emerges from the shadow of his father's personality
to become a better man.
[ In many ways the essence of the book is: change is always
possible; hope never dies; and happiness can be found. You just have to
look for it and when you find it, take chances even if by doing so, the
rest of the world might turn against you. ]
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