Potent drama from routine reality

Reviewed by Kalakeerthi EDWIN ARIYADASA

People don't go to the North Pole to fall off icebergs. They go to offices, quarrel with their wives and eat cabbage soup.-Anton Chekhov

(1806 – 1904)

Peripatetic pundit, poet, public sector executive and occasional people transforming artist, Buddhadasa Galappatty, presents to the public domain an anthology of short stories, optimistically, titled Heta Newata ei (Tomorrow comes again).

In his practice of short fiction, writer Buddhadasa Galappatty pursues the Chekkovian tradition, that “deliberately eschews the dramatisation of events”, and focuses on the work-a-day lives of ordinary people as they go about their process of meeting life.

This realistic narrative formula goes counter to the art of romantic story-telling, the staple idiom of which, is invention and imaginative construction of plot. The complex development of the story line may go at a dizzying trajectory abandoning day-to day reality. Edger Allan Poe championed the fiction of this ilk.

French story

The compelling French story – teller Guy de Maupassant, gave this “species” of tale, a global popularity.

Writing about Maupassant's skill in producing the intensively contrived plot-line Somerset Maugham said:

“Maupassant does not copy life. He arranges it in order, the better to interest, excite an surprise. He does not aim at a transcription of life, but at a dramatisation of it”.

But, the Chekhovian reality exulted in a fascinating objectivity. He managed to retain his detachment, without involvement in the personal emotions of the people he keenly observed.

Buddhadasa Galappatty, presents a series of episodes he has been able to excerpt from several areas of today's society.

The telling, authentic detail, writer Galappatty has exacted out of the realities of the segment of life he has selected to concentrate on, compels readership absorption.

The initial story of the anthology - Davasak Nimavei (A day ends) – directs readership empathy towards the personal travails of an intensely troubled individual named Somadasa, who pursues a vocation, that is limited to a handful of people. He sells pastries, bread and sweetmeats at retail level, utilising a “Delivery Bicycle”. This is a risky livelihood, which at best could “deliver” only a marginal existence.

Somadasa falls ill, endangering the lives of his wife and school going daughter Kamala, who have no other alternative than to depend on this frail source of their life.

In this moving episode from the edge of society, writer Buddhadasa Galappatty, departs substantially from the known “norms’ of orthodox Chekhovian realism.

In his story B.G. “arranges” the details to “ excite, interest and surprise”, discarding the sustained “Objectivity’ of the classics of realistic fiction.

To my mind, this outcome is determined by the peculiar subjective make-up of writer Galappatty. While pursuing the art of realistic fiction, B.G. is an ultra-sensitive poet.

Though “detached realism” is his sustaining philosophy, the poet's built – in empathy emerges above the objectivity, compelling him to guide the sympathies towards the troubling fate of ailing Somadasa.

My comment is not at all a fault – finding. But, it is in a way, a tribute to writer Buddhadasa Galappatty's humanism – which emerges above cold objectivity.

The climactic surprise of the story is, once again, a manifestation of the writer's compassionate humanity.

The thematic urges of the seven short-story–creations, he has anthologised here, are an eloquent reflection of the complex layers of interests, that provide the building – blocks of his psyche.

Social ironies

The writer monumentalises the entrenched social ironies, that are comfortably embedded in some group practices in our society. Avamagul Carikava (The Funeral Tour) is a disturbing fictional record of a routine event associated with more organisations and institutions.

The story provides, effective evidence of the writer's experiences in group behaviour and the wide range of characters he has dealt with at differing levels. The two stories Dedenama Diyaniyo (Both are Daughters) and Punchi Kusumalatha (like Kusumalatha) are both replete with heart – rending pathos. These works display the writer's creative dexterity, as he has been able, in these stories, to transform ordinary material into moving modern social “myths”.

One of the most detailed stories in this anthology springs from a deep- seated sense of personal guilt. Titled Eya Mese Siduviya (It happened this way). This work fictionalises the intricate web of domestic relationships, and the sour note of a minor tinge of human guilt that mars this harmony. This is a sensitive assessment of the conscience of the head of a family, who has to suffer profoundly for an inadvertent mis-step.

The tracking of the ill-fated tale – actress’ pathetic passage, comes within the tales of disturbing pathos.

What impresses me the most about this anthology is its aspect of social chronicling. Each story in the collection is the tip of a submerged iceberg, of one specific type. This way the seven stories are protruding tips of seven types of submerged social icebergs.

But, it is the last story of this collection, that stands out pre-eminently as an instance of inventive short-story structure.

Dialogue

The whole story is a sustained dialogue between two persons, a man and a woman. The changing backgrounds, evolving steps of the erotic encounter, the intriguing denouement are all enacted impactfully only through the continued dialogue. The dialogue lines, sustain the unflagging involvement of the reader. It is as if you sat through a film-show, with only are sound-track-sans the visuals.

Writer Buddhadasa Galappatty's latest anthology, enhances the aesthetic pleasure, one derives from the participation in a super form of entertainment. B.G. is an extensively reputed writer of engrossing columns. This continued punditry has enabled him to experience an extensive range of personalities and events.

This anthology provides ample evidence to prove conclusively, that writer Buddhadasa Galappatty possesses the communicative distinction, to thrash that vast array of experiences, into mature and deeply satisfying works of fiction.