ADAM

 

“Ahha! How sad to think there is, in this world, nothing more wretched than human existence”.

Adam by S. Hareesh, translated from the Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil, a collection of 9 stories explores human emotions like anger, envy, greed, vengeance and lust. 

 The title story ‘Adam’ toys with a simple truth - each one has a different destiny even if they are born to the same mother. Four pups born to a Belgian Malinois dog, separated right after their birth meet different fates in this story sparking off a little memory of the Tamil movie Michael Madana Kama Rajan but swerving away from everything predictable.

In ‘Death Notice’, characters do a cool jig with the macabre using death notices from old newspapers like WWE trump cards and battling for points. There is a brush with the supernatural in this story and the next 'Murder at the Culvert'. 

‘Kavyamela’ that draws its name and idea from an old Malayalam movie works around how the society spurns the blind and how sexual desire in men has no expiry date. A man who has always had the company of others since birth finds himself alone in the story ‘Alone’ and we wonder if this delusional tale is his bad dream or experience at death’s threshold. 

‘Maoist’, the longest and most layered story (on which the Malayalam movie Jallikattu is based), details the mayhem in a village when a bull and a she-buffalo to be butchered break free. As the entire village chips in to capture the animals, we get to know who’s who in the village and witness how this episode turns into an opportunity for many to fulfill their aspirations and settle personal scores.

In these stories, the author portrays animal characters like men and vice versa, leaving the boundaries between them nebulous. For instance, the bull in Maoist is headstrong, arrogant and extremely protective of the she-buffalo, its stance depicted much like a gallant man. Victor, one of the dogs in Adam who is as able and intelligent as the police officers for whom he works, is respected like a decorated army officer. And on the other hand, Maadan is the name given to both a man and an elephant who wreak havoc in a village in the story Murder at the Culvert; and one of the protagonists in the story Magic Tail is nicknamed Kapish (a monkey). 

Arrack, wild meat, lusting after shapely women, cruelty to animals and long standing hostility are a matter of pride for men here. The author never once tries to coat his words with veneer or make them egregious when dealing with the most primal, negative emotions. The plain honesty in his writing that makes us grimace is palpable, thanks to a wonderful translation.

If you, like me, haven't read Moustache by the author, Adam offers an ideal starting place helping us readers to form a fair idea of the author's writing style. And if you have already read Moustache, Adam would have already grabbed your interest/attention.

A collection that’s a gestalt, stories in Adam linger for long after they are over.