Kollupitiya Days

The Galle Face Road is the pride of Colombo. It runs parallel to the ocean and runs down till Galle, at the bottom tip of Sri Lanka. In the capital, it houses some of the most important buildings. Embassies, hotels and government offices are followed by all kinds of shops and malls. Somewhere here is the place called Kollupitiya. Somewhere here lies the anchor to Ashok Ferrey’s 18 short stories in his wonderful book, Colpetty People.
A lot of characters you encounter here have left Sri Lanka for Europe. They have their jobs, small ones generally, and they yearn to come back home. It is however not ever too melancholic thanks to Ferrey’s witty writing. There are people who build their dream homes only to rent it and burn their fingers. There are foreign-returnees who fail to get used to a Sri Lanka that seems so different to the one they left behind. There are travellers on their first flights abroad and there are those who want to take the first flight back home. New homes, old wills, cats, dogs, maids, cooks, tenants, owners, locals, foreigners, god, devotees… they are all here. Then you have Crescat, the housing complex with the food court in Kollupitiya. Slave Island, the place which has Hotel Nippon and the shop selling food opposite it from 7 pm to 3 am. And not to forget bus no. 138, which somehow you find everywhere in Colombo.
Among books that I bought in other countries, about that country, this is the first I’ve ever read fully. It is easy to read and like good short-story collections each one of them makes you want to read the next one. Appropriately, I bought it from a shop called Barefoot, right in Colpetty.

About the author, the book says:

Ashok Ferrey has been many things: Failed builder, indifferent mathematician, barman, personal trainer to the rich and famous amongst other things.

He also writes well.

Kodiyettam – Steep climb to maturity

Sankaran Kutty is a useless bum. The only reason he is even a bit interesting is because he seems to be the lead of Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s second feature, Kodiyettam. He is in his thirties, timid, jobless, single, without even a doubt in his mind that he needs to be anything other than timid, jobless or single. He has a thing for the temple festivals, its elephants and maybe he has an interest in the widow who gives him odd jobs and lunch. He has a sister who sends him money working in the city as a maid and when she does come around to their house in the village, makes sure Sankaran gets the best of food. He also likes his drinks, but generally trouble is nowhere near him. Children tease him, elders ridicule him. He is like the cow you never see in here. It moos, he burps.
There is also, always a festival in some temple nearby. When a new elephant is bought by one such temple, Sankaran takes the entire day to just watch it being pampered by the mahouts. He, by the way, has gotten married after he feels the widow is seeing a village strongman. Still, nothing changes and he hardly ever stays home. The festivals and other events that shouldn’t necessarily matter to him take precedence. His pace is slow, just as Adoor means it. Slowly, the three anchors that kept him under control give way. The wife, the sister and the widow, in different circumstances relinquish that control. All this is till about two-thirds of the film, where the protagonist is clearly gone down to the depths of hopelessness. And this being made during the 70s “art” revolution, a revolution with its self-conscious, pessimistic outlook to life and films, would you bet on Sankaran Kutty seeing some happiness at all? You should.

A word of praise for the actors, especially the lead actor, Gopi, who plays Sankaran Kutty. He won the National Award for Kodiyettam. I am sure he wouldn’t have won even a passing mention in today’s times for it is a role where he has to appear like a nobody. No shouting, no crying, no “acting”. And he does that beautifully. He isn’t a caricature of immaturity and it is a superb achievement to have got around that role.