Ian Fleming (1908 - 1964)

Born: 28 May 1908

Birthplace: London, England

Died: 12 August 1964 (pleurisy and internal bleeding)

Best Known As: The creator of James Bond 007

Writer Ian Fleming (1909-1964) created the character of James Bond 007, Ian Fleming is the creator of the fictional superspy James Bond. Bond is a suave, lady-killing British agent who travels the globe, battles super-villains bent on world domination, and famously prefers his vodka martinis "shaken, not stirred.". Ian Fleming debuted in the 1952 novel Casino Royale. After publishing his first Bond adventure, Casino Royale, in 1953, Fleming wrote one Bond book each year until his death. The stories spawned a highly profitable movie series which continued into the 21st century, with Sean Connery and Roger Moore the most famous actors to play Bond. Fleming also wrote a series of travel books and the popular children's story Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. . Ian Fleming lived a remarkably uncompromising life in a world full of compromises

Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, leaves a legacy as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Fleming's contribution to popular literature and post-war Western culture cannot be overstated

Fleming single-handedly transformed popular detective and spy fiction from the dark, middle-class heroes of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Sapper, to the elegant world of his own, seen through the eye of James Bond, secret agent 007. Bond grew from the literary world of Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, E. Phillips Oppenheim, John Buchan and Sax Rohmer.

Fleming argued that he created Bond as "an interesting man to whom extraordinary things happen." Fleming appropriated the name "James Bond" from the author of Birds Of The West Indies because he felt the name suitably "dull" and "anonymous."

In contrast to Fleming's desire, Bond's skill at high-stakes gambling (Casino Royale), his easy of knowledge of the best wines, champagnes, automobiles, and cigarettes made 007 an icon of class. From Dom Perignon to Morland's cigarettes, from Bentleys to Aston Martins, James Bond defines a certain elegant taste (Bond's original Bentley was a nod to Bulldog Drummond's identical car).

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R. K Laxman (1924)

Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Laxman (b. 23-10-1924) is an Indian cartoonist, illustrator and humorist. He is widely regarded as India's greatest-ever cartoonist and is best known for his creation The Common Man.

R. K. Laxman was born in Mysore, now a part of the South Indian state of Karnataka. His father was a headmaster and Laxman was the youngest of six boys. One of his elder brothers, Rasipuram Krishnaswami Ayyar Narayanaswami, went on to become one of India's best known English language novelists.

Laxman was engrossed by the illustrations in magazines such as Strand Magazine, Punch, Bystander, Wide World and Tit-Bits, even before he could read. Soon he was drawing on his own, on the floors, walls and doors of his house and doodling caricatures of his teachers at school; praised by a teacher for his drawing of a peepal leaf, he began to think of himself as an artist in the making. Another early influence on Laxman were the cartoons of the world-renowned British cartoonist, Sir David Low (whose signature he misread as "cow" for a long time) that appeared now and then in The Hindu.Laxman notes in his autobiography, The Tunnel of Time:

Laxman was the captain of his local "Rough and Tough and Jolly" cricket team and his antics inspired the stories "Dodu the money maker" and "The Regal Cricket Club" written by his brother, Narayan. Laxman's idyllic childhood was shaken for a while when his father suffered a paralytic stroke and died around a year later, but the elders at home bore most of the increased responsibility, while Laxman continued with his schooling.


After high school, Laxman applied to the JJ School of Arts, Bombay hoping to concenterate on his lifelong interests of drawing and painting, but the dean of the school wrote to him that his drawings lacked, "the kind of talent to qualify for enrollment in our institution as a student", and refused admission. He finally graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Mysore. In the meantime he continued his freelance artistic activities and contributed cartoons to Swarajya and an animated film based on the mythological character, Narada.

Books

* The Eloquent Brush: A Selection of Cartoons from Nehru to Rajiv
* 50 Years of Independence through the eyes of R.K.Laxman
* The Best of Laxman series
* Hotel Riviera
* The Messenger
* Servants of India
* The Tunnel of Time (autobiography)


Click here to see the Best of R. K Laxman

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Anita Desai (1937 )

Anita Desai was born in Mussoorie, a hill station north of Delhi, as the daughter of a D.N. Mazumdar, a Bengali businessman, and the former Toni Nime, of German origin. She grew up speaking German at home and Bengali, Urdu, Hindi and English at school and in the city streets. She has said that she grew up surrounded by Western literature and music, not realizing until she was older that this was an anomaly in her world where she also learned the Eastern culture and customs. She married a businessman at twenty-one and raised several children before becoming known for her writing. Her first book, Cry,the Peacock was published in England in 1963, and her better known novels include In Custody (1984) and Baumgartner's Bombay (1988). She once wrote: "I see India through my mother's eyes, as an outsider, but my feelings for India are my father's, of someone born here" (Griffiths).

Anita Desai was born June 24, 1937 in India to a German mother and an Indian father. Although she now resides in South Hadley, Massachusetts, teaching writing at Mount Holyoke College, she is a member of the Advisory Board for English in New Delhi. Desai writes in English, saying, "I first learned English when I went to school. It was the first language that I learned to read and write, so it became my literary language. Languages tend to proliferate around one in India, and one tends to pick up and use whatever is at hand. It makes one realize each language has its own distinct genius." Her family spoke German at home and Hindi to their friends.

Desai's work is part of a new style of writing to come out of India which is not nearly as conservative as Indian writing has been in the past. One concern that is part of her work, especially the novel Baumgartner's Bombay, is that about foreignness and dividedness. Desai grew up during World War II and could see the anxiety her German mother was experiencing about the situation and her family in Germany. After the war when she realized the Germany she had known was devasted, her mother never returned there, nor had any desire to return. Anita herself did not visit until she was an adult.

She never considered trying to first publish in India because there was no publisher in India who would be interested in fiction by an Indian writer (Jussawalla) and it was first in England that her work became noticed. U.S. readers were slower to discover her, due, she believes to England's natural interest in India and the U.S.'s lack of comprehension regarding the foreignness of her subject.

But Desai only writes in English. This, she has repeatedly said,was a natural and unconscious choice for her: "I can state definitely that I did not choose English in a deliberate and conscious act and I'd say perhaps it was the language that chose me and I started writing stories in English at the age of seven, and have been doing so for thirty years now without stopping to think why "(Desai).

She is considered the writer who introduced the psychological novel in the tradition of Virginia Woolf to India. Included in this, is her pioneer status of writing of feminist issues. While many people today would not classify her work as feminist, she believes this is due to changing times: "The feminist movement in India is very new and a younger generation of readers in India tends to be rather impatient of my books and to think of them as books about completely helpless women, hopeless women. They find it somewhat unreal that the women don't fight back, but they don't seem to realize how very new this movement is" (Jussawalla).

Also, she says, her writing is realistic: "Women think I am doing a disservice to the feminist movement by writing about women who have no control over their lives. But I was trying, as every writer tries to do, even in fiction, to get at the truth, write the truth. It would have been really fanciful if I had made [for example, in Clear Light of Day] Bim and Tara modern-day feminists "(in Griffiths).

Desai considers Clear Light of Day, her most autobiographical book, because she was writing about her neighborhood in Delhi, although the characters are not based on her brothers and sisters. What she was exploring in this novel, she has said, was the importance of childhood and memories as the source of a life. She had wanted to start the book at the end and move backwards, into the characters' childhood and further, into the childhood of their parents etc., but in the end: "When I had gone as far back as their infancy the book just ground to a halt; it lost its momentum. It told me that this was done, that I couldn't carry it further. But I still have a sense of disappointment about that book, because the intention had been different" (Jussawalla). The character of Raja is identified with her in the sense that he is so immersed in all different types of literature and culture, and is so concerned with protecting the multicultural heritage of India. His worries about the Muslim neighbor family is not just about them particularly, but rather worry about the loss of all that the Muslim culture and literature contributes to India.

While Desai has taught for years at Mount Holyoke and MIT, and spends most of the year outside of India, she does not consider herself part of the Indian Diaspora. Although she does not fit in the Indian box anymore (Griffiths) as she said, she considers herself lucky for having not left India until late in her life, because she feels that she has been drifting away from it ever since: "I can't really write of it with the same intensity and familiarity that I once had." Yet she cannot feel at home in any other place or society (Griffiths).

Selected works:

* The Peacock, 1963
* Voices in the City, 1965
* Bye-Bye, Blackbird, 1971
* The Peacock Garden, 1974
* Where Shall We Go This Summer?, 1975
* Cat on a Houseboat, 1976
* Fire on the Mountain, 1977
* Games at Twilight and Other Stories, 1978
* Clear Light of Day, 1980
* Village by the Sea, 1982
* In Custody, 1984 - film 1993, dir. by Ismail Merchant, starring Shashi Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Om Puri, screenplay by Anita Desai
* Baumgartner's Bombay, 1988
* Journey to Ithaca, 1996
* Fasting, Feasting, 1999
* Diamond Dust, 2000
* The Zigzag Way: A Novel, 2004


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Vikram Seth (1952)

Born in 1952 in Calcutta, India, Vikram Seth was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, Stanford University and Nanjing University. He has travelled widely and lived in Britain, California, India and China. His first novel, The Golden Gate: A Novel in Verse (1986), describes the experiences of a group of friends living in California. His acclaimed epic of Indian life, A Suitable Boy (1993), won the WH Smith Literary Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book). Set in India in the early 1950s, it is the story of a young girl, Lata, and her search for a husband. An Equal Music (1999), is the story of a violinist haunted by the memory of a former lover.

Vikram Seth is also the author of a travel book, From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet (1983), an account of a journey through Tibet, China and Nepal that won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, and a libretto, Arion and the Dolphin: A Libretto (1994), which was performed at the English National Opera in June 1994, with music by Alec Roth. His poetry includes Mappings (1980), The Humble Administrator's Garden (1985), winner of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize (Asia), and All You Who Sleep Tonight: Poems (1990). His children's book, Beastly Tales from Here and There (1992), consists of ten stories about animals told in verse.

Vikram Seth's latest work is Two Lives (2005), a memoir of the marriage of his great uncle and aunt.
Vikram Seth was paid $430,000 by the British publishers Orion for his second novel A Suitable Boy. The 1,349 page novel is considered to be the longest novel in a single volume.

Bibliography

Mappings Writer's Workshop (Calcutta) (re-issued Viking 1994), 1980
From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet Chatto & Windus, 1983
The Humble Administrator's Garden Carcanet, 1985
The Golden Gate: A Novel in Verse Faber and Faber, 1986
All You Who Sleep Tonight: Poems Faber and Faber, 1990
Beastly Tales from Here and There (illustrated by Ravi Shankar, re-issued Phoenix House 2002) Phoenix House, 1992
Three Chinese Poets: Translations of Poems by Wang Wei, Li Bai and Du Fu Faber and Faber, 1992
A Suitable Boy Phoenix House, 1993
Arion and the Dolphin: A Libretto Phoenix House, 1994
An Equal Music Phoenix House, 1999
Two Lives Time Warner, 2005

Click Here for works of Vikram Seth

R. K. Narayan (1906 -2001)

R. K. Narayan (Rasipuram Krishnaswami Ayyar Naranayanaswami) was born in Madras in 1906 and educated there and at Maharajah's College in Mysore. He has lived in India ever since, apart from his travels. Most of his work, starting from his first novel Swami and friends (1935) is set in the fictional town of Malgudi which at the same time captures everything Indian while having a unique identity of its own. After having read only a few of his books it is difficult to shake off the feeling that you have vicariously lived in this town. Malgudi is perhaps the single most endearing "character" R. K. Narayan has ever created.

He has published numerous novels, five collections of short stories (A Horse and Two Goats, An Astrologer's Day, Lawley Road, Malgudi Days, and The Grandmother's Tale), two travel books (My Dateless Diary and The Emerald Route), four collections of essays (Next Sunday, Reluctant Guru, A Writer's Nightmare, and A Story-Teller's World), a memoir (My Days), and some translations of Indian epics and myths (The Ramayana, The Mahabharata, and Gods, Demons and Others).

In 1980, R. K. Narayan was awarded the A.C. Benson award by the Royal Society of Literature and was made an Honorary Member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1989 he was made a member of the Rajya Sabha (the non-elective House of Parliament in India). He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for The Guide (1958).

R. K. Narayan's full name is Rasipuram Krishnaswami Ayyar Naranayanaswami. In his early years he signed his name as R. K. Narayanaswami, but apparently at the time of the publication of Swami and Friends, he shortened it to R. K. Narayan on Graham Greene's suggestion."(from R. K. Narayan:
a Profile)

Novels

* Swami and Friends (1935)
* The Bachelor of Arts (1937)
* The Dark Room (1938)
* The English Teacher (1945)
* Mr. Sampath - The Printer of Malgudi (1949)
* The Financial Expert (1952)
* Waiting for the Mahatma (1955)
* The Guide (1958)
* The Man-Eater of Malgudi (1961)
* The Vendor of Sweets (1967)
* The Painter of Signs (1976)
* A Tiger for Malgudi (1983)
* Talkative Man (1986)
* The World of Nagaraj (1990)
* A Grandmother's Tale (1994)

Collections

* The World of Malgudi (2000)
* Salt and Sawdust: Stories and Table-Talk

Short Story Collections

An asterisk indicates a collection published only in India.

* Dodu and Other Stories (1943)*
* Cyclone and Other Stories (1945)*
* An Astrologer's Day and Other Short Stories (1947)
* Lawley Road and Other Stories (1956)*
* A Horse and Two Goats (1970)
* Malgudi Days (1982)
* Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories (1985)
* The Grandmother's Tale and Selected Stories (1993)
* The Watchman
* Fruition at Forty

Non-Fiction

* Next Sunday (1960)
* My Dateless Diary (1964)
* My Days (1974)
* The Emerald Route (1980)
* A Writer's Nightmare (1988)
* Like The Sun

Mythology

* Gods, Demons and Others (1965)
* The Ramayana (1972)
* The Mahabharata (1972)

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M. T. Vasudevan Nair (15 July 1933)

M. T. Vasudevan Nair was born in Kudallur, a small village in Palakkad district, in the Indian state of Keral, in July 15, 1933. His first short stories, written in his native language, Malayalam, were published in several magazines while he was a youth.The young author’s first volume of narratives came out in 1952. His debut novel Nalukettu (1958; Eng. The Ancestral House,1959) won him the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1959. The National Book Trust made it possible for him to have the book translated into all the official languages of India. M. T. Vasudevan Nair lives in Calicut/Kerala, India.

M. T. Vasudevan Nair, popularly known as MT, is a renowned Malayalam author, screenplay writer and film director. He was born on , 1933 in Kudallur, a. He is one of the most prolific and versatile writer of modern Malayalam literature. His novels, short stories and screenplays speak of the pain and anguish of the Kerala society in the post independence India.

The essence of his work is self-suffering and its emotional intensity hold the readers captivated. The story of Koodalloor village and Bharathapuzha are the most repeated and favourite theme. He explores the silences in life, in the folk tales of forgotten heroes and in the legends of warriors from epics forever retold. MT, as Vasudevan Nair is more popularly known, makes heroes out of villains and winners out of losers. The man who sourced stories in silences agrees that his tales will leave behind silences too. He was married twice

Major works

Novels

* Manju (Mist)
* Kalam (Time)
* Nalukettu (Ancestral House)
* Asuravithu (Seed of the Demon)
* Vilapayathra (The Funeral Procession)
* Pathiravum Pakalvelichavum (Midnight and Daylight)
* Arabipponnu (The Gold of Arabia, written with N.P. Muhammed)
* Randamoozham (Second Turn)
* Varanasi (Benares)

Stories

* Iruttinte Atmavu
* Olavum Theeravum
* Kuttyedathi
* Varikkuzhi
* Pathanam
* Bandhanam
* Swargam Thurakkunna Samayam
* Ninte
* Vanaprastham
* Dar-es-salam
* Raktham Puranda Mantharikal
* Veyilum Nilavum
* Kaliveedu
* Vedanayude Pookkal
* Sherlock

Screenplays

* Olavum Theeravum
* Murappennu
* Nagarame Nanni
* Asuravithu
* Pakalkkinavu
* Iruttinte Atmavu
* Kuttiyedathi
* Oppol
* Edavazhiyile Poocha Mindapoocha
* Evideyo Oru Shatru
* Ennu Swantham Janakikkuttikku (based on the short story Cheriya cheriya bhookampangal)
* Vellam
* Panchagni
* Nakhakshatangal
* Amritam Gamaya
* Aaroodam
* Allkottathil Thaniye
* Adiyozhukkukal
* Uyarangalil
* Rithubhedam
* Vaishaali
* Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha
* Perunthachan
* Sukrutham
* Parinayam
* Teerthadanam (based on his story Vanaprastham)
* Aaranyakam

Films and Documentaries

* Nirmalyam (Offerings, 1973)
* Mohini Attam (Documentary, 1977)
* Bandhanam (Bounding Ties, 1978)
* Manju (Mist, 1982)
* Varikuzhy (The Trap, 1982)
* Kadavu (Ferry, 1991)
* Oru Cheru Punchiri (A slender smile, 2000)
* Thakazhi (Documentary on Malayalam writer Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai)


Download Works By M T Vasudevan Nair

To read English version of RANDAMOOZHAM (SECOND TURN ) - CLICK HERE

Ayyappa Panicker (1930 -2006)

Dr. K. Ayyappa Panicker (September 12, 1930 in Kavalam near Alappuzha - August 23, 2006 in Thiruvananthapuram) was a Malayalam poet, critic and a scholar, has been the pioneer of modernism in Kerala. His influence has been quite profound and far-reaching in the entire cultural and intellectual life of the Malayalee. If in poetry Paniker could be seen as the harbinger of a new voice, in the field of literary criticism he ushered in a paradigm shift towards a radically newer awareness.

His influence on modern Malayalam theatre and on new playwrights has been of equal importance G.Sankara Pillai, Kavalam Narayana Paniker and Narendra Prasad have all come under his sphere of thinking at one time or other. Similar has been the case with film and filmmakers like G.Aravindan, John Abraham and actors like Bharat Gopi and Nedumudi Venu. Among the visual artists Paniker's influence is evidenced by his long standing association with M.V.Devan, Paris Viswanathan and others.

Above all Ayyappa Paniker has come to be regarded as an icon of modernist culture and thinking. A widely travelled scholar and poet of international renown, he is a unique instance of creative and intellectual genius.

Paniker published his first poem at the age of 16. After graduating from University of Kerala, he took his doctorate from Indiana University and did post-doctoral research in Yale and Harvard University.

Dr. Paniker is a recipient of a number of honours including the Padmashree, Kerala Sahitya Akademi award for poetry and criticism, Kendra Sahitya Akademi award for poetry, Saraswathi Samman, Distinguished Teacher award, Mahakavi Ulloor award for poetry, Kabir Samman, International man of the year (IBC, Cambridge, UK), Indira Gandhi memorial fellowship, Gangadhar Meher National award for poetry, Asan prize and Jana Sanskriti award (Abu Dhabi), Vayalar award, and Vallathol award.

Paniker joined CMS College, Kottayam as a lecturer of English in 1951 and later became a Professor at the Institute of English and Head of the department in University of Kerala.

Books written By Ayyappa Panicker

Malayattoor Ramakrishnan (1927-1997)

Born in 1927 at Kalpathi in Palakkad, K V Ramakrishna Iyer was to become famous later as Malayattoor Ramakrishnan. He worked as sub editor in Free Press Journal in Mumbai. This was a brief dalliance with journalism. He later entered the judicial service and was a magistrate for sometime.

Malayattoor entered the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1957. His long career as a bureaucrat is narrated in his work The Service Story. He was a member of the Revenue Board and chairman of Lalitha Kala Akademi for seven years. He had interacted with a lot of ministers belonging to different political hues, most of whom later became his friends. In fact, Malayattoor was one writer who had friends everywhere.

He resigned from the IAS in 1981 to devote himself fully to writing.

Malayattoor's Verukal had won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi award. Among his other famous novels are Yakshi, Yantram, Nettoor Mathom and Amritham Thedi.He had also published a series of books revolving around the character Brigadier, a tough as nails ex-soldier who is a hard drinker and also a rascal to boot. His novel Yantram had bagged the Vayalar award. Malayattoor had also translated the Sherlock Holmes novels and Bram Stoker's Dracula to Malayalam. He was also an impulsive artist and drew hundreds of cartoons and sketches of his friends. Though some of his writings do have autobiographical strains, he also wrote some autobiographical works including Service Story and Ente IAS Dinangal which was serialised by a newspaper.

Malayattoor had also authored scripts for several films. The most famous of these were Yakshi, starring Sathyan and Iyer The Great starring Mammootty.

He had also directed a film Odukkam Thudakkam. Quite recently he was involved in a litigation with actress Hema Malini, who had made a Hindi version of Yakshi.

He was also one of those rare writers who was comfortable in both English and Malayalam.

Malayattoor, author of more than a dozen novels and a number of short stories was a multifaceted personality. He was a well-known cartoonist and painter also. He had also done scripts for films. His Brigadier Stories had broken fresh ground in Malayalam humour literature.

Works by Malayattoor Ramakrishnan

O N V Kurup (May 27, 1931)

O. N. V. Kurup (Ottaplavil Neelakandan Velu Kurup) born on May 27, 1931 at Chavara , a coastal village in Kerala is one of the greatest poets Kerala has seen. He spent his childhood in an environment where a peaceful agrarian culture was in constant confrontation with industrialisation.

Poetry, according to O N V, was a drop of light that came to him in the dark solitude of his childhood. His first published poem was 'Munnottu' (Forward) which appeared in a local weekly in 1946. It was only an outburst of his exuberant patriotic sentiments, but it marked the beginning of a long poetic career.

In every poem, the poet assumes the role of the spokesman of millions who are languishing in darkness and poses questions to the reader. He is not bothered about 'isms' in literature, but he writes poetry as it comes to him. His poems purveys the message to fight the battle of life against tyranny, desecration and destruction.


POETRY (Malayalam)

1. Dahikunna Panapatram
2. Marubhumi
3. Nilakkannukal
4. Mayilppili
5. Oru Tulli Velicham
6. Agni Salabhangal
7. Aksaram
8. Karutta pakshiyude pattu
9. Uppu
10. Bhumikku Oru Charamagitam
11. Sarngakappakshikal
12. Mrgaya
13. Tonniaksharangal
14. Aparahnam
15. Ujjayini
16. Veruthe
17. Swayamvaram
18. Bhairavante Thudi
19. Oyenviyude Ganangal (Collection of 1500 songs)
20. Valappottukal (childrens poems)

PROSE

1. Kavitayile Samantara Rekhakal
2. Kavitayile Pratisandhikal
3. Ezhuthachan - Oru Padanam
4. Patheyam
5. Kalpanikam
6. Pushkin - Swatantrya Bodhatinte Durantagatha

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S. K. Pottekkatt (1913 - 1982)

Sankaran Kutty Pottekkat (March 14 1913–August 6 1982) was an author from Kerala state of south India, whose work Oru Desattinte Katha (The Story of a Land) fetched him the Jnanpith Award in 1980.

Sankarankutty or S.K. Pottakkat as he is best known by his readers, was born at Kozhikode as the son of Kunchiraman Pottakkat, an English schoolteacher. After graduating from Zamorin’s College, Kozhikode he went on to work as a teacher in a Gujarati local school for a year. It was at this time as if bitten by the travel bug that Pottakkat began his great odyssey that would ultimately take him to many parts of the globe including destinations in Asia, Africa and Europe.

As a first step he traveled to Bombay in 1939 where he worked for some years punctuated by extensive travels across the country. Providentially, this Bombay trip (described in his travelogue and memoir Ente Vazhiyambalangal) broadened his mental horizons and in effect was a turning point in his literary life. While in Bombay, and even before that, he involved himself in the India’s freedom struggle and worked alongside with patriots like Mathai Manjooran.

In 1939 he wrote his first novel Naadanpremam while he was in Bombay which was followed by Yavanikakku Pinnil (a collection of short stories) in 1940, followed by the second novel Vishakanyaka which bagged the prize of Madras government in 1949.

As an aside to his extensive travels and literary works,Pottakkat dallied with politics. In 1957 he contested for the parliamentary election from Tellicherry but lost by just 1000 votes. However, in 1962 he won a thumping victory with a majority of 66,000 votes from the same constituency against his fellow littérateur Sukumar Azhikode.

His novel Oru Theruvinte Katha swept off the Kerala Sahithya Academy Award. Then finally came the novel Oru Desattinte Katha which bagged both the Kerala Sahithya Academy in 1972 and the Kendra Sahithya Academy Award in 1977.

Then finally in 1980, two years before his death, as a fitting finale to the vocation of a great writer Pottakkat was awarded the prestigious Jnanpith Award.

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Vaikom Muhammed Basheer (1908 - 1994 )

Vaikom Muhammad Basheer (born. at Thalayolaparambu in Vaikom, 21 January 1908; died. at Beypore in Calicut, 5 July 1994) was a Malayalam fiction writer. He was a humanist, freedom fighter, novelist and short story writer. He was awarded the prestigious Padma Sri in 1982

Malayalam writer Vaikom Mohammed Basheer's stories take us to the magic world. Basheer wrote short stories, novels, skits and even an occasional play. The really unusual thing about his stories is that they are funny, but in a lingering sad way. Basheer wrote with great sympathy about Christians, Muslims and people of the lower castes in Kerala. His writings were very powerful for upon reading them people changed their opinion of the way various communities, like the Mappila Muslims of Malabar spoke Malayalam. It was earlier thought of as vulgar, but Basheer made it charming.

His style was open and simple. But above all, anyone reading his stories would immediately be able to imagine the picture in their minds. And his stories were full of sharp observation and fine details:

Me Grandad 'Ad an Elephant (1951) is one of Basheer's best works. It is the tale of the pretty, pampered Muslim girl Kunjupattumma whose rich granddad owned a big elephant.

Kunjupattumma was always beautifully dressed in silks and jewels, and had proposals of marriage coming to her one after another. She was lucky in all but one respect. She wasn't allowed to talk to her neighbours' children...

Basheer's writing style was such that it inspired an entire generation of visual artists. These artists went on to illustrate storybooks using his style.

Basheer was a tall, bald and lanky man with deep set eyes and a furrowed forehead. He was born on July 10, 1908, to a lower middle class Muslim family in Vaikom, a province in what was then the princely state of Travancore (now Kerala).

He led an interesting life full of events. As a teenager, he ran away from school to Malabar. The reason: he wanted to take part in the Indian freedom movement. He played an active role in the struggle and even went to jail for it.

Basheer was a great wanderer. He lived life as a beggar, porter and errand boy to support himself. Once, he even smuggled into a steamer and visited some Gulf countries. When he returned to his hometown he again jumped into the freedom movement. Prison became home several times again. This part of his life was to help him in his writing later: he described the misery of the prison in many stories.

One of his stories, 'Walls', was made into an acclaimed film by well-known Malayalam filmmaker, Adoor Gopalakrishnan some years ago.

After India gained independence in 1947, Basheer immersed himself fully in writing. His creativity was at its peak. But the Malayalam publishing scene was in a sad state. So he often starved. He kept on writing though, and was always encouraged by his numerous friends and admirers.

In 1950, his friends found for him the perfect soulmate in young Fatima Beevi. They married and settled down on the banks of river Beypore, in Kozhikode. They had one son and one daughter.

Basheer, who authored 34 books, died when he was over eighty. Many of his works have been translated into Indian and foreign languages. Translation has helped to spread Basheer's reputation as the master who raised Malayalam fiction to international standards.

He won many awards in his lifetime. But the greatest reward has been conferred on this great writer by fellow Malayali themselves. His characters and phrases are today a part of everyday Malayali conversation.

Published works

Novels

1. Premalekhanam [The love letter] (1943).
2. Baalyakaalasakhi [Childhood friend] (1944).
3. Shabdangal [Voices] (1947).
4. Ntuppuppaakkoraanaendaarnnu [Me gran'dad 'ad an elephant] (1951).
5. Maranaththinte Nizhalil [In the shadow of death] (1951).
6. Muchcheettukalikkaarante Makal [The daughter of the card-shark] (1951).
7. Sthalaththe Pradhaana Divyan [The principal divine of the place] (1953).
8. Aanavaariyum Ponkurishum [Elephant scooper and Golden cross] (1953).
9. Jeevithanizhalppaadukal [The shadows of life] (1954).
10. Paaththummaayude Aadu [Paaththumma's goat] (1959).
11. Mathilukal [Walls] ( basis for a film (1989) by Adoor Gopalakrishnan) (1965).
12. Thaaraa Specials (1968).
13. Maanthrikapoochcha [The magic cat] (1968).

Short Stories

1. Janmadinam [Birthday] (1945).
2. Ormakkurippu [Jottings from memory] (1946).
3. Anargha nimisham [Invaluable instant] (See Anal Haq) (1946).
4. Viddikalude Swargam [Fools' paradise] (1948).
5. Paavappettavarudaey Vaeshya [The courtesan of the poor] (1952).
6. Vishwavikhkhyaathamaaya Mookku [The world-renowned nose] (1954).
7. Vishappu [Hunger] (1954).
8. Oru Bhagavadgeethayum Kuraey Mulakalum [A Bhagavadgeetha and some breasts] (Short stories) (1967).
9. Aanappooda [Elephant-hair] (1975).
10. Chirikkunna Marappaava [The laughing wooden doll] (1975).
11. Bhoomiyudaey Avakaashikal [The inheritors of the earth] (1977).
12. Shinkidimunkan (1991).
13. Yaa Ilaahi! [Oh God!] (published posthumously) (1997).

Others

1. Kathaabeejam [Story seed] (Play) (1945).
2. Nerum Nunayum [Truth and lie] (Commentary and letters) (1969).
3. Ormmayudaey Arakal [The cells of memory] (Commentary and reminiscences) (1973).
4. Anuraagaththintaey Dhinangal [The days of desire] (Diary; originally titled Kaamukantaey diary [The diary of the paramour] and changed later on the suggestion of M. T. Vasudevan Nair) (1983).
5. Bhaargavinilayam [The house named Bhaargavi] (Screenplay for a film (1964) by A. Vincent which is credited as the first horror cinema in malayalam; adapted from the short story Neelavelichcham [The blue glow]) (1985).
6. M. P. Paul (Reminiscences of his friendship with M. P. Paul) (1991).
7. Cheviyorkkuka! Anthimakaahalam!! [Hark! The final clarion-call!!] (Speech) (1992).

Download Books Written By Vaikom Muhammed Basheer