The Other Face
(Translation of Dr N Mogasale’s Kannada Novel
Mukhantara
Comparisons are often difficult and it is
more true when writers in regional languages
are pitted against the English counterparts. But, having read Dr N
Thirumaleshwara Bhat’s translation The Other Face, of the voluminous
novel Mukhantara in Kannada by Dr. Na Mogasale, I could not suppress
my urge to compare the original author to James Michener, the American novelist
of international fame. Or back at home to Takazi Shivashankar Pille, the
Maleyala Jnana Peeta award winner and the author of the famous novel ‘Coir’ .
If Pille chose the Travancoor province of Kerala to depict the changes from
18th century to 1960, to portray the social, economical, political and moral
values , Na Mogasale chose his native border village Koolyuru, in Kerala, but
culturally affiliated to Karnataka.
The revenue inspector of Manjeshwara, enjoying
unparalleled authority during the colonial British regime, in a rare gesture of
patronage, grants a large tract of land to one Thirumaleswara Bhatta or
Thimmanna aged 60 having no children. Later Thimmanna adopts Venkappayya, an
orphan as his son. Along with the son his mother Rathnamma too lives in
Thimmanna Bhatta’s house. Eventually Thimmanna Bhatta begets a son in
Rathnamma, who dies at childbirth. The boy Krishnayya is brought up by Parvathi,
the wife of Thimmanna Bhatta. Venkappayya develops hatred towards his brother.
After Thimmanna Bhatta is buried alive in the tunnel he has been digging at the
foot of a hill near his house, Parvathi steers the family across the turbulent
days, effectively.
Meanwhile,
Venkappayya contracts all sorts of vices like gambling, visiting brothels and
taking alcohol and very quickly sinks neck deep into debts. Unable to bear the
torture of her husband, his wife Savithri commits suicide, leaving a son
Thirumaleswara to be brought up by her father. Venkappayya succumbs to Typhoid
and dies.
Krishanyya and his wife Laxmi, daughter of a very poor
Brahmin have a prolonged happy life. Their first son Kechanna intelligent and
shrewd migrates to his in laws’ house at far away Sulia. The second son Mapanna
is a person with retarded faculties, not capable of any responsible tasks. So,
Krishnayya himself has to look after the property even in old age. The grandson
Shankara after studying briefly at Udipi returns home full of Gandhian ideas
but crippled after being shot by the police in the freedom movement at
Mangalore, is forced to take up family responsibility and establishes a Kannada
school. Later his son Bangaranna becomes the headmaster and president of the School
Committee and due to the shortage of student strength, helplessly watches the
closure of the school unable to contain the mad rush for the English medium
school built by one of his scions, Puttu Bhatta. Bangaranna’s son Narayana, an
advocate at Bangalore much to the dismay of his father tries to get his native
village Seethapura converted to a special economic zone.(SEZ). Oppakka or
Jaralaxmi wife of Narayana Bhat's elder brother consents to remarry Srinivasa,
ostensibly for better prospects for her son Shankara, but perhaps also to
ensure security to her life.
The subtle theme
running throughout the novel is empowerment and change. The empowerment may be
in the form of land as in the case of Thirumaleswara Bhatta , or as his
generous grant of tenancy to landless labourers like Anthoni, Mammade, Choma
and Karia. In the case of Kambi or Mukaambika, the widowed sister of Mapanna,
it was the three muras of rice and 100 Rupees in the form of maintenance from
her estranged husband Ganappanna arranged by her cousin Shankara that enables
her to live with dignity at her parents’ house. Later education becomes a means
of better life as in the case of advocate Narayana Bhatta and Manjunath Rai ,
but paradoxically driving them to move to Bangalore. Democracy and freedom
accelerated this process as even common people like Manku Moolya, tenant of
Patel Purandara Rai begin to assert their right, influenced by communism. Those
who have gone to cities to study like Shankara , influenced by Gandhi begin to
question the old established systems like untouchability, thus churning out a
new order.
The title ‘Other
Face’ not only refers to social economic and political changes but also to the
continuous onslaught of man on nature. The virgin land allotted to
Thirumaleswara Bhatta gets paddy fields, areca plantations, ponds and tunnels
raised on it, changing the original landscape, as pointed out by Swami
Shridhananda to Bangaranna. The flourishing English school and the closure of
Kannada medium school demonstrates this concept of change in the perception of
values as globalization that sweeps across Seethapura.
Women characters
like Parvathakka deserve special mention. Her steely resolve and boldness comes
to the fore immediately after her husband is buried alive in the tunnel along
with the worker Adrama. With the help of Patel Marappa Shetru, necessary
arrangements are made for disposing of the bodies. Later, learning that her
adopted son Venkappayya is used to taking liquor and has an affair with
Christina, daughter of Mudthini Parbu, Summoning Mudthini she bursts out ‘If
you ever utter falsehood, I will strike you with a sickle. If you bring him
liquor again, I will cut off your head ‘. But she is also very kind to Savitri,
wife of Venkappyya . When she learns that Venkappayya is suffering from
Typhoid, she rushes to his house and nurses him until his death.
At the end of the novel, Bangaranna, retired headmaster
and president of the school faces dilemma and loses his zest for life
especially after the death of his eldest son. Advocate Narayana, his second son
settled at Banglaore, pressurizes him to sell off the property managing which
has become difficult due to shortage of labourers. He also suggests to him remarriage
of his elder brother's wife Jayalaxmi or Oppakka with Srinivasa, a distant
family member. Though she is happy with the rural life, seeing what is written
on the wall develops the courage to consent to remarry, which is perhaps the
only light, though faint, of optimism and hope.
Dr N T Bhat,
retired professor of English at M G M college Udupi, has translated many works
to English, like Learn to Live written in Kannada by Swami Jagadatmanandaji),
being one of them. He has been teaching German for the last 40 years and his
doctoral thesis was written in that language. Always modest even to take
legitimate credit for his work, he is content in a kind of Nishkama
Karma.(non-attachment) .He deserves all the credit for translating the novel from
Kannada to English without letting it lose the flavour of the original, thus
enabling the novel to cross the frontiers of Kannada into the globe at large.
Prof. S Ganapathi
Bhat, Shirankallu
Post Kanyana, DK PIN:
574279.
