S.K POTTEKKATT

S.K POTTEKKATT

Sankaran Kutty Pottekkatt (Malayalam: ശങ്കരന്‍കുട്ടി കുഞ്ഞിരാമന്‍ പൊറ്റെക്കാട്ട്), popularly known as S. K. Pottekkatt, was a famous Malayalam writer from Kerala, South India. He is the author of nearly sixty books which include ten novels, twenty-four collections of short stories, three anthologies of poems, eighteen travelogues, four plays, a collection of essays and a couple of books based on personal reminiscences. Pottekatt won the Jnanpith Award in 1980 for the novel Oru Desathinte Katha (The Story of a Locale). His works have been translated into English, Italian, Russian, German and Czech, besides all major Indian languages. He was born in kozhikode. Among the different works of S. K. Pottekkatt, Oru theruvinte kadha & Oru desattinte kadha have won him several awards. This famous writer has won awards like jnanpith award, kerala sahithya academy award as well as the kendra sahithya academy awards respectively.

S. K. Pottekkat was born in Kozhikodu  as the son of Kunchiraman Pottekkatt, an English schoolteacher. He had his early education at the Hindu School and Zamorin's High School. He graduated in 1934. He did not find an employment for three years following his graduation and devoted his time to the study of Indian and Western classics. From 1937 to 1939, he worked as a teacher at Calicut Gujarati School. He quit the job to attend the Tripura Congress in 1939. He then went to  Mumbai and took up several jobs only to develop an aversion for any white-collored jobs. He returned to Kerala in 1945. In 1952, he married Ms. Jayavalli and settled down at Puthiyara in Calicut. They had four children- two sons and two daughters. Pottekatts' wife died in 1980 after which his comdition too deteriorated. He was hospitalized in July 1982 following a paralytic stroke. He died on August 6, 1982. Pootekkatt made his mark in literature with a few short stories in the 1930s. By the 40s, he had established himself as a leading writer of fiction in Malayalam. The trip to Bombay is described in his travelogue and memoir Ente Vazhiyambalangal which also broadened his horizons and was a turning point in his literary life. While in Bombay, he was involved in India’s freedom struggle and worked alongside freedom fighters like Mathai Manjooran  . Here, Pottekkatt wrote his first novel Naadanpremam (1941) which was followed by Yavanikakku Pinnil (a collection of short stories) in 1940 and by a second novel  Vishakanyaka. The latter received a prize from the Madras government in 1949. In 1945 he travelled to Kashmir and in 1946 embarked on an eighteen-month tour to Africa and Europe. This resulted in the publication of Kappirikalude Naattil (In the Land of the Negroes) and Innathe Europe (Europe today). In 1952, Pottekkatt travelled to Ceylon, Malaysia and Indonesia. Five years later he visited Finland, Czechoslovakia and Russia.

Pottekkatt was a writer of strong social commitmment and ideals, possessing an indvidualistic vision. He was not interested in purely symbolic or allegorical mode of writing as practiced by Kafka or D.H Lawrence. He was adept in weaving pots of chilling suspense akin to the writings of Alexander Dumas,pere, O. Henry etc. Pottekkatt stories are characterized by a plot that carries an element of surprise, a few suggestive incidences that heighten its dramatic quality and a style that easily mediates between realism and lyricism. The plot is characterized by an Aristotelean peripeteia (a sudden reversal of situation) or an O'Henry twist. Love is also a dominant motif in several of his stories. This usually takes the form of betrayal of women or the capricious nature of man. At times it is the tragedy wrought by fate itself. These can be seen in Pulliman (The Spotted Deer), Sthree (Woman), Vadhu (Bride) etc.

Pottekkatt has been translated into English, Italian, Russian, German and Czech, besides all major Indian languages. An Italian anthology of 'The best short stories of the World' published from Milan in 1971 included his Braanthan Naaya (Mad Dog). A collection of eleven of his short stories in Russian had a sensational sales of one hundred thousand copies in two weeks.

Besides his extensive travels and literary works, Pottekkatt also dabbled in politics. In 1957, he contested the parliamentary election from  Tellicherry but lost by 1000 votes. In 1962, he won the parliamentary election from the same constituency with a majority of 66,000 votes against his fellow littérateur  Sukumar Azhikodu . Works:1937- Vallikadevi ,1941- Naadan Premam1945- Prema Shiksha ,1948- Mootupatam ,1948- Vishakanyaka ,1959- Karambu ,1960- Oru Theruvinte Katha ,1971-  Oru Desathinte Katha,1974- Kurumulaku,1979- Kabeena ,North Avenu ,Short- Stories ,1944- Chandrakaantham ,1944- Manimaalika ,1945- Rajamalli ,1945- Nisagandhi ,1945- Pulliman, 1945- Meghamala ,1946- Jalatharangam m,1946- Vijayanthi ,1947- Pournami,1947- Padmaagam ,1947- Indraneelam ,1948- Himavahini ,1949- Prethabhoomi ,1949- Rangamandapam ,1952- Yavanikkaku Pinnil ,1954- Kallipookkal ,1954- Vanakaumudhi ,1955- Kanakaambaram ,1960- Antharvahini ,1962- Ezhilampala ,1967- Theranjedutha Kathakal ,1968- Vrindaavanam ,1970- Kaattuchempakam ,Travels ,1947- Kashmir ,1949- Yathra Smaranakal (Memories of a Journey) ,1951- Kappirikalude Nattil, 1954- Simhabhoomi ,1954- Nile Diary ,1954- Malaya Natukalil,1955- Innathe Europe (Today's Europe) ,1955- Indonesian Diary ,1955- Soviet Diary ,1956- Paathira Sooryante Naatil ,1958- Balidweep ,1960- Bohemian Chithrangal ,1967- Himaalyan Saamrajyathil ,1969- Nepal Yathra (A Journey to Nepal)1970- London Notebook ,1974- Cairo Kathukal ,1977- Cleopatrayude Naattil (In the Land of Cleopatra ) ,1976- Africa ,1977- ''Europe ,1977- Asia.

മലയാള കഥാസാഹിത്യത്തിലെ ഒരു കാലഘട്ടത്തിന്റെ ആധാരശ്രുതിയായിരുന്നു എസ്‌.കെ. പൊറ്റെക്കാട്ട്‌. ഇന്നും എസ്‌.കെയുടെ കഥകള്‍ക്ക്‌ ജീവനുണ്ട്‌. ഇ. ബാലകൃഷ്‌ണപിള്ളയുടെ ശെയിലിയില്‍ പറഞ്ഞാല്‍ 'ഏഴെനോക്കി' ക്കഥകള്‍ വളരെ പ്രചാരത്തിലിരുന്ന കാലത്തു പോലും പൊറ്റെക്കാട്ട്‌ ഇല്ലായ്‌മയുടെ കഥകള്‍ വളരെയൊന്നും എഴുതിയിട്ടില്ല. ജീവിതത്തെ അതിന്റെ സമസ്‌തവൈവിധ്യങ്ങളോടും കൂടി കണ്ടു രസിക്കുക എന്നതാണ്‌ കാഥികനായ പൊറ്റെക്കാട്ട്‌ ചെയ്യുന്നത്‌". അവതാരികയില്‍ എസ്‌. ഗുപ്‌തന്‍ നായര്‍.എസ്‌.കെയുടെ ചെറുകഥകളുടെ സമാഹാരം. മൂന്നു വാല്യങ്ങളിലായി 167 കഥകള്‍.

                                                            Prof. John Kurakar