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Veena Narayan
Stories written by 'The Dead Know Nothing': An immersive murder mystery with themes of apathy and destruction of nature Though the cast in Kishore Ram's novel is overwhelmingly male, Thankachan's mother, Tresia – sharp-tongued, resilient, and eminently practical – is believable. Veena Narayan · 21 minutes ago The Grand Anicut shows historical novels need not be slowed down by immaculate research Veena Muthuraman's novel uses the techniques of fiction effectively to recreate the past. Veena Narayan · Dec 12, 2021 · 08:30 am
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‘The Dead Know Nothing': An immersive murder mystery with themes of apathy and destruction of nature
''From now on, you are in charge of the lake and the fish.' 'Fisherman Thankachan, the entire lake is yours,' Ouseph shouted. Thankachan took the oar and rowed away, looking behind as they waved to him. He felt afraid to row the boat but then he saw someone sitting in front with his face turned away from him. 'Who are you?' The figure did not respond. Thankachan repeated his question. 'I am the one who gave you life and saved you from death.' Thankachan felt frightened. 'This is your second life. Give meaning to it,' the person said and vanished.' Delirious and injured after a boat accident, Thankachan recovers to find that life has become grimmer. Shy and reticent, with a spiritual bent of mind, Thankachan, a young man in his early twenties living on Fathima Island, situated in the Ashtamudi Lake, is disappointed with the way his life has turned out. Having failed in the seminary exams, he seeks to be a graduate, studying English. But when he fails those exams too, he is forced by his family to assist his elder brother Mathappan in fishing. Lurking menacingly in the background of the lives of these fishers, like a predatory shark, is a twin murder committed on Joseph Island a few years ago, in which, Thankachan worries, his brother was in some way involved. Things move to a head when Sammon, convicted in the twin murder case, based on evidence given by Mathappan, returns on parole. At the same time, the islanders discover that rich and influential forces plan to evict the fishers from their ancestral island in order to turn their beloved home into a tourist resort. Kishore Ram skilfully weaves in themes of identity and belonging, caste discrimination, the ruthless exploitation of the environment, and brotherly love into the plot of a murder mystery to create a rich tapestry of life as lived and experienced by the fishers of Fathima Island in his novel The Dead Know Nothing. Marakkan forever 'A marakkan can be nobody but a fisherman,' says a character early on in the novel. This sentiment is echoed by various others, including fishers themselves. Such thoughts drag down Thankachan's efforts at bettering his life and helping his family out of poverty. Thankachan not only encounters countless external obstacles in his attempts to work towards a better life, but his own people also seem to doubt his ability to do well. They believe a fisher should always be a fisher and do a good job fishing, not try to be someone else. Even Jokki, Thankachan's father, while never openly discouraging his younger son, is all praise for his elder one for being a true fisherman. Despite popular belief to the contrary, Thankachan's caste is well entrenched in his religion. He discovers that his fisher identity is not erased even within the realms of the church and has a lot to do with him failing the seminary exams with corrupt priests conniving to frame him. This identity of his is what prompts the librarian at the Municipal Library to be irritable and unhelpful when Thankachan visits the place. It pursues him when he visits his Nair schoolmate Hari, making him hesitant to enter the house, rendering him uncomfortable and ill at ease even when met with friendliness. It is responsible for the impunity with which the police brutalise the islanders when they protest eviction. Thankachan had not wanted to become a priest merely for the power and glory of the position. He has a genuine interest in things spiritual and is a serious student of the Bible. Though his attempts are thwarted, he continues to evaluate life and its challenges from a distinctly Biblical perspective, remembering sermons, mulling over passages from the text and showing a remarkable independence in interpreting it. His lack of confidence, his diffidence, disappointment and fear are entirely relatable. So is his love for Mathappan, in whose presence he feels safe and protected and whom he in turn tries to protect. Enigmatic, shadowy Mathappan is the more interesting of the two brothers. 'When it comes to protecting my family, there is no wrong in my dictionary. Everything I do is right,' declares the protagonist of the popular Malayalam film Drishyam. Echoing somewhat similar sentiments, Mathappan says, 'I had to marry off two sisters, handle your expenses and rebuild the house … I have not cared about a life for myself…' There are no wrongs in his dictionary too, if it means money for providing for his family. These are the pressures that an overwhelmingly patriarchal society places on its males. Mathappan does his best with the cards that life has dealt him. Fathima Island, the setting of the story, grows on the reader, its humble asbestos-roofed dwellings, its coconut trees, its crabs and rat snakes, its mangroves and the boats moored at its several jetties providing a fitting backdrop to the tale. So too do Joseph Island and Para Island with their relative inaccessibility creating an aura of intrigue and a sense of dark, evil forces being at work. The surrounding lake adds to the mystery, with its octopus-like topography and mysterious depths. The lake changes character: sometimes benign and benevolent, yielding its bounty in a good catch of fish; sometimes sinister, regurgitating half decomposed human corpses that get tangled in the mangroves. A good chunk of action in the novel takes place on the lake, while the characters are out on their routine pre-dawn fishing expeditions. Mouth-burner and co A colourful cast of minor characters, endearing in their earthiness, whom one would have encountered in a Basheer or a Thakazhi, populate the tale. Heading them all is Vapolli, the arrack shop owner, called so because of the mouth-burning nature of the illicit brew he sells. Antony Police, the former policeman, wise and practical, who often leads the islanders during the protest against eviction; Kanambu Xavier 'the champion jumper of the diocese who dreamt of conducting an Olympics-style competition on the island' brutalised and found hanging from a mangrove branch; Ouseph, the bard of the island 'an essential presence at marriages and burials' who composes a song to be sung at his own funeral and Egg Anto, collector and seller of eggs, linger. Though the cast of characters is overwhelmingly male, Thankachan's mother, Tresia – sharp-tongued, resilient, empathetic and eminently practical – is true and believable. But Bushra, the only other female character of importance, is a disappointment. Though she boldly states her desires and acts decisively on them, she seems shallow. She's obviously in a huge dilemma; feeling attracted to a young man while waiting for the one she is wed to, but the reader fails to get a sense of the inner workings of her mind and she seems superficial and lacks depth. Ram's use of a generous helping of Malayalam words, with a sizeable chunk of them being the choicest expletives in the language, lends credibility to the dialogues and a certain earthy charm to the proceedings, especially to the drunken revelry during group fishing trips and impromptu songwriting sessions in Vapolli's arrack shop. Ram's imperceptible imbibing of these words into the language of the story enriches the fictive universe. Packaged as a murder mystery, The Dead Know Nothing is immensely topical, discussing questions of identity and belonging; the callous apathy of humans to one another and to the destruction of nature; the broken-down condition of the criminal justice system in India which is of little use to the common man. It finds solace in the resilience of the human spirit. An immersive and evocative read. Veena Narayan is a writer based in Kochi, Kerala. In January 2025, her short story won The Hindu LFL Short Story Prize.
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22-05-2025
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Fiction: Two bodies wash ashore. Soon, a murder case considered solved years ago is open again
Stories written by Kishore Ram An excerpt from 'The Dead Know Nothing', by Kishore Ram. Kishore Ram
