YELLOW IS THE COLOUR OF LONGING (Mohamanja)
YELLOW IS THE COLOUR OF LONGING (Mohamanja): K R MEERA
K R Meera is a highly acclaimed Malayalam writer with many laurels to her credit. Her literary success
comes from the drop of universal truth in her books. Her long time translator J Devika describes her
writing style in Malayalam as being “short compelling sentences that sting”. Meera has the
phenomenal capacity to take everyday settings and transform it into extraordinary situations. She has
an especial talent for capturing the experiences of middle-aged women and their suffering, perhaps
one of the most neglected demographies of literary fiction around the world. The Mohamanja is a
collection of stories addresses an age-old issue – that of women dealing with a status quo which limit
their autonomy – seen through contemporary eyes. The stories are of women of different
backgrounds, and narrated in a variety of styles. The title story, narrates how desire brings about
unexpected turns in a woman’s life.
Mohamanja is an unconventional story that extends the Yellow metaphor to the perceptions on
man-woman relationships in Kerala society. The story revolves around a man and a woman, two
strangers, who meet at the outpatient division of Communicable Disease Ward of a hospital and how
they eventually fall in love. Both are afflicted: woman suffering from an undiagnosed disease
(Jaundice) and the man, a new strain of influenza (Viral fever). She was around thirty five and a
divorcee. The man was around forty five and married. Waiting for their respective turns at the twenty
fourth ward, casual glances at each other and shared laughter (or strong desire?) soon lead these
strangers to the coffee shop, the movie-theatre and a lodge-room. Meera in a dry, satirical sense of
humour says, "They had infected each other at the Kottayam Medical College. Who is not infected by
lust in hospitals?" Her sense of humour while tickling you will also make you think hard about the
ghoulish aspects of our society. Meera uses everyday settings and everyday people to create
extraordinary situations to phenomenal effect.
The story pivots around sexual desire, first communicated by the yellow/grey eyes and later
consummated by the feverish/yellow bodies. Desire gets the better of the two frail humans who end
up making love in a shabby hotel room. Both miss the doctor's appointment--maybe the cure for their
disease lies elsewhere. The woman returns home but is soon down with fever. She is diagnosed with
Jaundice. As she recovers, a few weeks later, she accidently glances upon a scrap of paper where
she reads the obituary of her Yellow Man. He died of jaundice! Meera’s treatment of love is novel and
striking in the story.
The story draws a close parallel between disease and desire so much so that one becomes the
other--with terrible consequences though. She brings out the absurdity of desire and shows that love
is perennial and can occur anywhere and under any circumstances.
Meera, like many others among the new breed of Malayalam women writers, has confidently
addressed sexuality and gender identities prevailing in kerala culture. Meera makes an attempt to
diagnose the ills of a society where desire comes to be seen a disease. Pseudomorality of the Kerala
is the target here as the man and the woman, despite being the parents of two children each, give into
their desires and instantly fall in love with each other. Kerala is putatively a sex-starved society where
even marriages supposedly lose the charm of physical sex after a few years.
However, Meera's narrative mostly adheres to the typical male take on women: women are
dissatisfied with their sexual partners and a warm smile, a decent glance and a soft touch are sure to
win them over. The point of view employed is that of a third person narrator/commentator who seems
to be unabashedly patriarchal in his gaze. It is not accidental that Meera presents a divorcee mother
of two children in her mid thirties as the victim of the itchy situation: she is there to be taken and it is
upto the Kerala man to drive her feverish and then satiate her desires. The strange ways of women in
love are alluded to and feeds man's fantasies of feminine sexuality.
http://malayalamliteraturereview.blogspot.com/2017/04/yellow-is-colour-of-longing-mohamanja.html
K R Meera is a highly acclaimed Malayalam writer with many laurels to her credit. Her literary success
comes from the drop of universal truth in her books. Her long time translator J Devika describes her
writing style in Malayalam as being “short compelling sentences that sting”. Meera has the
phenomenal capacity to take everyday settings and transform it into extraordinary situations. She has
an especial talent for capturing the experiences of middle-aged women and their suffering, perhaps
one of the most neglected demographies of literary fiction around the world. The Mohamanja is a
collection of stories addresses an age-old issue – that of women dealing with a status quo which limit
their autonomy – seen through contemporary eyes. The stories are of women of different
backgrounds, and narrated in a variety of styles. The title story, narrates how desire brings about
unexpected turns in a woman’s life.
Mohamanja is an unconventional story that extends the Yellow metaphor to the perceptions on
man-woman relationships in Kerala society. The story revolves around a man and a woman, two
strangers, who meet at the outpatient division of Communicable Disease Ward of a hospital and how
they eventually fall in love. Both are afflicted: woman suffering from an undiagnosed disease
(Jaundice) and the man, a new strain of influenza (Viral fever). She was around thirty five and a
divorcee. The man was around forty five and married. Waiting for their respective turns at the twenty
fourth ward, casual glances at each other and shared laughter (or strong desire?) soon lead these
strangers to the coffee shop, the movie-theatre and a lodge-room. Meera in a dry, satirical sense of
humour says, "They had infected each other at the Kottayam Medical College. Who is not infected by
lust in hospitals?" Her sense of humour while tickling you will also make you think hard about the
ghoulish aspects of our society. Meera uses everyday settings and everyday people to create
extraordinary situations to phenomenal effect.
The story pivots around sexual desire, first communicated by the yellow/grey eyes and later
consummated by the feverish/yellow bodies. Desire gets the better of the two frail humans who end
up making love in a shabby hotel room. Both miss the doctor's appointment--maybe the cure for their
disease lies elsewhere. The woman returns home but is soon down with fever. She is diagnosed with
Jaundice. As she recovers, a few weeks later, she accidently glances upon a scrap of paper where
she reads the obituary of her Yellow Man. He died of jaundice! Meera’s treatment of love is novel and
striking in the story.
The story draws a close parallel between disease and desire so much so that one becomes the
other--with terrible consequences though. She brings out the absurdity of desire and shows that love
is perennial and can occur anywhere and under any circumstances.
Meera, like many others among the new breed of Malayalam women writers, has confidently
addressed sexuality and gender identities prevailing in kerala culture. Meera makes an attempt to
diagnose the ills of a society where desire comes to be seen a disease. Pseudomorality of the Kerala
is the target here as the man and the woman, despite being the parents of two children each, give into
their desires and instantly fall in love with each other. Kerala is putatively a sex-starved society where
even marriages supposedly lose the charm of physical sex after a few years.
However, Meera's narrative mostly adheres to the typical male take on women: women are
dissatisfied with their sexual partners and a warm smile, a decent glance and a soft touch are sure to
win them over. The point of view employed is that of a third person narrator/commentator who seems
to be unabashedly patriarchal in his gaze. It is not accidental that Meera presents a divorcee mother
of two children in her mid thirties as the victim of the itchy situation: she is there to be taken and it is
upto the Kerala man to drive her feverish and then satiate her desires. The strange ways of women in
love are alluded to and feeds man's fantasies of feminine sexuality.
http://malayalamliteraturereview.blogspot.com/2017/04/yellow-is-colour-of-longing-mohamanja.html
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