THE IMPARTIAL INTUITIONS: An analysis Prof. K. V. Dominic's Short Stories

 

      THE IMPARTIAL INTUITIONS: An Analysis of Prof. K. V. Dominic's Short Stories

 

Sreedharan Parokode

 

Stories are written for explaining the abstract ideas to make them accessible to the person or the group going through. They are sometimes, the facts of life, sometimes the facts interwoven with imaginative calibre. Anyhow, they are the narration of creativity elucidated with a mission with a view to make awareness of the happenings, in and around. There will have thoughtful moments thoroughly caught up by the teller (writer) whose interest goes beyond igniting interest of the reader. With the elements of wit and vivacity he adds flavour behind the curtain of incidents, by the potentiality of the thoughts.

The writer with the sole intention of creating a spark in readers’ mind uses the emotions and moves with the readers with his feelings accumulated from the experiences unexplained. In fact, telling a story is an art or noble work as it is directly or indirectly touches the palpitations of thoughts of the community. The writer’s soul gets relaxed when the words are appropriately made or his quill takes rest after the process and ready to move in to the society. He doesn’t bother which way it travels. Definitely it creates some indelible marks.

Prof. K. V. Dominic, through his ‘Selected Short Stories’, takes the human pulse to describe the sides of shadows of human thoughts and actions in a special way. As we know, Prof. Dominic is a poet with narrative skill to divulge the contemporary situations along with traditional technique. He is a multifaceted thinker writes about values to be preserved, always makes human affections and aspirations for his ‘writing fuel’. Being a prolific writer, widely known in poetry world, the writer has created unforgettable incidents with unimaginable quality of writing.

 

In the story, ‘Aren’t they Our Sisters?’ the writer gives a clear picture of a situation as:

    Rajesh landed at Mumbai airport and went straight to the prepaid taxi booking desk. He booked a taxi car to Kamathipura, paying the charge of Rs.600. Rajesh got in to the car and the journey started. A well begun story really gives inquisitiveness.

Driver, what is your name? Rajesh asked.

I am Arun Sir.

How long it is to Kamathipura? 18 Kilometres, Sir.

How much time needed? Maximum 20 minutes, Sir. Where are you from Sir? Kerala. (Short Stories during Covid-19)

The dialogue ended. The abrupt ending of the conversation compels the reader to think that there is something in the story. Really, the ending is becoming the beginning of the story, in a sense.

Every piece of writing is for the reader’s attention. At first, the scene troubles the writer and creates wave of emotions in him. Subsequently he is pouring it without losing the gravity of it. It compels the readers to be with it. In fact, stories are the proponents of visions.

Here, in ‘A Good Samaritan’, the writer opens his sympathy of heart saying ‘I am going to narrate an incident that is three fourth real and the rest blended with some fantasy to make it a short fiction. In it, he says about the iron-hearted people. At the same time Dr. Dominic depicts the reality faced by Mariam, the wife of Mr. Xavier admitted in the hospital following a road accident. The picturisation of the characters’ mental conditions is beyond words and that too are given with suitable words. Similar situations are faced on the roads when buses and cars are running like ‘rockets’, as he says. (Who is Responsible?)

Prof. Dominic’s method of telling story is unique. It seems that words come to obey him. When the doctor of the hospital said Xavier’s surgery was successful and survived the crucial condition, the reader is also relieved with his kith and kin waiting outside for the good news. Here, the writer's purpose is clear, for that he joins the suitable words with the situation. Through the portrayal of Xavier’s family’s circumstance, Prof. Dominic visualises the entire system, including common man’s suffocation and sufferings.

Coming to ‘Best Government Servant’, another notable story, Krishnan Namboodiri, a 38 year old job seeker as the main character, tells of the dusty mind set of some people. Krishnan Namboodiri , a man with principles has to leave due to the unscrupulous attitude of his co-workers. Being the son of a teacher who possessed the virtues of Truth and Non- violence, Krishnan could not tolerate with these. He is well aware of the unemployment period, tiresome, engagements in some tuition centres, the mental agony followed etc are visibly narrated here. Late coming of the staff, attitude of illegal money acceptance of the taluk office staff, all made his job interest less. Exchange of words with Raju, the peon, as Krishnan was totally against this practice, arise the conscience of the common man. The Tahsildar’s remark, as ‘Krishnan, don’t be like Lord Krishna’ you will have to bear the consequences if you swim against the flow of the office, is a true picture of some offices run. The victory of truthfulness is highlighted in the story at last. A warm reception was accorded to him by the Governor and Krishnan was awarded the “Best Servant”. (Sanchita Karma and Other Tales of Ethics and Choice from India)

‘An E mail from Senthil Kumar’ is not an ordinary mail, but it is a heart’s weeping in the form of reply detailing the causes of delay in replying. expressing sorry for the delay. When we go through the description in it, the anger in the reader will dissolve and turn into sympathy. He was the son of a mother with heart ailments and was under treatment for the last few years. A thousand thoughts regarding the disease and the treatment process are left for the reader to see such a situation. Contemporary hospitalisation and the expenditure incurred all come up here for visualisation. But the story ends with an apology of the email sender: ‘mother was discharged from the hospital and lies in my house longing for death.’

Senthil adds: “Hope you have understood my position. You can do nothing to soothe me. Kindly pray for my mother.”The above words of Senthil makes readers’ eyes wet, no doubt. Here too, we see the writer’s peculiarity of picking words. The reader’s mind would stand still over it. (Who is Responsible?)

In ‘Sanchita Karma’ one of the marvelous stories in the book, Krishna was a             poet and Nature lover. Krishna had only ten cents of land and on it he had planted papaya trees. The trees are                  not meant for the fruits for his family. He is in mirth when he sees that the birds feast upon the ripe fruits. These lines are truly the examples for the writer’s ardent desire for protecting them by providing with what one has. In other words, Prof. Dominic sees the other part of the world also, making all the creatures friends and relatives. Krishnan and family loved their cats and other pets as their own children. Sanchita Karma is the accumulated result of all your actions from all the past life time. (Sanchita Karma and Other Tales of Ethics and Choice from India)

The story, ‘The Twins’ belongs to a special category. Some of the waves go like:

“when I teach feminism to my students I pray to God to dissuade the students from asking its practice in my own life. He adds a noble sentence to it, ‘a teacher should be a model to the students.’ A colourful description is given there about Manikutty and Amminikutty well attended by the writer’s family. The innocent childhood is brought back, the story reveals. It can be said beyond doubt that Dr. Dominic has wonderfully crafted it saying with an element of satire as: ‘the way they played football was more thrilling than watching the World Cup, though they made the pillows and bed as their toilets.’ Bitter sweetness indeed! (Who is Responsible?)

The story ‘World Environment Day’ tells of the peculiar scenes of the forest and the splendid work of Katturaja. This, too, is involved in the activities of Nature. One could sense the mirth of the Nature from the chirping of birds, laughing of the leaves and different moods of the birds and animals.

‘Clement’s Return from UAE’ is a story with Merlin’s anxiety “Have you booked your ticket dear?” we are all worried about you. Are you alright there?” Merlin’s phone call was not about the climatic condition of the country or taste of the food taken. But, it revolves around with the sharpness of a thousand thoughts!

The panic situation gripped throughout, making everybody standstill and everything motionless- the Pandemic Covid 2019. Compelling lock down, flight cancellation, RTPCR,  quarantine, making the unfamiliar words and situations familiar. Indescribable conditions of death toll, checking of routes by the Health Departments and the related personnel…

“What shall I do reaching home?” was a spreading puzzle from hearts to hearts across the globe. Clement too was hopeless and helpless. There was no sufficient amount as bank balance and how will the family survive.’ This was the fear embraced throughout.

Unexpected words coming from his mother’s mouth further saddened him ‘will you spend the quarantine period in some hotels?’

He felt that he had denied entry into his house. Clement’s mind can well be read here. He wanted to cry out loudly. A former student of Clement appears on the scene and he renders needful and possible help to clement. This story also tells virtue will not vanish forever. It also has a nice ending, leaving the eyes of the reader tearful. (Short Stories during Covid-19)

The characterisation of the life of the neighbours with their kith and kin in the village called Devalokam is also quite marvelous.

In the story, ‘Multicultural Harmony’ the character Amar is a farmer, Akbar is a businessman and Anthony an Upper Division Clerk in the Education Department. They never had a feeling that they belonged to different religions. Their parents brought them up in such a secular manner and that religion never mattered in their social life. Festivals were celebrated with equal fervour and enthusiastic mind. Such an excellent picture of the unity is given in it. It is not the case of a family or the families, but the writer likes the entire world to be with the notion of harmonious life, without any sort of conquer and conflict.

But the last part of the story tells that the bosom friends Amar and Anthony became foes to each other. Akbar’s attempt to unite them turned out to be futile as both the families were inflamed by the religious sentiments. The sublime decisions of donating one of the kidneys and the decision of conducting marriage ceremony give the reader a happy note. (Sanchita Karma and Other Tales of Ethics and Choice from India)

In ‘Old Age Home’, the pathetic condition of the inmates is narrated with unusual charm. Jacob’s words would definitely hurt us as he says: ‘my mind is full of memories of my wife, I long to go back to my house and land’.  Here we can feel the closeness maintained with his partner, who has left him. (Writers Editors Critics, vol.13, no. 1 March 2023)

Story telling is not an easy task. What one imagines is splendidly depicted and gives the shape for it, at first, in his mind. He uses suitable language without providing confusions. He uses apt words for the appropriate situations. What he conceives is given with colours and calculations. With the ability of the teller’s talents coincided with his thoughtfulness he narrates the entire episode for the readers. It is needless to say that the writer visualises the situations first. Some edition work with deletion and addition also carried out to make it readable.

In the stories of Prof. Dominic, one can easily notice that he dreams of the concept ‘Vasudhaiva kutumbakam’ or the entire universe as one family. He has his words towards virtues, and at the same time against bad practices. He gives life to the characters. He is Keeping mum on some occasions. But the silence is eloquent. A true human being walks towards truth. It is evident in his stories. His egalitarian concept is vehemently clear in them. He has thousand tongues when he says about environmental issues. Birds and animals have ample space in his heart.

In real sense, Prof. Dominic is not writing for writing’s sake, but for humanity as a whole. It is with a visionary’s view he takes his pen.

References

Dominic, K. V. “Old Age Home.” Writers Editors Critics, vol.13, no. 1 March 2023, pp. 106-109.

---. Sanchita Karma and Other Tales of Ethics and Choice from India. Ann Arbor, USA: Modern History Press, 2018.

---. Who is Responsible? A Collection of Short Stories.  New Delhi: Authorspress, 2016.

Dominic, Prof. K. V. Short Stories during Covid-19. New Delhi: Authorspress, 2022.

 

 

Sreedharan Parokode is a bi-lingual poet and lyricist from Kerala. He has thirty books of poems to his credit, both in his mother tongue Malayalam and English. He has received awards and other honours including Sahithya Sree, Sahithya Shiromani, Shan-E-Adab etc. Email: sreeparokode@gmail.com