‘Karukku‘ by Bama came out in 1992. I don’t know whether it was famous and whether it was praised by readers when it first came out. But today it is regarded as a classic. I discovered it maybe around ten years back and I decided to read it a few days back.
‘Karukku‘ is classified as a novel and it is inspired by Bama’s own life. I read it as a memoir. It describes Bama’s life since the time she was a child growing up in a village. She describes life in the village, the poverty there, the beautiful things there, the small joys and happinesses, how festivals were celebrated, what kind of food people ate, what kind of work people did, the patriarchy that kept crushing women, the strength and resilience and heroism of women, the casteist wars between different communities, the suppression of the dalits by other communities. Some of it was beautiful to read, much of it was hard to read. At some point, Bama leaves her village and goes to a different place for high school, and then later to another place for college. Her physical environment and economic circumstances improve but the caste-based oppression continues. Later Bama becomes a teacher and for the first time in her life she is making enough money to live comfortably. After working for many years as a teacher, Bama decides to become a nun. She wants to help poor kids. But when she gets trained to become a nun, she discovers that the priests and the nuns discriminate people based on their caste and they respect only money. It is a big shock for her. At some point, she finds this situation unacceptable and she leaves the church. The story ends there.
(It is one of the ironies in India that the caste system which is a feature of Hinduism has been imported into Christianity and other religions. So a Hindu Dalit person who is oppressed and who feels that if she converts to Christianity, her situation will improve and goes and embraces this new religion soon has a rude shock because in this new religion she continues to be treated as a Dalit and she continues to be oppressed. She discovers that nothing has changed.)
‘Karukku’ is written in the spoken, vernacular language. When we read it we feel that someone is speaking to us. The book has been translated into English. It will be interesting to find out how this spoken dialect has been translated.
Across the years, ‘Karukku’ has attained the status of a traditional classic. That is, it is often recommended but almost never read. If you search for books by Indian Dalit writers you’ll always find it ‘Karukku’ in the top 10. But most probably even the person who has made the list wouldn’t have read it. ‘Karukku’ deserves a wider audience because it is a powerful book which gives a realistic description of discrimination in the real world. I’d like to say that I enjoyed reading it, but I’d be lying if I say that. I found it powerful and moving and sometimes tough to read. But I’m glad I read it.
Have you read ‘Karukku’? What do you think about it?
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