Summary of the Short Story Turumpu Mullaaniyude Hridayam by Shihabudheen Poythumkadavu Part-1

Hello all,

    This post is a summary and analysis of the short story titled Turumpu MullaaniyudeHridayam (The Heart of a Rusty Tack) by Shihabudheen Poythum kadavu.  This story is included in the syllabus of the course Literature of the Marginalised of BA English programme of the University of Calicut. I guess an English translation of the story is not available so far (though I'm told that J Devika is translating some of the stories of Poythumkadavu into English), hence this post is prepared after reading the Malayalam original of the story.

Outline of the Story

    The story begins with the narrator waking up from an early morning dream (which is believed to come true!) about Mammu mukri, a man in charge of adan, (call for prayer five times a day) and housekeeping in a Muslim mosque and a teacher (usthad) in the religious school called madrasa. In the dream, Mammu mukri is confined in a cell and he is breathing his last dragging himself through mud and faeces. Prompted by the dream, the narrator recollects his intimate relationship with Mammu mukri and reveals the complicated relationship between art and religion, difference and science and individual and society.

    Mammu mukri is a kind hearted teacher who makes new students admitted to the madrasa feel at home on their first day at the religious school. He gives away sweets to the kids and calms them down by drawing pictures on their slates. He draws funny pictures of various birds and animals such as crow, Indian cuckoo, camel etc on the slates of his students and this breaks the ice between the kids and their usthad. 

    

    The narrator fondly remembers the picture of Jesus Christ  drawn by the usthad on his slate in which the oppressed face of Jesus resembles that of the usthad himself. Triggered by the funny pictures, the children bring the house down which brings the head teacher - the Khateeb- to the class who forcefully silences them. Usthad erases all the pictures he drew on the slates before the kids leave the madrasa and promises them to draw more pictures in the coming days.

    Mammu mukri finds himself in a crisis as his talent for drawing pictures of living creatures is against the concept of art in Islam at the same time, he can not refuse the urge to draw. The fear of being caught haunts him every moment of his life but his restless fingers always draw spontaneous images everywhere. The Khateeb, the head usthad, notices the image of a buffalo drawn on the backside of a paper in which details of the food provided to teachers in the madrasa is recorded. 

    

    Enraged by the image in which the head of the buffalo resembles that of the Khateeb, the Khateeb convenes an informal meeting and demands to know the person who drew the picture. Though no one responds at the beginning, Mammu mukri confesses his crime and the khateeb removes him from the post of usthad. He is now restricted to the charge adan and housekeeping in the mosque. 

    Later, Khateeb confronts the mukri and charges him of doing irreligious activities such as drawing a minaret of a mosque and below it many donkeys. Mammu mukri agrees with the charge and expresses his helplessness to stop as he has an unconscious urge to draw them. Intrigued by the revelation, the Khateeb assumes that the pictures are not drawn by the mukri, but a jinn (being of flame or air who is capable of assuming human or animal form) which is neither good nor bad and can make humans do many things including drawing and dancing.

     He directed Mammu mukri to Valiya Thangal and asks him to wear a talisman prepared by the Thangal. Though the talisman provided by the compassionate religious head Valiya Thangal, who consoles Mammu mukri saying that he is far ahead of his own time, relieves him for the time being, the restriction imposed on his creativity intensifies his inner urge to express and he loses his job.

    The inner conflict between religious and artistic values and the hostile reactions of the people of his time turn Mammu mukri's life miserable and he gradually loses hold of himself and is taken to a mental hospital. The narrator gratefully recalls that his artistic talents were activated and nourished by the pictures drawn by the usthad. He feels that in his journey as an artist and the exhibitions and interviews he organises in major cities such as Madras, Bangalore and Delhi are attended by the disturbing presence of Mammu mukri, the usthad. 

    Pained by the turn of events, he recollects his meeting with usthad in his cell in the mental hospital. They have spoken for sometime and usthad informs him that he is happy in the prison as he is free to draw any number of pictures on the wall of the cell. The compassionate warden of the cell provides him with chokes with many colours. At the end of the visit, the artist narrator gives him drawing papers, painting tubes and brush and usthad accepts them with delight. In the meanwhile, the warden who supported usthad with colour chokes is transferred and the new warden finds drawings on the wall dirty and pumped water to the cell inorder to erase the drawings which has converted Mammu mukri a violent patient. 

    During the narrator's last attempt to visit the mukri in his cell, authorities deny entry to him and inform him that the mukri is violent and undergoing shock treatment. He meets the doctor in charge and tries to convince him that the usthad's violence is caused by the actions of the new warden. Offended, the doctor refuses to reconsider his diagnosis and asks the narrator to leave. The narrator returns feeling sorry for the inmates of the hospital.

Click here to read an anlysis of the short story Turumpu Mullaaniyude Jeevitham part-2