Thasrak: where OV Vijayan's 'Khasakkinte Ithihasam' was born
Thasrak, a village near Palakkad town, is the fabled land of Khasak, the setting of Malayalam novelist O V Vijayan's masterpiece 'Khasakkinte Ithihasam' (The Legends Of Khasak). A visit here offers a surrealistic experience to anyone who had read the 1969 work, whose publication became a watershed in Malayalam literature. Much change has not taken place to the village road that goes up to Thasrak, when compared to what has been described in Vijayan's novel. Koomankavu, where the main character of the book, Ravi, started his sojourn, is now known as Canal Road. A whiff of beedi smoke that emanates from passing bicyclers could be felt on the road. The tree houses erected on the branches of teak trees are all as narrated in Vijayan's novel. If you take a right turn from there, you reach Ravi's Khasak or Vijayan's Thasrak. From this point, every grain of sand is a character in Vijayan's writings. Time stands still here.
For the ardent fans of Vijayan's works, the road to Thasrak offers a foray into endless dreams, where they fly like broken kites, listening to the tales sung by the breeze and the dark palm trees. Clad in red ochre, the narrow path leads up the hills, down the valleys, on to the road, where they are greeted by the sights and people seen by Ravi - the charming Maimuna, Appukkili, Nisamali and the pond called Arabikkulam.
As you near Thasrak you feel that the place retains its freshness just the way it was scripted by the fingers of the great writer. The impulses of life that pulsate through the stories of Vijayan make the village a living memory.
Vijayan arrived at Thasrak, to be with his sister, and stayed at the farmhouse belonging to Raghavan Nair. The house had tiled roof, a long veranda and three rooms. He rented out one room. Reclining in the easy chair placed in the veranda, the novelist gazed at the pastoral beauty of Thasrak. He discovered a new world among the many people who passed by the portals. The mosque, the paddy fields skirting the pond, the distant grave at the other end of the fields, the green expanse that spread up to Olasseri - all these went into the making of a remarkable story. His realistic depiction of the common people transformed the villagers into living characters -- Allappicha, Appukkili, Nisamali, Kunjamira, Maimuna -- in his story.
The protruding lips, deadpan eyes, the slightly underdeveloped body of Appukkili as described in the novel defies our judgement as to whether he is a child or an adult. So, it is not surprising if one feels each face one comes across in the village makes one wonder whether one has...
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