Unit I
Novel Karvalo -
Poornachandra Tejaswi
Intoduction
Kuppali Puttappa Poornachandra
Tejaswi (8 September 1938 – 5 April 2007) was a prominent Indian writer
and novelist in Kannada. He also worked as a photographer, publisher,
painter, naturalist, and environmentalist. He made a great impression in
the Navya ("new") period of Kannada
literature and inaugurated the Bandaaya Saahitya genre of
protest literature with his short-story collection Abachoorina Post
Offisu. He is the son of noted Kannada poet Kuvempu.
K.P. Purnachandra Tejaswi (b.1938-d 2007)
the elder of the two sons of the legendary epic poet Kuvempu was a most
distinguished short story writer and novelist in Kannada. Tejaswi while growing
coffee on his estate, developed a lasting passion for Nature and non-literary
pursuits like photography, environment and wildlife study, travel and science.
A deep interest in philosophy and metaphysics characterises all his literary
and political activities. He is a recipient of several awards and honours
including the Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel, Chidambara Rahasya.
Carvalo is one of the most widely read
and admired novels of Tejaswi. It is a novel which can be read at various
levels as it presents many worlds: the dream world of science and mystery and
the everyday world of ordinary but amazing men and women.
The novel explores the various facets of
our complex civilization like agriculture, law and politics. It is a novel
which will appeal to readers of all ages. To children it will appeal as a story
of adventure, mystery and thrill; grown-ups can enjoy it as a work which offers
stimulating insights into the world of men and women and Nature, and
connoisseurs of art can see in it a baffling and inviting vision of art and
metaphysics and wisdom.
Today, I thought, I would pen down my
views on Karvalo – one of the widely read novels of Tejaswi. This novel has
been translated to many languages all over the world, which shows its immense
universal appeal. Karvalo is set in a remote village on the foothills of
Western Ghats of Karnataka.
The way this story explores many interesting things
about human existence.
Why are we living
today?
What made us exist the
way we do today?
What if our evolution
had taken some other path and ended up in becoming something completely
different from Homo sapiens.
What if dinosaurs had
managed to exist today, battling all the natural calamities that they faced?
There are many such questions which pop
out as you go through the pages of Karvalo. These are the fundamental questions
which kept on coming back from the days of stone age man to the days of Charles
Darwin and to this era of DNA technology.
Summary
In Karvalo, the protagonist is a well
educated farmer, who is also the narrator of the story. In spite of his great
interest in rural lifestyle, his unsuccessful agricultural work makes him
contemplate to quit and head towards the city. During this time he meets
Karvalo, a middle aged scientist. In their first few meetings they discuss
the difficulties the protagonist faced in his field. There is another
interesting character Mandanna, who makes his appearance in the initial stage
of the novel. He is a local cowboy and a sort of side-kick to Karvalo. Mandanna
is considered to be a good-for-nothing fellow by the villagers and his
friends alike.
The narrator was surprised to
see that Mandanna and Karvalo share a close bond like a scientist and
a research assistant. He wonders what is the thing that brought these
opposite characters to a common platform. What is that a scientist finds so special in a local cowboy?
As the story moves, we see the narrator
getting an explanation from the scientist himself as to the importance of
Mandanna in his work. Mandanna might have been labelled as a dumb guy by all,
but he too has some unique skills in his kitty which makes him a special asset.
Mandanna’s ‘observational skill’ is the thing which made Karvalo choose him as
a person to help him with his research work. As Karvalo says, Mandanna is very
good at identifying different creatures.
One fine day Karvalo reveals that his
fellow ‘student’ Mandanna had seen an endangered reptile in the jungle, which
was previously thought to have been extinct. It is a flying lizard which opens
a wing-like organ when it has to fly from one place to another. Karvalo is now
on a mission to find this creature. He asks the narrator to join his team,
which already includes the scientist himslef, his fellow student Mandanna, a
camera man and a womanizer cook.
Their journey to find that endangered
flying lizard is the story of this novel. The series of discussions and
revelations that take place in their expedition gives a deep
philosophical aspect to the story. The questions like ‘Do they find the flying lizard?’
become immaterial when you find that it is not the lizard but the truth of life
what they are in search of.
I find the serious discussions by the
characters very interesting to read. In one chapter, there is a discussion
about the existence of God. A believer of God thinks about the rising sun,
stars and wonders of natures and takes them to be the proofs for the
existence of God. But quiet ironically, these are the same set of examples
that make a non-believer think that there is no such thing as God and all
these things work on their own. Finally, we have to believe that it is the
examples which are true and the all the conclusions that we draw from the
examples are myths. What a brilliant thought? Yes, you find lot of
such discussions in this novel, which can give you a whole new idea about our
universe.
This is a story that makes you
think about the wonders of nature. Some people may call it God; to some it is
an ever-existing world. Call it the way you perceive, but it can’t stop you
from thinking about the universal question. If you have not experienced
the thrill of this novel yet, I suggest, give it a try.
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