book review of balyakalasakhi in english

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Book review - balyakalasakhi.

Year of publication :1944

Language                :Malayalam

Central Characters  :Majeed & Suhra

Rating                      : 5/5

                          Balyakalasakhi , is a malayalam romantic tragedy novel written by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer. The story mainly discuss about the teenage romance of Majeed and Suhra. 

              Majeed and Suhra were neighbours  and childhood friends. They studied in the same school. Majeed was born in a very rich family, so his father decided to send him to town for higher studies but Suhra forced to wind up her schooling after her father's death. Majeed requested his father to sponsor Suhra but he refused. Later Majeed leaves his house after an argument with  his father and he returned after a long time. On his return, he finds that his family lost all their money and assets and also Suhra married to someone else. That was a big shock to him. While Suhra's husband was very abusive and it became difficult for her to stay with him. So, she returned to her home and Majeed commands to her 'don't go back' and she stays. After that Majeed leaves the village in search of a job and he reached a North Indian city. He got a job but one day he  meet with an accident and he lost his leg. The story ends were Majeed got letters from his mom  informed that Suhra is sick and subsequently of Suhra's death. 

               ' Immini Vallya Onnu' is a famous phrase associated to Balyakalasakhi .One day ,teacher asked Majeed 'what is 1+1' ,He replied 'immini vallya onnu' which means 'a slightly bigger one'. Majeed's explained his new theory to Suhra as, When two small rivers are combined, what happened? ,one big river is formed like this when two ones are combined a slightly bigger one is formed. Balyakalasakhi is largely autobiographical ,Basheer said that ,Majeed is himself.   The most interesting part of every Basheer books is the language used by him. Basheer commonly used colloquial language which makes his books unique. 

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❤️

Great work dr ♥️

Thank you so much

Loved it expecting more

Good writing.. And expect more.. Gives some clear images of the story...

Good, try one other subject

of course , more blogs are on the way

Super dear❤️

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Romantic Analysis Of Basheer's Novel ‘Balyakaalasakhi’

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Balyakalasakhi is a Malayalam tragic novel written by Vaikom Muhammed Basheer published in 1944.In the autobiographical  novel Basheer induced almost all the characteristics of Romanticism.The story revolves around Majeed and Suhra who are in love with each other.The childhood romance between the neighbours blossoms into a passionate love during adolescence.Eventhough the relationship between them was a such a sincere one it didn’t come to success because of some social and family circumstances such as financial and commitments to siblings and parents.

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Sunday, september 23, 2018, book review #13 - balyakalasakhi by vaikom muhammad basheer.

ബാല്യകാലസഖി | Balyakalasakhi by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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Vaikom Muhammad Basheer

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Balyakalasakhi (Malayalam) Kindle Edition

• Print length 92 pages
• Language Malayalam
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher DC Books
• Publication date November 3, 2016
• File size 639 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Not Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
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Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01N3YCAB0
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ DC Books (November 3, 2016)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 3, 2016
• Language ‏ : ‎ Malayalam
• File size ‏ : ‎ 639 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Not enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 92 pages
• #60 in Malayalam eBooks
• #9,826 in Two-Hour Literature & Fiction Short Reads
• #440,625 in Literature & Fiction (Kindle Store)

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Vaikom muhammad basheer.

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Vaikom Muhammad Basheer Biography: Novel, Age, Awards

Who is Vaikom Muhammad Basheer?

Vaikom Muhammad Basheer was a writer of Malayalam literature. He was born on 21 January 1908 and died on 5 July 1994. He is popularly referred to as Beypore Sulthan.

He was a writer, humanist, freedom fighter, novelist, and short story writer. He is noted for his path-breaking, down-to-earth style of writing that made him equally popular among literary critics as well as the common man. His notable works include Balyakalasakhi, Shabdangal, Pathummayude Aadu, Ntuppuppakkoranendarnnu, Mathilukal, Janmadinam, and Anargha Nimisham and the translations of his works into other languages have earned him worldwide acclaim.

The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honor of the Padma Shri in 1982. He was also a recipient of the Sahitya Academy Fellowship, the Kerala Sahitya Academy Fellowship, and the Kerala State Film Award for Best Story. He was a recipient of the Vallathol Award in 1993.

Vaikom Muhammad Basheer Biography

Basheer was born on January 21, 1908, in Thalayolaparambu (near Vaikom) Kottayam District. His father is Kayi Abdurahman, a timber merchant, and his mother is Kunjathumma. He is the eldest child. His siblings were Abdulkhader, Pathumma, Haneefa, Anumma, and Aboobacker, in order from eldest and youngest. After completing his primary education at a local Malayalam medium school, he joined an English medium school in Vaikom, for higher education.

It was during this time, he met Mahatma Gandhi when the Indian independence movement leader came to Vaikom for the satyagraha, which later came to be known as Vaikom Satyagraha. He became his follower. He started wearing Khādī, inspired by the swadeshi ideals of Gandhi. Basheer would later write about his experiences on how he managed to climb onto the car in which Gandhi was traveling and touched his hand.

Vaikom Muhammad Basheer Spouse

Fathima Beevi (Fabi Basheer) is the spouse of Vaikom Muhammad Basheer fondly called her ‘Fabi’. She is the daughter of Areekkadan Koyakkutti master and Khadeeja. Fathima Beevi (Fabi) came to the life of Baheeer on December 18, 1958, when she was 20. She was a school teacher. On the first day itself, Basheer fondly renamed her Fabi.

Vaikom Muhammad Basheer Novels

Premalekhanam.

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Premalekhanam was written in 1943 when Basheer was under imprisonment at Thiruvananthapuram Central Jail, Poojappura. He was a political prisoner on charges of raajadroham (treason), for writing articles against Dewan C. P. Ramaswami Iyer. Basheer mentions the writing of Premalekhanam in his later work Mathilukal. The love story that forms the plot of Mathilukal happened during the same prison term.

In the jail, he wrote many stories to entertain fellow prisoners, especially people sentenced to life. But at the time of leaving prison, the only work that he could get hold of was Premalekhanam. (Some of the other stories he later rewrote from memory). After his release, he published Premalekhanam in 1943. By 1944, the book was banned in Thiruvithankoor, although there was nothing political in it. The main reason for banning this book in Travancore is that Travancore was a Hindu country(princely state)where interreligious and intercaste marriages were strictly opposed, and the book indirectly favored interreligious marriages.

“Premalekhanam” – A Tale of Love and Satire

Balyakalasakhi

Balyakalasakhi (Malayalam: ബാല്യകാലസഖി, meaning childhood companion). Balyakalasakhi is a Malayalam romantic tragedy novel written by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer. It is published in 1944. it is considered by many as Basheer’s best work. The story revolves around Majeed and Suhra, who are in love with each other since childhood. By Basheer’s own admission, the story is largely autobiographical.

Pathummayude Aadu

Pathumma’s Goat (original title: Malayalam: പാത്തുമ്മായുടെ ആട് Pathummayude Aadu) is a 1959 Malayalam novel by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer. The characters of the novel are members of his family and the action takes place at his home in Thalayolaparambu. The goat in the story belongs to his sister Pathumma. Basheer begins the novel with an alternative title for the book, Pennungalude Buddhi (The Wisdom of Women).

Mathilukal (Malayalam: മതിലുകൾ, meaning Walls) is a Malayalam novel written by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer in 1965. It is one of the most cherished and well-known love stories in Malayalam. Its hero, Basheer himself, and heroine, Narayani, never meet, yet they love each other passionately. Despite being imprisoned and separated by a huge wall that divides their prisons, the two romance each other

Vaikom Muhammad Basheer Awards and Honours

Sahitya Akademi honoured Basheer with their fellowship in 1970. In the same year as he was honoured with the distinguished fellowship by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 1982. Five years later, the University of Calicut conferred on him the honorary degree of the Doctor of Letters on January 19, 1987. He received the Kerala State Film Award for Best Story for the Adoor Gopalakrishnan film, Mathilukal in 1989 and the inaugural Lalithambika Antharjanam Award in 1992 followed by the Prem Nazir Award the same year. He received two awards in 1993, the Muttathu Varkey Award and the Vallathol Award.

The Thamrapathra’of the Government of India (1972), Abu Dhabi Malayala Samajam Literary Award (1982), Samskaradeepam Award (1987) and Jeddah Arangu Award (1994) were some of the other awards received by him. Mathrubhumi issued a festschrift on him, Ormmayile Basheer (Basheer – Reminiscences) in 2003 which featured several articles and photos. The India Post released a commemorative postage stamp, depicting his image, on January 21, 2009.

Vaikom Muhammad Basheer is considered one of the best 10 famous Malayalam writers

FAQ about Vaikom Muhammad Basheer

Why is basheer called beypore sultan.

Showing his love for the Beypore port town that had been his home after marriage Vaikom Muhammad Basheer described himself as the ‘Sultan of Beypore’ during an encounter with a visitor.

Which is the first novel of Basheer?

Premalekhanam (The Love Letter)  is Vaikom Muhammad Basheer’s first work (1943) to be published as a book. The novel is a humorous story of love.

What is the real name of Basheer?

Basheer’s real name is Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, was born on 21st January 1908 and he is one of the prominent literary figures of Malayalam literature. He was also a freedom fighter, novelist, and humanist.

Which is the most famous work of Vaikom Muhammad Basheer?

Balyakalasakhi is the most famous novel of Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, which is among the most important novels in Malayalam literature

Which day is Basheer day?

July 5  is celebrated as Basheer day in remembrance of Vaikom Muhammad Basheer.

Source:  Wikipedia

4 thoughts on “Vaikom Muhammad Basheer Biography: Novel, Age, Awards”

From where did his family ancestors originated from.were they converted from Hinduism if so what caste they belonged to.

It’s a pathetic writer and good

This is very nice about vaikom Muhammad basheer

Thanks for the information,and it helped me more,so thank u very much

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Iran women's protests are the focus of 'Persepolis' author Marjane Satrapi's new book

Eleanor Beardsley

Marjane Satrapi, a graphic novelist, holds her latest book Woman, Life, Freedom , in her home in Paris, France. Eleanor Beardsley/ NPR hide caption

Marjane Satrapi, a graphic novelist, holds her latest book Woman, Life, Freedom , in her home in Paris, France.

PARIS — In her bright Paris apartment, Marjane Satrapi makes coffee, her cat rolling at a visitor's feet. The author of the internationally acclaimed graphic novel Persepolis , about a young girl coming of age during Iran's Islamic Revolution, Satrapi thought she had left comics behind. She's mostly been working in film in recent years.

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But she was pulled back to the medium after a young Iranian woman died at the hands of Iran's morality police for not properly wearing her hijab. The death of Mahsa Amini in 2022 sparked months of protests across Iran. Satrapi gets goosebumps thinking about it. She says it was history in the making.

"These adolescents are like, 'Stop, we want another world,'" she says, speaking of the massive protests begun by young Iranian women and joined by young men. "If it was only young girls, I would be extremely scared. But the girls were carried by the young guys. This is the difference. A real feminist revolution cannot succeed until men understand that equality between them and women is also good for them!"

Veiled Iranian women hold Iran flags and placards while attending a pro-government rally in Tehran, in December 2022. The rally was held in opposition to unrest following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in September 2022. Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images hide caption

Veiled Iranian women hold Iran flags and placards while attending a pro-government rally in Tehran, in December 2022. The rally was held in opposition to unrest following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in September 2022.

Satrapi says the protests were the first real pushback against the patriarchal culture underpinning Iran's clerical regime, which came to power in 1979.

Iran's protesters find inspiration in a Kurdish revolutionary slogan

The title of her newest book adopts the demonstrators' slogan: Woman, Life, Freedom. The anthology — a collaboration among more than 20 artists, activists, journalists and academics — depicts in words and art the historic uprising and its context.

One of the contributors is Abbas Milani, who fled Iran in 1987 and is now the director of the Iranian studies program at Stanford University. Like Satrapi, Milani believes the recent protests were very different from the 1979 revolution that replaced the U.S.-supported, secular regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi with a Shiite theocracy.

"The Iranian women's movement, in its civil disobedience, defiance and persistence, is absolutely one of the most important civil disobedience movements of the 20th century," Milani says. "It is completely comparable to the civil disobedience movement in the U.S. led by Martin Luther King."

Milani says only Satrapi, with her connections and international stature, could bring together such a diverse and talented group and turn out this book in just five months. Woman, Life, Freedom was published in Persian and French for the first anniversary of Amini's death last September. The English-language version, translated by Una Dimitrijević and published by Seven Stories Press, came out in March.

Spanish artist Patricia Bolaños says she thought it was a prank when she got an email about working on the project with the famed author of Persepolis . It was only when Satrapi got in touch herself that she believed it. Bolaños, who lives in New York, says Persepolis is one of her favorite graphic novels but she knew little about Iran.

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So she worked with one of the project's Iran scholars to illustrate the book's chapter on the "Aghazadeh," or noble-born, a term connoting nepotism and corruption that's used to describe the children of Iran's elite, its ruling mullahs and Revolutionary Guards.

An illustration by Patricia Bolaños featured in Satrapi's book Woman, Life, Freedom. Marjane Satrapi hide caption

An illustration by Patricia Bolaños featured in Satrapi's book Woman, Life, Freedom.

Bolaños says she was inspired by one of their Instagram accounts, "Rich Kids of Tehran," which showed the Aghazadeh wearing bikinis on French Riviera beaches, drinking alcohol and partying.

"It was really scary because these are the kids of those setting the rules, but they don't follow the rules," she says. "For me, it was like, how is this possible? Especially for the women. These kids are perpetuating this corrupt system. And at certain moments they have to collide with this other world of other women fighting and dying for freedom."

Bolaños wanted to know what those moments are like. The last cartoon in her chapter shows a stylish Aghazadeh checking her Instagram account. "She watches videos of women burning veils and yelling 'freedom,'" says Bolaños, "and the reader sees it reflected in her sunglasses. And someone asks her, what are you watching? And she says... nothing."

Satrapi says it was important to involve people from outside Iran in the project to show Iranians the world is watching, and embracing the protesters' cause. The author believes nobody would read a 280-page book on the history and society of Iran. But a graphic narrative, she says, draws readers in.

"A comic has this advantage, because the first language of the human being is drawing," says Satrapi. "So it's an immediate relationship that we have with image. Instead of using 1,000 words, you draw an image and the human being understands what this image is about."

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She flips through the book. "Each artist has his own style," she says, pausing on the chapter titled "In the Hellhole of Evin Prison."

"Mana Neyestani was actually in Evin prison," she says, "so he was the best one to draw this part."

The Iranian cartoonist , who now lives in France, is a recipient of the Cartoonists Rights Network International Award for courage in editorial cartooning. He was jailed for three months in 2006 because of a cartoon he drew in an Iranian publication that was considered offensive.

Satrapi drew the chapter on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the notoriously vicious guardians of the 1979 revolution. "Without the Revolutionary Guards, the Islamic Republic wouldn't last a month," she writes. "They control the weapons and the finances. For now, at least..."

Satrapi says her hand ached as she worked on that chapter. "I didn't want to draw their dirty faces," she says.

Illustration by Marjane Satrapi about the Iranian revolutionary guards. Marjane Satrapi hide caption

Illustration by Marjane Satrapi about the Iranian revolutionary guards.

The 55-year-old artist, who has lived in Paris for more than 25 years, says her generation was exhausted after living through the Islamic Revolution, followed by a massive wave of political executions and the eight-year Iran-Iraq war.

But Satrapi believes the current generation, with educated women and the mobilizing power of internet, will bring change.

"It's such courage," she says. "And this is why I believe that this revolution, sooner or later, is going to give its results."

Milani agrees. "I think it's the beginning of the end of the regime," he says. "This doesn't mean the regime will fall tomorrow because it still has money, a small base of support, and it still has the brutality to kill hundreds and imprison thousands. But it's delusional to think that this corrupt, incompetent regime of septuagenarian and nonagenarian clerics, whose ideas come from 1,400 years ago, can rule the Iranian society of today, where more than 60% of college graduates are brilliant women, who in every domain inside and outside of Iran, have created marvels with their work."

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Satrapi says the millions-strong Iranian diaspora can be a loudspeaker for what's going on in Iran, but change must come from within.

"It's not up to us," she says. "What am I going to decide for a young Iranian person who is in Iran? I have not put my feet back in my country in 25 years. So what am I going to tell them?"

Still, Satrapi has no doubt change will come. She says it's just a matter of time.

• graphic novel
• Mahsa Amini