A classic rebirth

The first time she sampled a copy of Indulekha, Chaithanya Unni was all of 14. She re-read and then again a third time, triggering countless imagined encounters with the characters of the maiden novel in Malayalam. The author’s great granddaughter Jyothy’s child, Chaithanya was gripped by an impractical wish to meet Indulekha. The charismatic and vivacious Chaithanya has her heart in her mouth as she narrates how intensely she fell in love with the character, given flesh and blood by O. Chandu Menon.  In the 127th year of the novel, the scion of Oyyarathu family is paying a fitting tribute by putting together a Mohiniyattom dance-drama based on Indulekha to be brought alive on stage next year.

On December 1, she will have a PowerPoint presentation, shedding light on certain lesser known facts about the making of the classic, at the Soorya Mohiniyattom Festival in Thiruvananthapuram. “So fascinating was the depiction of the character that I wished ‘if I were she’. Most people do not know the novel’s exact origin, which can be traced to a painting. The author approached painter Rama Varma first, to draw a portrait of Indulekha, so that he could start writing,” says Chaithanya. Her passion about the work is palpable and her eyes shine like a pair of bright solitaires as she puts her point across. A doctor by profession, practising family medicine and dermatology in Australia, Chaithanya, along with her husband, runs a chain of five medical centres in that country.

Dr Chaithanya with dance partner Shiju Menon

During a casual visit by Soorya Krishnamoorthy to her place, he stoked her curiosity on ‘Indulekha’, convincing her to interpret it through dance. “I wonder if the present generation is capable of imagining a period so far back as the 1800s. The heroine, bold and respectful, plays piano, treats a maid servant like a friend, and engages in English discourse with the protagonist and her love interest Madhavan. Who could have boldly talked about falling in love and love marriages then? How could that be possible in the thought process at that point of time when many things common today were a social taboo?” she asks. Chaithanya is choreographing a duet performance, to be partnered with dancer Shiju Menon who lives miles away in England.

O. Chandu Menon

“Our practice sessions are through FaceTime video call on iPhone. I have set up a studio in my garage. From the time I decided on it, I became an early morning person. I wake up at 4’O clock to practise, in order not to wake up my seven-year-old and eight-month-old boys. Sometimes, both make an apperance inside the studio. The elder one even chips in with comments on mommy’s performance,” she laughs. Chaithanya has done a photo shoot and her choice of location was the famed Varikkassery Mana and premises in Ottapalam. Coincidentally, Chandu Menon served a munsif in Ottapalam!

Wife Lakshmikkutty Amma “There was something spiritual in what I did. I felt some sort of an apparition’s presence all through the shoot. My brain worked on how Indulekha’s thought process would have been. In her costumes, a vibration ran down my spine. Hurdles were astonishingly getting cleared to facilitate my larger aim. It was my destiny to do it,” she gushes. She spent months researching a period in history, the body language and appearance of its people. All said, a pain still lurks somewhere in Chaithanya’s mind.

Oyyarathu House

“Albeit dissecting the societal norms at the time of writing, the first edition of the novel was sold out like hot cakes. The second edition had to be immediately released to meet the readers’ demand. But still, the author lacks due recognition in his own place. He deserves to be treated in Malayalam on par with Shakespeare or Wordsworth in English literature. No monument commemorates him, nor is there a Foundation or a Trust. Probably I am destined to be a medium to propagate the novel’s merits and make people talk about it,” she says. While she is working towards that aim, there is another wish that will remain a regret: “I wish my parents named me Indulekha.”