"EVERYONE LOVES A GOOD HANGING" says "AARACHAR" by K.R Meera(Krishna Harikumar,Maths,Group 3)

 

 The novel 'AARACHAR'(HANG WOMAN) written by K.R MEERA, which has won  Kerala Sahithya Academy Award ,untwists the story of a 22-year old Chetna Gridha Mallik,a woman from the Mallik family,who has been carrying out the capital punishments for generations in the blood-smelling cities of Kolkata.The lives of women who have lost the colours of life in the dark shadow of social morality and patriarchy have been heard since ancient times.But the authour's assignment of a woman as a guard to a horrible death, in such a way that damaging the nerve by tightening the rope around the neck,closing the arteries,draining blood from the organs, has made this novel an extraordinary piece of art.No my friend,this novel has become one of the best novel in Malayalam not just because of either the curiosity or innovation of creating a woman as an AARACHAR'(executioner) but potraying the wounds inflicted on the mind and body of every woman from her birth to the present through Chetna Gridha Mallik.While the story depicts the history and myths of 'Mallik' family very imaginatively,the story suddenly takes up its sharpness by the entry or the intervention of other notable characters in the novel like Phanibhooshan Mallik,Sanjeev Kumar Mitra,Yatheendra Banargee,Ramuda...........

The theme of the story does not be confined to the Indian judicial system and the non-ethical intrusion of media.The novel also shed up the light upon the  love,death,after death,sex just like the petals of life bloom.It is in this context of increasing voilence against women in India that we need to think about the relevance of author's courage to give birth to a woman dramatically who making the knots with her Dupatta to wear around the neck of those who come with eyes and hands of greediness and lust.The storyline where Chetna breaks the bond with her beloved boy friend Sanjeev Kumar Mitra after being cheated by him, goes through the fact that the love is more uncertain than death.We can understand that the author has taken care of even the minute things when she plots the  specialities of Kolkota,the caprices of female mind and all.The statement " Women can also love those who hurts them" simply holds the proof for the same.The scattered debates here and there in the novel for and against the capital punishment make the readers to see the same from different aspects also.

There are some questions we ask ourselves after reading this book. " WHO IS AN EXECUTIONER?".Are we becoming  executioners when we try to free ourselves by tightening the rope around the non ethical social moralities and hypocritical relationships?Are we becoming executioners when we make the knots of compromise in our lives for getting the love? Yes as K.R Meera said "EVERYONE LOVES A GOOD HANGING".