Midweek Review
A time and space-transcending love
Book Review
Title – ‘Every Journey Ends’ –
A Novel in Two Journeys
Author – Ayathurai Santhan
Publisher – S. Godage and
Brothers Pvt. Ltd.
Reviewed by Lynn Ockersz
There is a romance at the heart of this novel but it is a quietly-flowing one that blossoms over time and culminates gracefully in a momentous meeting of hearts and minds in an idyllic space. If soul-communion is the ideal in a union between a man and a woman, we have it in these pages.
Worked out in ‘Every Journey Ends’, besides other themes, is a growing relationship between a Northern Sri Lankan man, Murukan, and a woman from India’s Kerala state. The mainly subdued romance is narrated in a most controlled, undramatic manner, with just a few deft strokes of the pen but with ample colourful, poetic touches.
The latter literary capability, of saying much in a few words, has become typical of the author concerned Ayathurai Sanathan, the quiet achiever of Sri Lanka’s English literary scene. Hailing from Northern Sri Lanka, Santhan has proved time and again the vast possibilities in a sparse but crystal-clear prose style.
The ‘two journeys’ referred to in the title of the novel are a study tour of Moscow undertaken by Murukan, the narrator and chief character in the story, along with others from several countries, and a subsequent journey undertaken by Murukan individually to Kerala from Sri Lanka. The latter journey could be described as one that was motivated by a search for ‘lost love’. The ‘lover’ in question is a young woman from Kerala by the name of Madhavi, whom Murukan befriended during his study tour of Russia.
It was a case of unspoken love. As the story line unfolds in Russia, the growing mutual attraction between Madhavi and Murukan is intimated to the reader through a series of interactions featuring these characters. The encounters eventually become pregnant with romantic undertones. However, no encounters of a sensationalist, erotic nature take place. But even after he returns in a couple of months to Sri Lanka and gets back to the life he lived in Jaffna, there is a growing yearning within him for Madhavi, although this longing is not unambiguously expressed by him, even to himself.
Though there is nothing erotic in nature in these latter interactions between Madhavi and Murukan it is plain to see that the now ‘married and settled down’ Madhavi has continued to be in love with Murukan and has been inseparable from him over the years, in an enduring platonic bond. The actions of the characters and their verbal exchanges bear all this out. Among other things, an interest in the best of world literature has kept them together. However, they part after a few hours in each others’ presence at Madhavi’s home, the best of friends.
‘Every Journey Ends’ is also notable for the author’s creative blending of themes. While, on the one hand, we have an engrossing romance that takes us through an expanse of geographical space and cultures, which latter are interesting in their own right, on the other hand, we are provided penetrating insights into the hardships suffered by the civilian public of Northern Sri Lanka during the Sri Lankan state’s 30 year war against the LTTE.
The latter theme is graphically conveyed through the hardships suffered by Murukan to get his travel documents in order at the Sri Lankan end, for example. There seemed to have been unending red tape for the people of the North and East when undertaking a journey of even limited time span abroad. Besides, travelling locally on legitimate work proved most arduous for them on account of the suspicion with which they were viewed by official circles.
Accordingly, it should not have come as a surprise if sections of the population of Sri Lanka’s North-East felt alienated from the state. Hopefully, ‘Every Journey Ends’ will prove to be an eye-opener for those studying the roots of Sri Lanka’s North-East rebellion. But the novel is also a beautiful testimony to enduring love.