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| Ashraf, Kadavath, Eswaramangalam, Ponnani, Malappuram |
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There is no guarantee that a 7th standard drop out who worked as a sand mining labourer till his 35th year, would turn out to be a novelist. But if such a person happens to be a writer, one can hope that the writing will have the distilled essence of the true life around riverbank.
Thus did Ashraf write the novel, ‘Chila Visuddha Janmangalude Viseshangal’, with the authenticity of a first person narrative. And when the same work came up for consideration of the Edasseri award, the jury did not have to think twice about selecting the winning entry.
13-year-old Ashraf worked initially with the women in the river sand. For the next 3 years he came to understand the observation of the world from the feminine point of view. It was only by 16-17 that he could get entry into the men’s gang.
He started reading Manorama Weekly to kill the boredom during sand mining work. Slowly his interest turned to earthly Basheer and Pottakkad and later to the magical realism of Marquez. The Latin American writer seemed to strike a harmonic chord and he read all the translations of the master.
With the confidence born of reading, he wrote his 1st story. It was published in a weekly. Later he realized that he needed a larger canvas to paint his panoramic picture and so chose novel as his medium. Thus was born the award-winning book.
From a labourer, he has now donned the role of a small entrepreneur, exporting sealed seafood to Gulf countries in tandem with a partner.
He has no regrets about not studying beyond 7th standard. And yet he regrets the non-familiarity with English that has foreclosed half the world of letters to him.
Courtesy: V.Venugopal, Sree, Malayala Manorama, January 26, 2003
Contributed by: Administrator
