83. Shamseer Mambra

Abstract 83
Shamseer Mambra                           

Pravasi Literature and the Shifting (re)presentation of Gulf Malayalis

Abstract

The migration of people in a large scale to Gulf countries in the 1970s has altered the socio-cultural scenario of Kerala society in a major way. A society that was controlled by feudal icons was suddenly transformed into a ‘money order economy’ with the mass exodus of people in search of jobs.   

In spite of their contribution to the economy in a major proportion, they did not get the proper representation in the popular culture that they deserved. Gulf Malayalis have been stereotypically portrayed in Malayalam literature and films as nouveau riches who brag about their newly found wealth and their changed social position.  Influenced by a feudal mindset of the writers, who had not any first hand/lived experience of the intricacies of gulf migration the mainstream Malayali preferred to look at the Gulf Malayali as a comic figure in the literature and film.

Over the last couple of years, however, with an increase of opportunity to explore their writing skills and increasing number of educated people among the migrants, a body of literature, which can be called pravasi literature, has emerged. This body of literature produced by the gulf Malayalis about the life of gulf Malayalis, is a bit different from diasporic writing while it’s all about their own  experiences in the ‘other home’. Once the Gulf Malayalis started representing themselves through their own works, the stereotypes construct that they once had been started crumbling down. These new writings are informed by a consciousness that was sensitive to the lived experience of the migrant population in the Gulf.

Bennyamin’s “Aadujeevitham (Goat Days)” and Khadeeja Mumthas’s “Barsa” are two recent novels that explore the life of Gulf Malayalis with an insider’s consciousness. These novels are informed by the writers’ lived experiences in the gulf countries. Through the narratation of the life of Najeeb, the protagonist of Aadujeevitham, Benyamin negotiates with the stereotypical image of the pravasi in the Malayalam literary milieu. Similarly, in Barsa, Khadeeja Mumthas identifies herself with the pravasi through a first person narrative of her experiences in Saudi Arabia.

 Apart from these two novels, the writings by migrant writers like Babu Baradwaraj and Musafir Ahmmed also reconstruct the image of pravasi and the pravasi life as represented in the earlier literature and the cinema. Besides these, the writings of bloggers, cartoonists, etc, among the Gulf migrants have also contributed to the reconstitution of Gulf Malayalis.