PATHUMMAYUDE AADU


PATHUMMAYUDE AADU

Author :basheer 

Published on :1959

  


Patthummayude Aadu ("Patthumma's Goat") is a fictionalised account of Basheer's family life - only thing is, as with most of his stories, we cannot say what is truth and what is fiction. The goat belongs to Basheer's sister Patthumma (Fatima), and is characterised by a voracious appetite. It eats anything and everything. Basheer describes with his characteristic wry humour how it once ate his lunch, along with the banana leaf it was served on! And when it starts eating his blanket after polishing off two of his novels, Basheer says: "Dear Goat, please eat all the novels you want, I can get another copy printed: but leave this blanket alone! It costs money, and getting another copy is not easy!"https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12516807-pathummayude-aadu

  




As can be inferred from the above sentence, the goat is a metaphor for the all-consuming hunger of a family living in poverty. Once Basheer's nephew comes crying to him, because the goat has eaten his trouser pocket along with the 25-paise coin inside it: his father will beat him if he comes to know of it. The kind-hearted novelist gives him money from his strongbox, then catches and ties up the goat and patiently waits for it to defecate, so that he can get his 25 paise back, because money is scarce!

In the end, all the siblings band together to defeat Patthumma and her free-roving goat by milking it and using the milk for their own purposes.

The novel (or rather, novella) is shot through with humour even while it attacks serious existential issues. This is Basheer's trademark

                         
Pathummayude Aadu (Pathumma's Goat; 1959) is a humorous novel by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer.[1] The characters of the novel are members of his family and the action takes place at his home in Thalayolaparambu. The goat in the story belongs to his sister Pathumma. Basheer begins the novel with an alternative title for the book, Pennungalude Buddhi (The Wisdom of Women).


                   
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