Moustache [Paperback] Hareesh S. and Kalathil Jayasree

WINNER OF THE JCB PRIZE FOR LITERATURE 2020.

'A novel of epic dimensions ... easily among the most accomplished fictional works in Malayalam.'K. SATCHIDANANDAN

Vavachan is a Pulayan who gets the opportunity to play a policeman with an immense moustache in a musical drama. The character appears in only two scenes and has no dialogue. However, Vavachan's performance, and his moustache, terrify the mostly upper-caste audience, reviving in them memories of characters of Dalit power, such as Ravanan. Afterwards, Vavachan, whose people were traditionally banned from growing facial hair, refuses to shave off his moustache. Endless tales invent and reinvent the legend of his magic moustache in which birds roost, which allows its owner to appear simultaneously in different places and disappear in an instant, which grows as high as the sky and as thick as rainclouds -- and turn Vavachan into Moustache, a figure of mythic proportions.Set in Kuttanad, a below-sea-level farming region on the south-west coast of Kerala, the novel is as much a story of this land as it is of Vavachan and its other inhabitants. As they navigate the intricate waterscape, stories unfold in which ecology, power dynamics and politics become key themes. Originally published in Malayalam as Meesha, S. Hareesh's Moustache is a contemporary classic mixing magic, myth and metaphor into a tale of far-reaching resonance.

S. Hareesh‰۪s Moustache (Meesha in the original) is a novel of epic dimensions, deeply rooted in the regional history of Kuttanad. It narrates the history of the social transition of this fertile region in Kerala during colonial times; but it also transcends that history to enter the realm of myth by creating a superhuman being whose elusive and overwhelming presence turns the narrative into a rare fable told in the unique dialect of the region that approaches poetry with its striking images. This novel creates a language within language, and can be placed easily among the most accomplished fictional works in Malayalam. The translator, who obviously had a daunting task before her, has captured the nuanced native beauty of the original narrative. ‰ÛÒ K. SATCHIDANANDAN

A fluent translation of S. Hareesh‰۪s Meesha, Moustache is an amazing feat of maverick novel writing. An immersive experience of the highlights of the Kuttanad region‰۪s history, it lays out ‰ÛÒ through the story of its marvellous characters - the intricate social history of Kerala. Brilliantly told and evocative, and epitomising everything we stand for, Moustache is a story that needs to be heard ‰ÛÒ THE JCB PRIZE FOR LITERATURE 2020 JURY

Ever since I had read his short fiction ‰Û? it was difficult to let go of his work. His narration is simple and from the heart ‰Û? A philosophical outlook on human existence which works as an allegory on many aspects of Malayali life. ‰ÛÒ K.R. MEERA (Scroll.in)

A master storyteller ‰Û? a flag bearer of a new generation of fiction writers emerging out of Kerala ‰ÛÒ MINT LOUNGE

Impeccable confluence of myth and magic ‰ÛÒ INDIAN EXPRESS

A tour de force of jaw-dropping authenticity ‰ÛÒ THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS

After reading Moustache, I dreamt of crown rot on bananas, flesh eating eels, owls swinging low over Kuttanad, the weed that blooms red on the water ‰ÛÒ FIRSTPOST

Moustache is unusual and unique because it is tapestry made of such threads of stories: the novel builds an expansive world that far outreaches notions of plot, step by step, through all of these narratives ‰ÛÒ SCROLL

Moustache by S. Hareesh, integrates local songs, legends and myths in a metafictional whirlpool ... In the success of this novel lies the victory of the art of the story. ‰ÛÒ HINDUSTAN TIMES