Arundhati Roy served a generous slice of the exotic beauty of Kumarakom, 10 km from Aymanam, the village at the heart of her novel, The God of Small Things.
Another literary work once again has brought Kumarakom to public notice, this time evoking laughter as the writer sheds light on the funny side of the land, located below mean sea level.
Jayanth Kamicheril, who was born in East Africa, has lived in the United States for a long period. However, he prefers to be identified as a Kumarakomkaran — or Kumarakomite.
Currently employed with a US-based food-processing company, Kamicheril still speaks Malayalam in a Kumarakom dialect and employs it to interpret events that have his attention.
The title, loosely translated as “The Disorderly Musings of a Kumarakom Native”, won the coveted Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for the Best Original Humorous Work.
Kamicheril, incidentally, belongs to the minuscule, strictly endogamous Knanaya community in Kerala that is known for its caustic — some might say hurtful — sense of humour.
He is the first from the community to win a Sahitya Akademi award. Though, having married an “outsider”, it is not clear whether he remains a Kananite.