Everyone’s sorrows

KOCHI: ‘Changalakulade Marmaram’, a collection of 20 Malayalam short stories written by Jofy John tells the stories of people whom he had encountered while working as a banker at Kainatty, Wayanad, between 2009 and 2010. The one-page stories which are based on themes such as bereavement, insanity, rain and death are written in the form of flash fiction, a literary genre which was popularised by American novelist Ernest Hemingway. According to John, flash fiction is a literary category that has been rarely explored in Malayalam. 

One of the short stories in the book revolves around the notion of Punarjanmam (rebirth) in which a character ponders about his previous life. The characters in each story are unnamed and are referred to as ‘ayaal’ (that person) which helps the readers connect with their own experiences. Despite the minuteness of every story, the readers are left teary-eyed and rooting for each character. “The emotions are big in each tale which helps the readers relate with the characters. I have also included all the emotions in a story,” says John.  

Although he had started working on the book during the lockdown period, the inspiration for doing the work came from his experiences of working at the State Bank of India branch in Wayanad. “Most of the contents in the book are based on the day to day interactions that I had with customers and fellow workers and the stories that I got to know from them,” John said. 

Although he used to write poems and short stories on his Facebook page, this is the first time that he is publishing a book. Happy with the positive responses that he got from the readers, John is planning to come up with a novel next year.