The Maverick

(കൂട്ടം തെറ്റി മേയുന്നവന്‍ )

My last post on Abbas set me on to another unforgettable character of my college days. In a way he is relevant to one of the themes I intend to pursue in this blog. The idea that some people endlessly long to live differently…an idea Ibsen (and few others) had propounded through his dramas.

The person that I intend to portray is Venu, my college mate. Venu was   a couple of years junior to me. It is unlikely that he   could have read Ibsen or fashioned his life on Ibsen’s ideas. There were many like him before as there are now, greater luminaries, stuff for many more posts. But, who inspired Venu was anybody’s guess.

Venu looked odd in every sense of the word.  He wore only “mundu”   and had a stoop almost like a sickle. He was not particularly keen about his looks.  You could always see him puffing at a ‘beedy’ near the teashops or the bus stand. He was not regular in his classes.  From what I could make out, he was well read in Malayalam and was a good speaker. He was irreverent and a contrarian to the hilt. His looks, the ‘beedy’ and his oratory made him a natural ally of all left leaning student organizations. Many of us who professed progressive ideas wanted to rope in Venu and capitalize on his bohemian looks. He was almost a cult figure among the girls. That was another reason for our wooing Venu. But try as much as we did, Venu wouldn’t oblige us. Our entreaties miserably failed.   He was a hard nut to crack

Soon we realized he was too independent to toe the line of any organization.  It would have been difficult too, to confine him within the four walls.   Much to our disappointment he contested the college elections as an independent and cut into our votes. He canvassed votes with an epithet 'Manushian (human) Venu'. He lost the elections handsomely like all of us. Only, he would consider it a disgrace if he polled more than his vote, let alone win.

In many ways he was close to our views, be it anti establishment (very fashionable for a youngster), secular, pro downtrodden etc.  We were curious why he wanted to be on his own. To our persistent prodding Venu reluctantly opened his mind… he aspired to be a Radical Humanist. That sent us scurrying to find out what it was all about. We hadn’t progressed beyond Marx, Lenin and the proletarian revolution.  Venu lead us to M N Roy.  And, thereafter, we left Venu to his own ways. Incorrigible, we felt.

It was after many years that I met Venu again.  He suddenly appeared one morning in the lodge where I was staying with a few friends. He sported the same looks. Obviously he hadn’t made it in life. All the other ‘so called anti-establishment gang ‘, including yours truly, had by then cocooned up in comfortable government jobs. Only Venu stayed the way he was. A raw 'Manushian'.  Venu wanted a set of clothes from me. He asked with the same casualness as he would, if he were asking for a Beedi.  Those were the days after the Emergency and I was certain he would have been in the watch list of the police. He did not talk much and I was too embarrassed to ask him how he was engaged.

Again many years later I narrowly avoided meeting Venu face to face. I was in the interview board set up by the District Industries Centre to shortlist beneficiaries for a government assisted programme for unemployed youth. While going through the bio data- before calling in the applicant- I found to my utter chagrin that the next candidate was my friend Venu. I excused myself from the board but not before putting in a word of recommendation.  Venu wanted to start/expand an evening daily in his home town. He had all the answers for the questions the board asked. He had also registered a name for the eveninger. His application was short listed for onward submission to the bank

I don’t know whether he took the loan or started the eveninger.  I haven’t seen or heard of him thereafter which is 25 years now.  But my mind tells me he wouldn’t have been a success or made a life with his venture. For, Venu was such an individual who was set to fail.  Fail, yes, by our standards!

Venu stood alone. I don’t know if he really pursued his missionary zeal or he just wanted to be different.  In my thoughts he comes close to Ibsen’s philosophy… ‘the strongest is the one who stands alone’… as propounded in ‘The enemy of the people’

Good luck Venu! Tread your path wherever you are. Plough your lonely furrow!