S. K. Pottekkatt

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Sankaran Kutty Pottekkat (b. March 14, 1913 _ d. August 6, 1982) was a well-renowned author from Kerala state of south India, whose work Oru Desattinte Katha (The Story of a Land) fetched him the Jnanpith Award in 1980. He belongs to the Ezhava caste.

Sankarankutty or S.K. Pottakkat as he is best known by his readers, was born at Kozhikode as the son of Kunchiraman Pottakkat, an English schoolteacher. After graduating from Zamorin’s College, Kozhikode he went on to work as a teacher in a Gujarati local school for a year. It was at this time as if bitten by the travel bug that Pottakkat began his great odyssey that would ultimately take him to many parts of the globe including destinations in Asia, Africa and Europe.

As a first step he traveled to Bombay in 1939 where he worked for some years punctuated by extensive travels across the country. Providentially, this Bombay trip (described in his travelogue and memoir Ente Vazhiyambalangal) broadened his mental horizons and in effect was a turning point in his literary life. While in Bombay, and even before that, he involved himself in the India’s freedom struggle and worked alongside with patriots like Mathai Manjooran.

In 1939 he wrote his first novel Naadanpramam while he was in Bombay which was followed by Yavanikakkupinnil (a collection of short stories) in 1940, followed by the second novel Vishakanyaka which bagged the prize of Madras government in 1949.

As an aside to his extensive travels and literary works Pottakkat dallied with politics. In 1957 he contested for the parliamentary election from Tellicherry but lost for a 1000 votes. However, in 1962 he won a thumbing victory with a majority of 66,000 votes from the same constituency against his fellow litterateur Sukumar Azhikode.

His novel Oru Theruvinte Katha swept off the Kerala Sahithya Academy Award. Then finally came the novel Oru Desattinte Katha which bagged both the Kerala Sahithya Academy in 1972 and the Kendra Sahithya Academy Award in 1977.

Then finally in 1980, two years before his death, as a fitting finale to the vocation of a great writer Pottakkat was awarded the prestigious Jnanpith Award.

[edit] A Short Critique of his Works and Style

Shankarankutty Pottakkat represents the first generation of realistic writers of Malayalam literature (Second Generation writers). Though normally he is referred as one of the trio associated with Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai and Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, Pottakkat does not represent the realistic 'progressive' writers' club although his Oru Theruvinte Katha is a realistic work.

Most of his short stories represent the phase between romanticism and realism. In his travelogues, he was more interested to portray real life pictures of human beings across the globe, which most travellers fail to notice, than the creamy facade of the shining metros.