Originally published in Malayalam as Meesha by S Hareesh, Moustache is an almost surreal narrative translated into English by Jayasree Kalathil, transporting the reader to another world through its classic storytelling.

About Book

‘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.

About the Author

S. Hareesh is the author of three short-story collections: Adam, which received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, Rasavidyayude Charithram, and Appan. He is also a recipient of the Geetha Hiranyan Endowment, the Thomas Mundassery Prize, and the V.P. Sivakumar Memorial Prize. Moustache (Meesha in the original Malayalam) is his first novel. Hareesh is also the author of two screenplays — for the film Aedan, which received the Kerala State Award for best screenplay in 2017, and for the 2019 film Jallikattu, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and won a silver peacock at the International Film Festival of India. Hareesh works in the revenue department, and hails from Neendoor in Kottayam district, Kerala. Jayasree Kalathil’s translations have been published in the Malayalam Literary Review; No Alphabet in Sight, an anthology of Dalit writing; and as part of Different Tales, a book series for children. Her translation of Kerala writer, N. Prabhakaran’s novellas, Diary of a Malayali Madman, was shortlisted for the 2019 Crossword Book Award for Indian Language Translation. She is the author of The Sackclothman, a children’s book that has been translated into Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi.

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Book review

The novel revolves around the character of Vavachan, who is a Pulayan. to be honest, I could not finish the novel in one seating. it took a lot of time to understand each character and story about moustache. There was something a little off about the gender dynamics, and I don’t mean the ultimately innocuous throwaway comment about women going to temples, which whipped up such an outsized controversy that it instantly catapulted the book to fame.

This book has narrated a writer who, in parallel narrative decades in the future, is telling his son stories about Moustache. all characters are somehow connected to a moustache. For a few characters, it took me time to understand how they are connected to mustache but in the end you will understand much better.

When I finished reading I had mixed feeling about it. This book is not easy to read. If you are a beginner, then it will take a while to finish this book.

Moustache is Hareesh’s debut novel. This book is like a story within a story. Little did he realize that his brief appearance in a musical drama as a policeman with a huge moustache would make him a legend overnight, evoking a response by the community that is marvelous and strange at the same time.

The book talks about many things like the cast, upper cast, lower cast, gender, poverty, caste discrimination, power abuse, unhygienic conditions. This book is Set in the Kuttanad region of Kerala. So vavachan is from Dalit samaj. and one day he gets a role in a small local play where he has to perform the role of policeman. And for that, he has to grow the moustache.

The role is so silent he appears in two scenes without speaking any single word. When he was on stage the audience sees the moustache and become awful. The audience is from the upper cast and the vavachan is from the lower cast. So they don’t like having a mustache for lower class people.

The moustache is a marker of caste identity. Only upper caste men could sport moustaches

After the play, they ask vavachan to shave his face and vavachan says NO to them. He tries to grow mustache even bigger.

Now the village people and upper-class family try to catch vavachan just to shave his face. He try to escape from them.

The village folk is terrified by his mustache. They compare him to Ravanan. A search is launched for Vavachan but he is nowhere to be found. Then there is a love story between vavachan and Seetha and wanted to leave Malaya.

This book is set in Kuttanad which in Kerala and below sea level. Where the flood comes 3 times a year. The story also talks about the land. This book is more about the cast system that happens in India. The social culture and history of Kuttanad are explained well. There is also humor in the book.

I want to visit someday Kerala.

The ending is kind of good. You will get two types of ending depending on how you look at it.

Talking about language is not that easy book. If you are a beginner then I will not recommend you highly. Because there is the primary story then there is a secondary story in the 1st story.

The complexity of the book which I don’t like. It can be made simple. Talking about the character they are well developed and described. The female part is something I don’t liked in this book.

Believe me, you need a lot of concentration to read the book if you skip a few pages a few chapters then you will not understand the book.

If you love Indian literature and want to expose smart and wise writing with heritage of kerela then this book is for you.

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