Yakshi - Malayattoor Ramakrishnan - Book Review

                    The human mind is an indecipherable labyrinth. I try to gobble up on whatever I can get to read anything involving a mix of human minds and horror. This book has been sitting idle on my shelf for five years now and at last, I sat to read this last week. Horror; being my favorite genre; I was excited to read a story involving Yakshi.But did it turn out well?

                   The story is told through the voice of Sreenivasan, a Chemistry professor, who was handsome and brainy from the confines of a mental asylum. He has very limited friends in Ananthan and Chandrasekharan and their families. An accident in the laboratory disfigures his face pretty badly and this creates a huge complex in him. He builds a wall around himself and starts alienating him. Enter Ragini a beauty beyond words and they start getting close ending in marriage. Due to the mishap and mental trauma, Sreenivasan is unable to consummate their marriage. He starts to believe that Ragini is a yakshi set out after him for his blood distancing from her. The rest of the story tells us if Ragini is indeed a yakshi and what happens between them.

                    The story seems pretty simple and predictive from a distance. But once you start delving deep into the book, you will be really amazed at how the story has been written. The complexities and hallucinations of the human mind are brought out so vividly and in detail. Even today the topic of mental health is considered taboo and not openly advocated. Considering the times when the book was written, we can see that the writer has done his research on how the mind swings about like the restless monkey on a tree. The supernatural atmosphere works out very well. The character transformation of Sreenivasan from a mild-mannered college professor to a doubting husband happens without any hiccups and there seems not a moment of disbelief during the same. The way his mind works to believe anything happening around him being directed by Ragini was very interestingly portrayed. The scene where he hallucinates about how yakshis reside in space and travel on comets was a treat to read. Coming to Ragini; the beautiful girl starts off as an enigma for us just as she was for Sreenivasan but down the lane, we see her for what she is. Her character arc was far more interesting and intriguing for me than any other character. The author tries to sow the seeds of distrust in us also initially along with Sreenivasan. I was in fact confused during the incidents with the dogs and the one at the theatre. There are a handful of characters like Viajaylakshmi, Vanaja, Chandrasekharan, Ananthan, Kalyaniyamma, Thankam who play their part aptly. Chandrasekharan as a trusted and dedicated friend was an interesting character which I liked very much. The language was not as tough as I expected and was fluid enough to convey the feelings to us. On the negative side, I can say that the ending seemed abrupt or ambiguous for me. Well!!! That might just be me not understanding clearly; being a non-native Malayalam reader.

                    I heard there is a movie adaptation of the same and a very good one. This; I definitely will have to check out. From time immemorial, one thing that still stays behind the shadow is the topic of mental health. Even in these advanced times, people are not opening up on the topic (me included). The book rightly portrays how worse the problems can be and what all effects they will have eventually on our health as in the case of Sreenivasan. Having said that, this is a definite read for everyone. In particular, people who love a mix of horror and psychological thriller. Go for it!!!