 at a workshop by artist John Baby (left) at the art room of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in December.jpg.image.160.84.jpg)
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UroobP.C. Kuttikrishnan became Uroob when he wrote an article on music director K. Raghavan Master, his colleague at Aakashavani. The word Uroob means sunset, youth, evergreen, time etc.
He adopted the pen name because he thought it would not be proper to write about a colleague in his own name. Later, he went on to become a master in the world of storytelling. M.T. Vasudevan Nair has aptly called him a ‘Master of Dialogues’ because of the strength of the dialogues in his creations.
Vaikom Muhammed Basheer termed him once as a 'double litterateur.' Even though the reference was made in a lighter vein, Urub was indeed so. The sensitivity he harboured for human pain gave double strength to his literary works. Through his life, he taught us a writer should also be a good human being, In his works, even negative characters deserve sympathy.
It was difficult to pull away from Uroob as much as it was difficult to pull away from his books. If you ever chanced to meet him, you could spend the next few hours listening to his interesting anecdotes that would transfix you to him.
He himself was a wanderer in search of stories and his travels for stories often took him to hospitals, waysides, shops and so on. His 'Ummachu' was based on a case in a court and Uroob used to visit the court to track the case and its transactions regularly. He would also visit a lawyer friend in order to get acquainted with the happenings in the court.
Uroob wanted to be an oracle when he was a kid; the oracle makes a presence in his 'Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum' as a train. He had to leave for distant lands because of lack of money and had to attend to many professions to make ends meet. It is even said that he and his wife went hungry in order to feed their son.
Born on June 8, 1915 at Ponnani as the son of Pallprathu K.V. Karunakara Menon and Paruthully Chalappurath Parukuttyamma, Uroob started wandering just after finishing his high school. After six long years, he came back to Ponnani. He soon got involved in literary discussions with stalwarts of his time.
In 1948, he married Devakiamma, the sister of Edasseri's wife. He worked at Kalamandalam for some time and then landed a job at Aakashavani. He was also the editor of Malayala Manorama weekly and was also the president of Kerala Sahitya Academy. In 1961, his novel, 'Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum' received the Central Sahitya Academy award and on July 10, 1979 he expired.
He had worked as an accountant, translator, teacher and even a clerk. He has also went for Gita discourse because he was trained in Sanskrit. His first collection of stories is 'Neerchalukal.'
He has also written a collection of poems called 'Pirannal.' 'Neelakuyil' a film that received an award from the President of India, had its story and dialogues written by Uroob. He has also acted in a drama by Edasseri called 'Kootukrishi,' as 'Abubacker.' He has also written dramas such as 'Mannum Pennum,' 'Thee kondu kalikkaruthu,' etc. He also seems to have been a good mimicry artist because and he could unmistakably imitate poet Vallathol's mannerisms.
The union of Hindu and Muslim cultures has influenced Uroob and this influence on him goes beyond his pen name. He took the affability of Hindu-Muslim relations one level higher by including Christianity in the grand scheme of things.
Uroob was also a poet at heart and he once mentioned that one should not venture into storytelling unless one is also a poet.
The house of E. Sudhakaran, son of Uroob, is known as Darub, the short form of Darul Urub, which means ‘The House of Urub.’ All Uroob readers have a Darub in their hearts where they hold him fondly, on his hundredth birthday.
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