Kozhikode: The story ends here. S. K. Pottekkatt’s house, Chandrakaantham, will soon be relegated to the annals of the history of Malayalam literature.
Chandrakaantham is not merely a two-room house with a corridor and kitchen at Puthiyara. It has seen the Jnanpith-winner penning his magnum opus, ‘Oru Deshathinte Katha.’ It has hosted several towering literary personalities, and Pottekkatt, an avid traveller, set off on his journeys from this residence.
The house is now being demolished to make way for a new construction, which will also bear the name, Chandrakaantham.
The property was in the name of the later writer till a year ago and after partition, his eldest son got its ownership. Jyotheendran Pottekkatt, settled in Muscat, decided to construct a new house after tearing down the existing one.
For decades, Chandrakaatham has been a centre of pilgrimage for students of literature. For them, it was beyond a house.
It was here that Pottekkatt drew up and gave life to the characters in ‘Oru Deshanthinte Katha.’
Besides Jyotheendran, Pottekkatt had three more children, Sumangali, Sumithra and the late Jayadevan. Their mother, Jayavalli, is not alive now.
The family has handed over the writer’s typewriter, manuscripts, letters and the Jnanpith Award to S.K. Pottekkatt Cultural Centre.
Jyotheendran and his wife Beenarani plan to keep the glass nameplate with Chandrakaantham written on it at their new house also. The new construction will be using wooden materials from the existing house.
