Book Review #83: Bettada Jeeva By K. Shivaram Karanth

Title: Bettada Jeeva

Author: K. Shivaram Karantha

Publishers: Sapna Book House

Genre: General Fiction

Pages: 150

There are few book which haunts you for some time though you’ve finished reading it. Bettada Jeeva is one such book where it is almost impossible to forget the characters or the story as such. Set up in a remote mountain village of South Karnataka, the book captures the scenic beauty of the entire village and mountain as well as the subtle tragic events of a family. This book is short with just 150 pages. The story that the author had written is brilliant in many aspects leave alone the main plot of the novel.

The book has a prominent plot which carries the story till the end with its elusive narration. There are multiple protagonists in this novel and the main characters are the old couple Gopala Bhat and his wife Shankari and a visitor guest to their house Shivarama. The story appears as simple as it sounds in the first few pages of the book, but, as you read through it, it has something else to offer. The tragic and secluded life of the elderly couple will remain a focal point in this novel.

The story begins when Shivarama, another protagonist in the novel loses his way towards his hometown Puttur. While roaming in the forest pathway to decide which way to go, two strangers appears who were heading to a different village and offers their help to get Shivarama to a nearby village. As it was already night and there was no way that Shivarama could get any bullock cart to find his way, agrees to go along with those men and finally lands in the house of the elderly couple.

Shivarama received a warm welcome from the oldies and they treat him as one of their own relative. They offer him the best food and shelter and knows his whereabouts. As they begin their conversations, Shivarama was awestruck by the liveliness of these old couple and tries to get along with them. He speaks about their life in that secluded village and in that single house. Shivarama learns that, the old couple had two children, a boy and a girl. While the girl married at any early age and due to the complications in her pregnancy, the girl loses her life. While the younger son was the only solace for these couple, but he turns out to be a bigger disappointment in their life.

To get higher education, the son leaves their hometown and heads to Mumbai. Months and years passed and there was no sign of him. The couple became old and vulnerable waiting for their son’s arrival. 12 years have passed since then, and there was not even a single letter from their son. Dejected by their son’s behavior, the old couple comes to term with the situation and continues to live their lives by accommodating any new guests in their villages and treating them as if their own kith and kin has arrived. This was a turning moment for Shivarama and he decides to stay in the house for few more days to hear the couple narrate their entire story.

As the story drifts further, there are other short tales of how the elder couple adopted an orphan person Narayana and raised them as their own son. They got him married and provided him the land to till and build his own life. Now, this orphan person has two kids, which the elder couple feels them as their own grandchildren. There are also few short stories of visiting the deep forests, hunting down a tiger in the traditional village way and roaming around the water falls deep within the forests and so on.

As the days progressed for Shivarama, he approaches the elder couple and asks them few question regarding their lost son and promises them to find him in his next journey. As soon as he sees the photograph of their son, he remembers the face is quite known to him. He immediately says to the couple that he has met this person somewhere in Pune and promises them to find him out. The old couple lives with a renewed hope.

My Rating:

5/5