''Pravasam'' is a 2008

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...

novel written by M. Mukundan. According to the author, the novel is an attempt to re-define nostalgia which is thought to be the essence of life of non-resident

Malayali The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They are predomin ...

s and to pay respect to hundreds of thousands of Malayalis living as non-resident Keralites in different parts of the world. It is a novel that travels through generations. It depicts a clear picture of the life stories of various persons living in various parts of the world as non-resident Keralites. It explains us about the different kinds of feelings of various kinds of people who had left their homeland for various reasons. These reasons include the emigration for the sake of seeking a better profession, for studies, for getting a better class of living and so on. But almost all of them dreams of returning to their homeland one day and enjoying the homeliness. One of the issues the books addresses is the question of cultural identity of the

author S. K. Pottekkatt is a major character in the narrative. In the beginning, the story is told by Pottekkatt; after his death, it was completed by Mukundan. The novel was officially released on 23 August 2008 by former Kerala minister

Binoy Viswam Binoy Viswam is a Rajya Sabha Member representing the Communist Party of India (CPI). He is the national secretary member of CPI. He was the Forest Minister in the Government of Kerala during 2006–2011. He was earlier elected to the Kerala L ...

during the 6th World Malayali Conference held in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. A formal release function was also held at

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

on 18 September 2008. Former minister M. A. Baby handed over the first copy of the book to Sukumar Azhikode. M. Mukundan won the Habeeb Valappad Award in 2009 for this novel. Also, the 2009 Mudranamikavu Awards for Excellence in Book Production, instituted by the Department of Printing and Publishing of Mahatma Gandhi University, was awarded to

DC Books DC Books is a publisher in Kerala publisher of books in Malayalam, and one of the publishers in India . It also operates one of the largest book store chains in India, with a network of over 45 bookshops under the DC Books and Current Books b ...

for the printing and production of ''Pravasam''."Mudranamikavu awards announced"
''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

''. 23 May 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2013.

External links

''Pravasam''
at

official website

References

{{Malayalam Literature , state=collapsed 2008 Indian novels Malayalam novels Novels set in Kerala Novels by M. Mukundan DC Books books Kerala diaspora Culture of Indian diaspora