From painting, she switches to narrative canvas

Her latest creative venture is a narrative canvas that features the drama of the pursuit of the treasure of happiness that spans over four generations of a family rooted in the social and cultural milieu of a backward community of Kannur.

For Chandini Santosh, a native of Kannur, moving from the world of colours to that of letters was not an arduous task, for she has been occupying both the worlds. Her latest creative work is a novel in English that tells the story of an ancestral family, or rather of its members, belonging to different generations, involved in the search for happiness that is not without pitfalls and setbacks. ‘The House of Oracles,’ recently published by a New Delhi-based publisher, is her first novel, though her poems were published earlier in two collections.

One of the female characters in the novel says: “Everyone has to find their own key to the treasure; everyone’s treasures are different.” In response to that, another character says: “You don’t need to think so hard. The treasure will come to you, and then you will find the keys to it too.”

“My first novel is dominated by strong female characters who have been encountering patriarchy and Brahminical practices in their own different ways,” said Chandini. It is the story of women members of the family of the backward community who are forced to practice the Brahminical customs because the ancestral house once belonged to an upper caste family, she said adding that most of the female characters rebel against those customs in their daily lives.

‘Velichappad’ (oracle who performs the Theyyam ritual performance), who is a Dalit, is the voice the reader hears in the novel. The narrative is woven with rituals, family relationships, common household chores and quarrels. The novel presents a tapestry of characters and customs familiar in he social and cultural environment of this district.

Chandini has done over 100 paintings, most of which features moods and emotions eloquently. For her, the use of colours and canvas is just a diversion from here real passion, which is writing. She also has completed a novel on political violence in Kannur.