Review of Ravi Shankar Etteth’s The Little Book of Goodbyes

Ravi Shankar Etteth’s The Little Book of Goodbyes covers his huge inheritance of relics, stories, local myths and legends from his family in the Malabar region of Kerala. Blending fiction and autobiography, the author as narrator eases readers into a series of goodbyes through tales of love and loss. 

He begins with his grandfather’s life in the 1920s when Uttupikkal Velukutty was charged with suppressing the Moplah rebellion in Malabar. Keeping past and present in conversation, the author moves from the Kerala of the past to his later experiences in Delhi, Landour, New York, and Germany.

Ancestral houses are often bubbling with stories. Etteth describes his family home, Irulanparatharavadu, as the “haunted mansion with an underground cave and ghost cows” — as described by his great grandmother. He doesn’t mention if his family is matrilineal, but we witness the experiences of all the women who come to inhabit the mansion. 

More importantly, this descendant of “war lords and men who broke into temples and changed history” helps readers understand the futility of guilt. He says, “All promises can’t be kept because some are beyond your circumstances. But there is no need to feel guilty. All you can do is live your best, be proud of what you do, and make those who love you proud of you.”

The loss mentioned in these pages isn’t merely personal but also cultural. With the passage of time, the local myths and legends that spruce up the stories disappear, and only ghosts remain. One is bound to reflect on the loss of cultural inheritance when experiences of family elders go unrecorded. The author was given, or found relics and letters that helped him piece together this book, and in turn, it becomes the inheritance of readers who are witnesses to a family’s history and experiences long after the final goodbye.

The reviewer is an independent writer based in Sambalpur, Odisha.

The Little Book of Goodbyes

Ravi Shankar Etteth

Westland

₹299

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