A Man A Home And A World

There is a characteristic passage in Jayakanthan’s Oru Manithan Oru Veedu Oru Ulagam (A Man, A Home, and a World) which could serve as a marker for the value the author assigned to truth in his scheme of things. It is spoken by Henry, the protagonist of the novel- “You might think I am being orthodox in what I say now. But tell me, don’t you find that lamp beautiful? Does that not provide light enough? Alright, maybe you don’t find it beautiful. May be this is not bright enough to help you do your work. But it serves me well. And this is what I want. Let this light and this peace prevail at my home”. Truth, for Jayakanthan, is not of the public domain. Jayakanthan lived by his own light, and this strong emphasis on the personal nature of truth saved him from the political, moral and cultural morass that bedeviled fellow progressive intellectuals of his age.