T.D
Ramakrishnan’s Alpha
Alpha is a
Malayalam utopian novel by the author T.D Ramakrishnan. The story is set in an
imaginative island called Alpha. The leading character in this novel is
Professor Upalendu Chattergee, a reputed Anthropology professor.
The novel
talks about an unusual experiment of twelve persons, who belongs to different
stratas of society, led by the professor. They have decided to live in the
island for 25 years, cutting all the relations with the outer world. They have
burned their boat, dresses and all equipment and decided not to use the language that
they have used up to that moment.
Professor
Chattergee believed that they could achieve all the progresses within 25 years
that the humanity achieved through centuries.
No one in the
real world, except Professor Sathish Chandra Banergee, knew about this
experiment. He was supposed to visit the island after the 25 years and evaluate
the progress of the experiment. He entrusted this duty to his disciple, Avinash,
at his death bed.
Avinash
reached after the prescribed time, wherer he witnessed a barbarian community.
They have found that only three are alive among the first 12. They took the
three out of the island. The novel progresses through the recollection of the
survived persons, Malini, Santhosh and Urmila.
The novel is
short, but surprising and memorable. T.D Ramakrishnan has done justice to the
author in himself. Though utopian novels are very rare in Malayalam language,
Alpha by its quality, can fill that gap.
