“Pathar beech aayina rakhna kitna mushkil hai
Teri yaad ko zinda rakhna kitna mushkil hai”

So sang a poet once about his efforts of keeping alive the memories of his beloved. Man needs some objects, some words to keep alive his memories that are somehow related to his desire. It may with the aid of a photograph, some gifts exchanged earlier or simply a few written words.

Without these ‘ memorable complements’, retaining one’s memory becomes very difficult, maybe as difficult as preserving a piece of glass in midst of rocks.

But the object of one’s desire may not be just a single person. It can be one’s community. Childhood days. The culture one has grown up in. Or one’s own motherland. Or a combination of all these scents in the same bottle of heart.

In the case of the latter, the feeling is shared by a group of people who share the same sense of belongingness. They come together in a collective manner to express their sense of belongingness for their object of desire. And in certain cases, a touch of creativity is also applied to make it appealing for others’ eyes. While they feel proud of such achievements, the onlookers can see them with a sense of envy.

These are some thoughts that arose in mind when given a copy of the publication by a group of Indian expat youths, hailing from the Cherukunnu region in Northern Kerala.

The publication has works from different Malayalee writers, both the resident and non-resident. While works of traditional authors and think tanks like M.T Vasudevan, Kunhunni Mash, Vaikom Mohammed Basheer and Kamala Surayya appears throughout, even ‘dot-com poet’s evergreen lines, hailing from the reddish soil of Land of Mountains, have been included in this publication. The broad range of topics, historic and contemporary, make it a remarkable work. It reflects the true secular, but not minus spiritual, nature of this land.

‘Kinaavu’ is the dream realized, not of just the residents of Cherukunnu, but all Indians thirsty for the past days of harmony. They all wish to see an end to the nightmare of fascism. The full moon of harmony still shines vaguely in the hopeful waters of their hearts. By God’s grace

Note: Kinaavu is published by the UAE Cherukunnu Muslim Jam’aath Committee