This Onam, harvest time for stories too

KOCHI: The writer's workshop gets busy ahead of every Onam. For, this is a season for stories, the greatest among them being that of a king who returns from exile.
An average Malayali reader can get hold of close to 200 short stories during this Onam rush. He shops for flowers, saris and booze but also for a story that will provoke and console him.
All leading Kerala publications bring out Onam annuals and the piece de resistance in all of them will be a clutch of short stories by celebrated names in Malayalam literature. It's a market nurtured and nourished by ingrained readers. Marquee writers such as T Padmanabhan, MT, M Mukundan, N S Madhavan may write only a story in a year and that would normally figure in an Onam annual.
K C Narayanan, editor-in-charge, Malayala Manorama annual issue, says: "It's a tradition that the best short stories in Malayalam appear during this period. It's a tough task to get stories from these writers. Some of them write only a story in a year. For the last five years Madhavan has written only a story a year and all of them were published in our Onam annual. This year is no different. Normally, I have to extract a commitment from most of the writers almost six months earlier to ensure that the story lands on my table. The story (Oru Sadachara Katha) that novelist Sara Joseph has written for us was commissioned a year ago."
This year, Malayala Manorama in its 'annual' has carried 12 short stories and two novels. Some of them, not surprisingly, address the immediate social and political dilemmas of Malayalis. N S Madhavan (Adakka), N Prabhakaran (Marichavante Yathra) and Ashtamurthi (Kochchannante Chayapeedika) discuss the murder of rebel CPM leader T P Chandrasekharan.
Mathrubhumi weekly, in an unusual step, has devoted its entire annual issue for short stories. This has been looked upon by many readers as an event in itself. In its Kathayude Katha issue, Mathrubhumi has reprinted 46 stories carried by the weekly over the last 80 years. But there is a difference. Each story comes with a foreword in which the author explains how the story took shape.
Kamalram Sajeev, editor-in-charge of the weekly, says:"During Onam, many run story factories. There is a huge demand for stories from publications during this period and magazines hire writers, provide accommodation and prise out stories from them. Last year, one writer churned out 16 stories for various publications, including little magazines. We have decided not to carry any new stories in our annual issue, since many of them are written under pressure to cater to the Onam market. Mathrubhumi, in any case, strives to carry stories that matter every week."
Critic M K Harikumar says the demand in Onam market does not result in quality. He says: "Our writers are not able to interpret the new world. There has been no experiment in form or language in these stories."
Narayanan points out that there is a huge market for stories in Malayalam. He says:"These writers are paid a handsome amount. Padmanabhan would be the highest paid short story writer in Malayalam. But money is hardly the motivation for them."
Sajeev says a celebrated writer would get up to Rs10,000 for a single short story during this rush hour. He, however, adds that mostly these writers remain a shade above the below poverty line.
Sadly, some stories always have the same ending.