Impact of urbanisation on nature as well as human life has been a recurrent theme in literature since 1950s. Ecological degradation in the pristine environment of Kerala began during colonial times. Poetry has began to depict this tragedy during pre- independence days.
Edasseri Govindan Nair's poem'The Kutippuram Bridge" is one of the first ecocritical work in malayalam literature. It describes
the dilemma faced by the poet, confronted by the merits and demerits of kerala's modernization and urbanisation.
The poem is an expression of the poet's anxiety and uncertainty about the modernisation. Here the 'bridge' symbolises the urbanisation happening in Kerala.
The poem was born out of mixed feelings that the poet had experienced while crossing the bridge. First part of the poem describes how he feels proud while standing on the newly built bridge. It was built at a costs of Rs. 23 lakh. Initially the poet is proud of the fact that humans have triumphed over nature.
The poet vividly portrays the beauty of nature before and after the industrialisation. The poet is nostalgic about a pre industrialized agrarian past, where people were very close to nature. Poet himself considered river Nila as his playmate. To him the river was Gramalakshmi, which glorifies the real beauty of the village. Wild range of paddy feild, fruit bearing trees, sweet smelling flowers, birds like kingfisher, crane, sparrow, and kite make the a scenic beauty of village as a feast to the eyes.
In the later part of the poem, the poet expresses his anxieties regarding the onset of mechanisation and urbanisation. The serene beauty of nature is slowly fades away. He worries that all that constitute village life, the river, the kavu, the pipal tree, songs of the ploughman.. etc were destroyed by the advancement of urbanisation.
The kuttipuram Bridge is described as a the 'threshold of a new world'. Through which urbanisation and modernity will come bringing with all its inevitable changes. As a result of urbanisation the neighborhood connections have lost.
Strangers are Neighbors!
And Neighbors Total Strangers!
Poet fears that the alienation from nature will lead to alienation of human beings and ultimate dehumanisation.
The songs of the day and the silence of nights are all moves away. Soot, stone, cement and steel are reigning over trees and flowers. Days and nights become noisy and the Peace and prosperity of the village moving shortly.
He prophesied that the Anthimahakalan kunnu will seem like a spinning top hurled by a hot-headed child robot and the Mallorkayam deity will become a wayside deity.
If man turns into a machine, Mother Perar will turn into a sad and foul smelling drain. He expresses his concern that humans also will turn in to mechines in the future, losing all traits of humanity.
As the first ecocritical work in malayalam literature, The Kuttipuram Bridge is a critique of mindless urbanisation.
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