Mukundan: Making of The Better Man

The novel The Better Man is set in the village Kaikurrussi, an imaginary land in Anita Nair’s native state, Kerala. Her imagination spikes high in the soil of Kerala, which has a rich past in the Malabar region. It keeps lingering in Anita Nair’s works, making the reader at home with the ideas she is trying to explore for them. In this novel, the speaker, Bhasi, shares the journey of Mukundan, the main character, from the fear of his father’s authoritative image and the inability to take responsibilities in life to a better man with a self-identity and individuality, along with the experiences of other characters who share their incidents while developing in their spheres.