Cigarettes, Tea And Love
Malati Mukherjee
He, My Beloved Cj (Ivan, Ente Priya Cj) by Rosy Thomas Women Unlimited, New Delhi, 2018, 178 pp., 350
August 2018, volume 42, No 8

Playwright par excellence, literary critic, artist, activist, and teacher, CJ Thomas’s work is credited with breaking traditional thought patterns and exposing society’s hypocrisy and superficiality. He is considered to have ushered in modern Malayalam theatre. Revolutionary film director Adoor Gopalakrishnan said of CJ, ‘He excelled in his field of screenplay writing…’ Mr. Gopalakrishnan believed that CJ has been an inspiration for many.

Several books and articles have been written to fete CJ and his path-breaking work. But He, My Beloved CJ (Ivan, Ente Priya CJ in Malayalam), is a memoir written by a wife for her much-loved partner, showing the world CJ’s other side—the husband, the father, and most of all, the beloved. With deft strokes, she brings to life for us readers, the character of this extraordinary and talented man. She presents him without any bias, giving expression to all facets of his being. His strengths as well as his foibles, his generosity of spirit and his critical nature, his sensitive outlook and his idiosyncrasies, she presents it all. The CJ of Rosy’s life has two distinct sides. To the world, he comes across as an anti-establishment rebel who can never tolerate injustice or deviation from principles; as someone who will not hesitate to throw away a job or good prospects for the sake of his values. He has no patience with people who are pretentious and superficial. As reflected in his plays, he seeks to fight social evils too. He does not care for money and requires very little himself, giving most of it away. CJ’s talent allows him to find jobs easily but just when his wife is relieved that they will finally settle down, he decides to throw it all away and move to another job, in another city. This causes constant changes in residence, and a constant struggle for funds, a fact which Rosy rues as she battles to cope with expenses for running the household and raising their children.

A once active member of the Communist Party, CJ rebels against it when he thinks it is no longer functioning in keeping with its vision. When his wife asks him what will happen if his current party becomes equally corrupt or inefficient, he responds that he will then pull that down too! His life is about staying on the straight and narrow path, helping anyone who seems vulnerable to him, and ensuring everyone around him does the same.

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