“No One Came”–Farcicality of Waiting in M T Vasudevan Nair’s Mist

Abstract

M T Vasudevan Nair, the renowned writer of Kerala, paints the psychological tussle of the characters through his novel Mist. Even the title of his work contains ambiguous meanings that can be penetrated only by a deep psychological insight. In this novel, he talks about the coveted spaces related to the psyche that cannot be explored. These unnoticed spaces speak more than the noticed ones. The work reminds us of the absurd literature where the term ‘waiting’ meant ‘waiting for nothing’. The absurdity that each character undergoes creates terrific pain in the reader. Logic or reason has no answer to this pain. Readers stray for some sense in the happenings but ultimately prove to be futile. Waiting leads to a growing stress in the meaninglessness and dysfunctions in life. The dominant consequences were strain, deformation and breakdown. The characters understand the futility of their waiting but create a world of make belief just for their own survival.