Viapolitics in S. K. Pottekkatt’s Oru Desathinte Katha

Abstract

This paper presents an extensive study of the concept of ‘viapolitics’ in relation to S. K. Pottekkatt’s celebrated Malayalam novel, Oru Desathinte Katha (The Story of a Locale). Drawing on the theoretical framework of Viapolitics: Borders, Migration, and the Power of Locomotion (2022), edited by William Walters, Charles Heller, and Lorenzo Pezzani, the study examines how movement—both physical and emotional—becomes a political, cultural, and existential act. ‘Viapolitics’ theorizes the politics of mobility through vehicles, infrastructures, and routes that structure the migrant experience. By applying this concept to Pottekkatt’s semi-autobiographical narrative, this paper argues that Oru Desathinte Katha operates as both a travel narrative and a political cartography, mapping Kerala’s transition through colonial, postcolonial, and global modernities. Sreedharan’s journeys, from his native Athiranippadam to far-flung parts of the world, become symbolic of the human struggle for belonging, identity, and meaning in a world governed by mobility and displacement. The novel’s depictions of migration—from personal voyages to collective displacements—are examined through the lens of infrastructural and emotional routes that echo the political landscapes explored in Viapolitics.