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{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox book

| name = God's Mischief
| image =
| image_size =
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| author = [[M. Mukundan]]
| title_orig = Daivathinte Vikrithikal
| translator = Prema Jayakumar
| illustrator =
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| country = India
| language = [[Malayalam]]
| series =
| subject =
| genre = Novel
| publisher = [[Penguin Books|Penguin Books India]]
| publisher2 = [[DC Books]]
| pub_date = {{Start date|df=yes|1989|12|13}}
| english_pub_date = {{Start date|df=yes|2002|10|30}}
| media_type =
| pages = 254
| awards = [[Sahitya Akademi Award|Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award]]<br> N. V. Prize
| isbn =
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| congress =
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}}
'''''God's Mischief''''' (original title: '''''Daivathinte Vikrithikal''''') is a 1989 [[Malayalam]] novel written by [[M. Mukundan]]. Like most of Mukundan's works, this novel too is based in Mayyazhi, better known once as [[Mahé, India|Mahé]], the French colony after it was decolonised.<ref>N. Kamala (5 January 2003). [https://archive.today/20130701061416/http://www.hindu.com/lr/2003/01/05/stories/2003010500240400.htm "Old orders, new claims"]. ''[[The Hindu]]''. Retrieved 1 July 2013.</ref><ref name=TH1>Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty (31 October 2002). [https://web.archive.org/web/20030623110159/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2002/10/31/stories/2002103100370100.htm "Making mischief... .By God !"]. ''The Hindu''. Retrieved 1 July 2013.</ref><ref name=IT1>Ravi Shankar Etteth NA (18 November 2002). [http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/book-review-god-mischief-author-m-mukundan/1/218655.html "Heart of memory"]. ''[[India Today]]''. Retrieved 1 July 2013.</ref> The story centres on a magician, Father Alfonso, his daughter, Elsee and an Ayurveda Vaidyar Kumaran and his two twin sons and how their life changes after the land is decolonised. The novel won the [[List of Sahitya Akademi Award winners for Malayalam|Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award]] and the N. V. Prize. It was adapted into a [[Daivathinte Vikrithikal|film]] by noted director [[Lenin Rajendran]] in 1992.

==Plot summary==
The story begins in 1950s, when the French, the colonial rulers were packing off from [[Mahé, India|Mahé]], a coastal town in North [[Malabar (Northern Kerala)|Malabar]], after 230 years, leaving behind remnants of a cultural history. Those, who considered themselves as belonging to Francophone culture, jumped onto the first available vessel to [[France]]. And many of the older generation, orphaned by the departure of the French, struggle to eke out a living even as they remember their days of plenty under their foreign masters. Caught up in their suffering, Kumaran Vaidyar does everything he can to keep the people of his beloved Mayyazhi from starving, but entrusts his own children to the care of his wife, who is no more. Meanwhile, Father Alphonse waves his magic wand and changes pebbles into candy and waits for his good-looking son to return. Through all this, untroubled by the woes of the elders, Shivan, Shashi and Elsie spend an idyllic childhood in sunny, sleepy Mayyazhi. Until the day of reckoning catches up with them and they pay the price of growing up.<ref>{{cite book |title=God's Mischief |author=M. Mukundan, Prema Jayakumar |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |year=2002}}</ref>

==Translation==
The English translation of the book by Prema Jayakumar was released by [[Penguin Books|Penguin Books India]] on 30 October 2013.<ref name=TH1/> ''[[India Today]]'' wrote: "The translation is brilliant, losing none of the linguistic subtleties of prose and colour of the original Malayalam. The translator has ensured that the delicacy of interlocking relationships, situations and their nuances have been preserved in all their complexity as the book tsunamis towards its climax."<ref name=IT1/> A Bengali translation is also available published by Sahitya Academy translated by Basabi Chakrabarty - 'ভগবানের দুষ্টুমি'

==Film adaptation==
{{Main|Daivathinte Vikrithikal}}
In 1992, a [[Daivathinte Vikrithikal|film adaptation]] of the novel was released, starring [[Raghuvaran]] as Alfonso, [[Rajan P. Dev]] as Arupurayil Kadungun, [[Thilakan]] as Kumaran Vysyar, [[Srividya]] as Maggi, [[Malavika Avinash]] as Elsee, [[Vineeth]] as Sasi, [[Sudheesh]] as Sivan and directed by [[Lenin Rajendran]]. Mukundan assisted with writing the screenplay and with other production tasks. The film was critically well acclaimed and won the [[Kerala State Film Award for Best Film]].

==See also==
* [[Delhi Gathakal]]
* [[Mayyazhippuzhayude Theerangalil]]

==References==
<references />

==External links==
* [https://archive.today/20130701061416/http://www.hindu.com/lr/2003/01/05/stories/2003010500240400.htm Review of the book by N. Kamala] (''The Hindu'')
* [http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/book-review-god-mischief-author-m-mukundan/1/218655.html Review of the book by Shankar Etteth NA] (''India Today'')
{{Novels by M. Mukundan}}
{{Malayalam Literature |state=collapsed}}

[[Category:1989 Indian novels]]
[[Category:Malayalam novels]]
[[Category:Novels set in Kerala]]
[[Category:Novels by M. Mukundan]]
[[Category:Indian novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Sahitya Akademi Award-winning works]]
[[Category:DC Books books]]
[[Category:Penguin Books books]]

God's Mischief - Revision history

>GreenC bot at 02:34, 19 April 2021