Ideally, you should not be having sex. Or any “sex adjacent” activities. If you are unmarried. And especially if you are a teenager. What happens when a couple does all of this and gets caught on film doing so?
Worse still, what if the clip makes its way to a pornography site only to be viewed a few hundred thousand times over and eventually become the talk of the town, alright, a small town but nevertheless…?
Tempers run high, everyone is only an argument away from a big heart attack, and the respectability of the family built carefully over the years, is laid to waste. The situation is as catastrophic as level 7 of a nuclear disaster.
“Our home, like many homes in the city I’m sure, had a proclivity of soap-opera moments.” The 20-year-old narrator of Teen Couple Have Fun Outdoors observes with great profoundness as Amma and Appa get the first whiff of a scandal brewing. In a predictable turn of events, a nosey neighbour soon confirms that a Rated A clip of their elder son Sreenath (Sree to his family and friends) has been doing the rounds in the otherwise nondescript residential society, Blue Hills. Sree, who until now has enjoyed a particular envy for clearing his chartered accountant examinations in the first attempt becomes a prime example of what a son should not be.
For all the hullabaloo, the clip is not even brand new. It is a three-year-old clip that shows the 19-year-old Sree and Anita (his girlfriend and co-star) in a “compromised” position. And no one really knows why or how it was uploaded to the dark alleyways of the World Wide Web. Interestingly, the elders do not question the voyeuristic nature of the clip and how it seemingly violates several laws of the Indian penal code.
When the narrator (Sree’s younger brother) convinces their father to seek help from the police to delete the video from pornography sites, they are inevitably dismissed with a patronising lecture. As is the case with all kinds of sex-related crimes, the family quickly learns that the police are not here to help.
A family in a dilemma
“Honour. Dishonour. Marriage. Redemption.” This four-step corrective action is suggested to Sree and Anita. Modern-day young couples naturally care for none of this – but as the book frequently reminds us, the tragedy has more severely befallen the parents than it has the actual victims. The plot as such remains stagnant and confined to the four walls of their Blue Hills house. If the story was to take a human form its belly would be bulging and taut with the constant tension that runs just below the skin, threatening to burst any moment but somehow held in place with an overstrained band.
The weight of their worries by and by assumes a very tangible form. Appa and Amma start showing visible signs of stress, they dress carelessly, and worry that the house (including, a recently purchased Honda Civic) were nothing but mindless expenditures. The 20-year-old narrator who understandably has a relaxed attitude toward life gets caught up in the frenzy – sometimes trying to convince the parents to see sense, at times pleading with his brother to make amends, and always transferring messages and threats between his parents and brother (who is eventually thrown out).
As the narrator tries to will some normalcy back to their lives, his efforts are easy to empathise with. His fledgling career in journalism goes for a toss, he is always looking for faraway cities to run away to, and worse still, girls seem to have no interest in his companionship. Things are not looking good for this family.
While rash decisions are made and rasher words are exchanged, one essential part of the drama is left out – what is going on in the minds of Sree and Anita? Yes, we notice the physical changes and Anita opting for oversized hoodies despite the searing heat, yet it was difficult to understand how the scandal affected their relationship – the reader has to indulge in a lot of guesswork, which after a point, can get tedious. The focus is so singularly on the narrator that apart from physical manifestations and bodily reactions to the scandal, the other key characters remain annoyingly at distance.
The realities of the generation gap
Jayan’s humour is whip-smart. In an instance of irony, Appa says, “Sometimes you notice lunatics in traffic. They must all belong to some home or the other. Occasionally, you meet them in person.” Such comments made in exasperation and desperation provide unexpected comic relief. Even the scenes that generate a laugh are products of a scandal – in this case, the cynical remarks only highlight how ridiculous the situation is.
When the illusion of the perfect middle-class Indian family is shattered, it is only natural for the members to resort to desperate and extreme methods. Anita’s uncle chillingly reminds everyone how couples are killed for “honour” for much less in the northern states of India. Despite the frustration I felt on behalf of the family, I could understand the parents’ shame and the unmooring brought about by the video.
Though Sree often makes deflating comments about his parents’ rigidness, I was taken by surprise when he makes a particularly scathing comment about them: “Firstly, most of these problems, Amma and Appa created for themselves. It’s what you get when you are vain and try to win the approval of every single person. It’s what you get when you are never satisfied or happy.” A comment that must have been made (and internalised) after years of observation is laid bare in the open when the two generations find themselves in a headlock and strangers to each other’s misery.
The novel presents a recognisable picture of the generation gap between parents and children – one that is exacerbated by social media and the influx of liberal values. The stubbornness of both generations does not help matters either. Since Jayan too is only 25, this novel becomes an interesting study of what happens when unassuming parents are suddenly faced with the challenging task of making amends and trying to understand their Generation Z children.
Is Teen Couple Have Fun Outdoors one of the more memorable debut novels of recent years? Quite. Despite the minor faltering every now and then, the novel lands cleanly on its feet. The ending arrives unhurriedly and naturally. Jayan’s writing remains consistent throughout – his voice remains steady as he navigates the age-old rough waters of parent-child relationships. With a smart debut, Jayan has put himself on the map of writers to keep an eye out for.
Teen Couple Have Fun Outdoors, Aravind Jayan, Serpent’s Tail.