Mathilukal is a Malayalam novella by the veteran Vaikom Muhammed Basheer. Translated into English as The Walls, the story is about Basheer who spends a brief period of his life at the Travancore Jail.

As the story opens we see Basheer, the protagonist, as a man who is spending his life at the prison befriending other prisoners, planting roses, and frequently in conversation with other inmates. He is obviously not happy being in the prison but is rather very unhappy due to the indifference being shown to him. The prisoners who had come in after him also have left the prison, but not he. So he protests by growing roses in the prison and spending his time writing.

The prison is separated from the women’s prison by a high wall. In due course of time, we see Basheer falling in love with Narayani, a prisoner on the other side of the wall. Though they haven’t met, they exchange words and promises of love, standing on the opposite sides of the wall. There are quite a few romantic moments and dialogues involved. This incident transforms Basheer. He looks forward to each day in the prison. In the novella, Narayani is just a voice across the wall. She throws up a dry twig up the wall signalling to Basheer that she is there. They small tokens of love across the wall as small stones and paper rolls.

One day they plan to meet. The plan is to meet when the prisoners are being taken out for a medical check up. Both of them look forward to the day eagerly. On the decided date, as Basheer is getting ready to come out, the prison warden announces that Basheer has been released. Quite contrary to the expectation, we see him shouting, “Who wants freedom?”

The budding romance comes to a stop when Basheer has to leave the prison without even bidding a farewell to Narayani, who holds the dry twig up the wall in hope that Basheer is still there.

No need to say that its wonderful as it comes from Basheer himself. Like all other stories of his, this is also a masterpiece, which was later made into a movie with the same name. There were no female characters in the movie, except for the sound of Narayani who is never shown. ‘Mathilukal’ means walls, which is the medium against which love blooms in the solitary life of Basheer.