[Pulimaana Parameswaran Pillai’s Samatvavaadi [The Egalitarian] continues to be one of the less-noticed gems in Malayalam drama from the 1940s. One of the nameless characters of this play, referred to in it as ‘Younger daughter’, is perhaps a powerful voice questioning gender inequality. Below is the translation of Act Two of the play. In the first act, the character ‘samatvavaadi’ murders the ‘prabhu’ (the aristocrat), who is the father of his beloved (called ‘Older Daughter’). What follows is a dialogue between the aristocrat’s ‘Younger Daughter’ and her Lover.
Continue reading “An Excerpt from Samatvavaadi: Act Two”Category: Critique
The first generation feminists developed a unique style of critique that lay forgotten for a long time, right up to the end of the twentieth century. It is difficult to come to terms with the harsh reality that such brilliant debaters and polemicists could be buried in our collective memory so readily ….
A Malayali Woman in Delhi : Lakshmi N Menon in Politics
[Below are some translated excerpts from G Kumara Pillai’s biography of Lakshmi N Menon, and the obituary published by the Mathrubhumi newspaper at her death in 1994. These excerpts through much light on the induction of women into politics during the Nehruvian era. Kumara Pillai’s account projects her as a paragon of virtue in public life, endowed with all the qualities valued in Gandhian politics — simplicity, honesty, diligence, efficiency, humility, forthrightness. More importantly, it reveals the manner in which women who were not active in political parties, but pursued politics otherwise – as champions of women’s rights – could be inducted into politics in the Nehruvian era, unlike later times.
Continue reading “A Malayali Woman in Delhi : Lakshmi N Menon in Politics”Mahila Samajams Must Belong to Ordinary People: G Vasumathi
Translated by J Devika
[This essay which appeared in 1960, is an echo from the 1930s, The voice may well be that of the woman shaped by the Malayali ‘Renaissance’ — that of the Navoddhana Mahila, so prized by the Kerala Model enthusiasts later, for being the moderniser of family life. The Navoddhana Mahila was one who identified herself as an active domestic subject, the bearer of the new values of her modernised community, such as modesty, thrift, efficiency, and committed to the duties of the modern wife and the mother. ]
Continue reading “Mahila Samajams Must Belong to Ordinary People: G Vasumathi”The Women of Kerala and their Freedom: Devaki Narikkattiri
[‘Keraleeya Streekalum Swatantryavum’, Vanithamithram 2 (1), August 1945, pp. 17-19]
[Devaki Narikkattiri was a pioneer woman among the reformers of the Nambutiri community in the 1930s and after] Continue reading “The Women of Kerala and their Freedom: Devaki Narikkattiri”
Expectations: Lalitambika Antharjanam
[These excerpts are from my translation of this brilliant critique of Man the Reformer moulding female bodies and subjectivities included in the volume of her stories, On the Far Side of Memory, New Delhi, OUP, 2018] Continue reading “Expectations: Lalitambika Antharjanam”
Some Obstacles in the Way of Equality Between the Sexes: Kochattil Kalyanikkutty Amma
[This is an earlier version of my translation of the article that appeared in my book Her-Self, Stree/Samya, Kolkata, 2005. For a fuller, annotated version, please refer the book]
Kochattil Kalyanikutty Amma (1908-1997), also known as Mrs. C. Kuttan Nair, was born at Thrissur. She graduated in science subjects from Queen Mary’s College, Madras, and had a long career as a teacher, which proved quite turbulent, especially towards the end. She was prominent as a contributor to magazines, and known for her keen interest in women’s education, active participation in the All-India Women’s Conferences and support for contraception. Her travelogue, ‘The Europe I Saw’, written in the 1930s, was widely read. In 1991, she published her autobiography titled Pathikayum Vazhiyoratte Manideepangalum (The Traveler and the Wayside Lamps), which won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi’s award for best autobiography in 1993. Continue reading “Some Obstacles in the Way of Equality Between the Sexes: Kochattil Kalyanikkutty Amma”
An Organization of Our Own: Kumari Saraswathi on Women Organizing
Translated by J Devika
[From the style it seems that this was probably written by K Saraswathi Amma, and ‘Kumari Saraswathi’ was probably one of her pseudonyms. In this amazing essay, the authors offers a feminist analysis of women’s mass organizations of political parties. It is impossible to disagree with the opening parts of the argument, just as it probably impossible to agree with the last, concluding argument. The latter marks the difference between the first generation of feminists and the present one.] Continue reading “An Organization of Our Own: Kumari Saraswathi on Women Organizing”
Come Back! : Lalitambika Antharjanam
[These are excerpts from my translation of her story included in the volume On the Far Side of Memory, New Delhi, OUP, 2018. Lalitambika’s distrust of the repression of the body despite her great admiration for Gandhi was palpable, and this story illustrates it well.] Continue reading “Come Back! : Lalitambika Antharjanam”
Prasadam: Lalitambika Antharjanam
[This is an excerpt from my translation of her story included in the volume On the Far Side of Memory, New Delhi, OUP, 2018. It is a sharp critique of the reformism among Malayala brahmins, and of Reformer-Man who saw women as mere passive objects of his reformism] Continue reading “Prasadam: Lalitambika Antharjanam”
Realism: Lalitambika Antharjanam
[This is an early version of my translation of this story included in the volume titled On the Far Side of Memory, New Delhi: OUP, 2018]
[This brilliant take-down of the hypocrisies of men who advanced progressive realism in Malayalam literature of the 1940s, brought Lalitambika many enemies and the equivalent of ‘trolling’ those days, in a ‘reaction-story’ by none other than Takazhi Sivasankara Pillai, who accused her of sexual frigidity] Continue reading “Realism: Lalitambika Antharjanam”
Swatantryavaadini 