The first generation Malayali feminists. Yes. They were real.
That was a short trip from Kottayam to Thiruvananthapuram. Still, Vilasini was scared to travel alone. However, it is shabby to show one’s fear and nervousness, isn’t it? She wasn’t just a schoolgirl anymore, for sure. Two whole years had passed since she’d got into a women’s college as a fully grown woman. And now, was about to join the Honours class. Continue reading “The Libber: K Saraswathi Amma”
“My folks are making a fuss. About getting married.”
He said that brusquely, irritated by her distraction. Continue reading “Selfishness: K Saraswathi Amma”
Madhavi’s parents had long decided that they weren’t going to buy her a husband. Her father said, “I didn’t take a pie to bring a woman home. The children number eleven now. If I start buying sons-in-law, won’t we have to pick up the begging bowl?” Her mother said: “The times! Wasn’t I swooped up before I turned fifteen? We don’t need a fellow who’s looking for cash. He may sell her in the end! Let her be here, when the times and her karma turn, won’t someone arrive as if dragged here with a rope?” Continue reading “Marriages are Made in Heaven: K Saraswathi Amma”
(This introductory essay first appeared in the book Her-Self (Stree/Samya, Kolkata, 2005), a collection of (translated) essays by Malayali women written between the 1890s and 1940, compiled and translated by J Devika. This was written soon after the first flush of discovery; I have grown more critical of this legacy now! )
Writing to C.W.E. Cotton, Agent to the Governor of Madras in response to his inquiries regarding a certain Lakshmikutty Amma from Tiruvitamkoor, M. E. Watts, the Dewan of Tiruvitamkoor remarked: “This clever young Nair lady has got on by her own efforts. She is headstrong, mannish and full of the perfervid spirit that espouses lost causes”. The young lady in question was the daughter of a retired senior official in the Tiruvitamkoor Education Department, and had taught at Queen Mary’s College, Madras, before she proceeded on leave to London for studies in 1926. There she is said to have completed studies in a year and then set off all by herself on a tour of Europe, with the help of friends, she claimed. Watts observed that Lakshmikutty had made friends with K. M. Panikkar and the “Strickland crowd”, and her antecedents made her rather suspect. Watts had been informed that early in the 1920s, as a schoolteacher in Thiruvananthapuram, she was deeply interested in Gandhi and non-cooperation, and even tried to popularise these subjects among her pupils. He, however, remarked that now she was on her way back to Thiruvananthapuram, the best place to cool her ardour. 1 Continue reading “‘Headstrong, Mannish, Perfervid’: The First-Generation Malayali Feminist and Her Times”
Translated by J Devika
[an earlier version of this appeared in my book Her-Self, published by Stree/Samya, Kolkata, 2005]
The damsels, they run, they hide,
Seeing the man with beard all gray 1
In those days, it seems, shaving was not as common as it is now. If it had been common, then Sheelavati’s husband wouldn’t have been so aggrieved. Continue reading “‘Malayali Marriage Modified’: K Padmavathy Amma”
Translated by J Devika
Balarama Menon wiped his eyes on his shirt-sleeve, sat up in the easy chair, and pressed the calling-bell. Used to hearing the trilling of that bell many times that morning, the servant-boy ran up. Menon told him, “Go to Vimala’s room and get the green trunk. Her mother should have the key to it, get that too.” Continue reading “Husbandhood: K Saraswathi Amma”
Translated by J Devika
They were arguing inside; they didn’t notice that I had stepped soundlessly on the veranda. Her mother was saying, “Yes, after some more years, not even this! Did even a dog look at you all this while? Two years after the exam and the grand victory?” Continue reading “Before the Rains: K Saraswathi Amma”
Translated by J Devika
Divakaran Nair had started meeting prospective brides in their home from the age of twenty. He had unshakable ideas about how his bride should look. Fourteen years of age; complexion that rivalled the gleam of a pure gold sovereign; thick curly black knee-length tresses; eyes that never rose above ground level; a face that attracted others even when cast down modestly; no taller than five feet and a half; slender, well-shaped form. He did not believe that an unlettered woman was unworthy of wifely status. How proud would a husband feel when he, during his hours of leisure, drew a young girl, untouched by knowledge of the world, close to him, and poured his knowledge and culture into her? What ecstasy would that be! Continue reading “The Perfect Wife: K Saraswathi Amma”
Swatantryavaadini 