Writer, critic and feminist activist P. Geetha was presented with the firstK. Saraswathi Amma Award, instituted by WINGS (Women’s Integration and Growth Through Sports) Kerala, for feminist studies. Her work Aan Thachukal (male creations) about M.T. Vasudevan Nair’s scripts won the award.
Speaking after presenting the award to Ms. Geetha here on Saturday, writer and social activist Sarah Joseph said it’s a poetic justice that an award in the name of Saraswathi Amma, a writer who was largely sidelined by the mainstream patriarchal literary world during her time, has been given to Ms. Geetha, who has been subjected to many brickbats for her strong stands, especially in issue related to gender justice.
“Injustice met by Saraswathi Amma, who walked ahead of time, was a classic example of society’s intolerance towards female genius. No writer in that time was ready to write a prologue for her works, which included a dozen volumes of short stories, a novel, a play and collection of essays. Saraswathi Amma wrote about ‘gender equality’ at a time when that idea was not familiar to Kerala society.”
Saraswathi Amma published her first short story in 1938. In her time, she was dubbed as a ‘men hater’, later the feminist world hailed her as the forerunner of feminist literature.
N.A. Vinaya, founder of WINGS, who presided over the function, noted that they decided to institute an award in the name of Saraswati Amma to honour her bold stand.
“Saraswathi Amma was a bold writer who stood alone against the then patriarchal literary world. WINGS is an organisation formed with an objective of making women bold and independent.”
Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Geetha noted that some of the stories and essays questioning society’s patriarchal values from Saraswthi Amma’s collections were edited and deleted while being republished after her death. She was denied justice even after her death, she said.
Sreeja Arangottukara and C.M. Narayanan staged a play based on Saraswathy Amma’s works at the programme.
