Sunday, May 31, 2009

My Aamy.....




It’s a huge shock.. My Aamy is no more. She has left this world forever.

I had started to hear more about her when I was doing my graduation. I had been an Anglo kid till then. I never used to read any Malayalam Literature. It was always English. I used to read English, write in English, laugh in English, think in English and even dream in English. But Amy changed it. No, not Aamy. She was Kamala Das for me then. I happened to see some of her English poems, and flat I fell in love with her words… I became an instant admirer. During my post graduation, I was on cloud nine when I had to learn “My Story” as a detailed text (which was not taught in a detailed manner in a conservative convent college). I read and read and embossed each word in my mind. It was my own feelings and frustrations that I saw in her works. I found many answers in her sentences.

My library began to fill with her books. My quest took me to Madhavikutty, and thus to her Malayalam works. I bought two English copies of “My Story”, and a Malayalam copy too. My friends used to laugh at my madness. The fragrance of her ancestral home with the trees and flowers and the pond intoxicated me. The conflicts of hidden emotions and her confession gave me confidence. There was a time when I had tried to see myself in her. She was an Arien, so am I... Shouldn’t we be alike? Her longing for love and her frustrations against the restrictions touched my heart. The musings of a lonely heart triggered my imagination.

I wanted to meet her in person. She had become someone very close to my heart. I started referring her as Aamy, just as her nears and dears did. She was no more a stranger to me. She was my guiding light, my unseen source of confidence. The courage she showed when she had converted herself, and her beloved Krishna to Islam thrilled me. I knew it was for love she did that.

The longing to meet her had intensified. But so was the fear… the fear of disappointment. What if she was a complete different person in real life? So the delay came. And now, when I was all ready to meet her, she left to Pune. One of my friends who is a close friend of her had promised me that once she comes back, he will introduce her to me. I was waiting for that. I was dreaming of making her write a foreword for a book which I will be writing before I disappear from this world.


But now, Aamy is gone.. she left this world without giving me a chance to meet her. I love you Aamy.. You will always remain fresh in my heart.. You will always be my invisible inspiration. You will always be…………..

16 comments:

കുരീപ്പുഴ സുനില്‍രാജ്‌ said...

my amy..it tocuched my heart..

salil said...

This becomes frm this hour
Our river and this old Kadamba tree, ours alone, for our homeless
Souls to return someday
To hang like bats frm its pure
physicality...
- Kamala Das

ചാരുദത്തന്‍റെ സ്വകാര്യങ്ങള്‍ said...

I remember the pond you had mentioned.A pale green pond where we swam about and floated.. where we dived in to the cold and green...! In all the bright summer months. In all the hours of the sun.... It was till my grandmother shouted:You must stop this bathing now; you are much too big to play naked in the pond.
The moment in childhood..A cross road. A day we recognise our nudity is a concern for the grown ups!The last day of your freedom. The next day will be a turnpoint in life, to wrap ourselves up, well enough to avoid such comments. I could go through it. So are my girl-friends till that day, till their grandmothers warned them. This moment is a precious one. The one which cannot be inherited to the new generation.

Year before last vacation. Kumarettan, Santhedathy and me went to meet her. But she let us down. They were wondering as to what happened to her.(They were bosome friends of her.) The next day she had called her up and regretted the incident.

I too join you to pay our loving tributes to the sweet memories!

anupama said...

dear saritha,
so touching.........really good!i never knew,eou will land up my site tonight as soon as i published the post!the like minded people!
Aamy is my personal treasure!
thanks for the timely tribute!the whole day i was so upset.......
thanks for the support!please change the image[go to google]!you can get Aami's lovely photos1
sasneham,
anu

The Eye said...

No she never dies...


Still lives... Through her thoughts..

KParthasarathi said...

The post has brought out forcefully the high esteem and affection you have for the departed soul.Her writings will forever be a source of inspiration to her admirers.She was slightly ahead of her times

Sudhi|I|സുധീ said...

I saw her in dreams! Still I can... She is with us...

suremad said...

A wonderful Obit in a very personal mode for one of the rare lady writers with uncluttered wings.

She had the courage to preach and practise a life which was against the strict and at times ridiculous moral code of conduct,generally prescribed for the womenfolk in India,and in most cases,enforced too.

But some of her acts during the last stages of her life,gives me a very strong impression that she might have undergone some mental instability too.

Pradip Somasundaran said...

I still remember the occasion when we three, Kamala Amma, Yousef Ali Ikka and myself traveled to Dubai for receiving the awards presented by Kairali Kalakendram. I even had the good fortune to help her around on her wheel chair. Then I had the good fortune to see her again at her flat in EKM when she did the "pustaka prakashanam" of my mother's poetry collection. This was long back in 1997.
I did not go to see her body as I still want her to be alive in my thoughts....thoughts always live forever.....
Wonderful post Saritha! Very touching.....

Girl With Big Eyes said...

She had balls and I admired her for that.

വയനാടന്‍ said...

സരിതെ
വേണ്ടിയിരുന്നുവോ ഇത്രയും ....
മാധവിക്കുട്ടിക്ക് അനുസ്മരനമെഴുതുമ്പോള്‍ പലവട്ടം ആലോചിക്കേണ്ടതുണ്ട് ....
എവിടെയൊക്കെയോ ഒരു "ഞാന്‍ " മുഴച്ചു നില്‍ക്കും പോലെ ...
ഒന്നും മിണ്ടാത്ത പതിനയിരാങ്ങളുണ്ട് ദുക്കിക്കുന്ന മനസ്സുമായി അവരെ നിശബ്ദം പിന്തുടരുന്നവരായി .......
ഒന്നും മിണ്ടാതെ അവരെ പിന്‍ പറ്റുന്നതായിരുന്നു കുറച്ചുകൂടി നന്ന് ..

Deliberately Thoughtless said...

Ezhuthathirikkan pattiyilla Sathishe.. appo athu parayanam ennu thonni.. maybe ente impulsive nature kondavam.. ente thathrikku mukhavura ezhuthan ini vere aarum illa enna chinthayaavam.. entho.. ezhuthi.. ezhuthiyappo share cheyyanilla oru moham... athu ee paranja njan enna bhavam aavam...

Pinne.. I really appreciate.. ee thurannu parachil.. ithanu njan ente friendsinte kaiyil innum pratheekshikunnathu.. orikkalum oru mukhammoodiyiloode sukhippikkalle.. Need more comments like yours..

വയനാടന്‍ said...

സരിതെ ക്ഷമിക്കുക ..
എഴുത്തിന്റെ രീതിയോ ഭംഗിയോ ഒന്നും നോക്കിയത് പോലുമില്ല ....
ഒരക്ഷരവും തികയില്ല അവരെ അനുസ്മരിക്കാന്‍ എന്ന ഒരു കടുംപിടുത്തമാണ് എന്നെകൊണ്ട് അങ്ങിനെ എഴുതിച്ചത് ...
സങ്കടം നിറയുന്ന മനസ്സിന്റെ ദീര്‍ഘ നിശബ്ദതയാണ് എനിക്കിഷ്ടപെട്ട സ്മരണാഞ്ജലി ...ഓരോരുത്തര്‍ക്കും അത് വ്യത്യസ്തമാവും എന്നത് എന്റെ മൂഡ മനസ്സ് തത്ക്കാലം മറന്നു പോയി ...
ആ വിഡ്ഢിത്തം അന്ഗീകരിച്ചതിനു നന്ദി ...വേദനിചിട്ടുണ്ടാവില്ല എന്നറിയാം ,എങ്കിലും ക്ഷമിക്കുക വികലമായ ഈ വിരുദ്ധ അഭിപ്രായത്തിന് ..
സരിത പറയും പോലെ എഴുതാതിരിക്കാനായില്ല ....

ഗൗരിനാഥന്‍ said...

Me too my friend...I love her, I never miss her bcz she is living in mind..she is the most beutiful lady i have ever seen..thanks for this post.

essbee said...

u have written very nicely about madhavi kutty
i love her words and books
ur words about her is like a poetry. sincere look about her views. still i am surprise about her joining with islam. she really a loss to malayalam.in our first chat we discuss about madhavi kutty. but u did n't tell anything about her.suresh babu

മാഹിക്കാരെ ഇതിലെ ഇതിലെ.... said...

നീര്‍മാതളത്തിന്റെ പൂക്കളുടെ 206 പേജിലെത്തി നില്‍ക്കുന്ന സമയത്താണ് നിങ്ങളുടെ ബ്ലോഗ് കണ്ടത്. ‘എന്റെ കഥ‘യില്‍ പക്വതയില്ലാത്ത കാഥികയായിരുന്നെന്ന് തോന്നിയിട്ടുണ്ട്. പക്ഷെ നീര്‍മാതളത്തിലെത്തിയപ്പോള്‍ അവര്‍ കുറെ മുന്നോട്ട് പോയിട്ടുണ്ടെന്ന് തോന്നി. മനുഷ്യന്റെ മനസ്സിന്റെ ഏറ്റവും ചെറിയ വികാരം മുതല്‍ ഏറ്റവും വലിയ വിരലനക്കം പോലും പച്ചയായി തൊലിയുരിഞ്ഞുവെക്കുന്വോള്‍ നമ്മളുടെ പല മുഖമൂടികള്‍ തന്നെയല്ലെ‍ അഴിയുന്നതെന്ന് തോന്നിപോയിട്ടുണ്ട്. എനിക്ക് പലതും മനസ്സിലാകാത്ത ‘അടയാളങ്ങള്‍’, ‘ആദിത്യനും രാധയും മറ്റുചിലരും‘, ‘ജെ.ജെ.ചിലകുറിപ്പുകള്‍‘, ‘പ്രവാചകന്റെ വഴി‘ തുടങ്ങിയവയേക്കാള്‍ എനിക്ക് എത്രയോ ഇഷ്ടം ബാല്യകാലസ്മരണകളും,ആലാഹയിലെ പെണ്മക്കളും, താരാസ്പെഷലും, ആണ്.Best wishes friend.