Sarada with Madhavikutty
She just loved living life
Author: T S Preetha, Published in the
New Indian Expresss, Date: Jun 1, 2009,
last Updated: May 15, 2012
WITH them she talked about love, bemoaned the loss of her
husband, mused about another marriage, discussed beauty products and listened
to songs and poems. For a handful of friends in Kochi, Kamala Surayya was a
person with whom they could share anything. She held their friendship close to
her heart even after she left Kochi. And her voice came to them from Pune al WITH
them she talked about love, bemoaned the loss of her husband, mused about
another marriage, discussed beauty products and listened to songs and poems.
For a handful of friends in Kochi, Kamala Surayya was a person with whom they
could share anything. She held their friendship close to her heart even after
she left Kochi. And her voice came to them from Pune almost every day, telling
them that she was homesick for Kochi, missed hearing Malayalam.
The conversations would go on for hours, remembers veteran
journalist Leela Menon in the latest issue of a women’s magazine. Leela topped
the list of her friends in Kochi, a relationship that dated back decades. Leela
and her friend Sarada Rajeevan visited Surayya in Pune in February. “We stayed
there three days and she was very happy to see us. I must have sung more than a
hundred songs and poems to her. She made me write down a couplet from
‘Vasavadatta’ so that her maid Ammu could recite it to her every day,” says
Sarada Rajeevan, psychologist and faculty of Cusat. For her Surayya is ‘Amma.’
“I have known her for the last 15 years. We used to sit and talk for hours in
her flat. She was so lively, talking about anything and everything,” she says.
Sarada went to Pune in March to spend a couple of days and came back promising
that she would visit again in June. “It was her birthday in April. She kept
asking me to come, telling me ‘I won’t have another birthday to celebrate.’ I
never thought that it would come true,” she says in a choked voice.
Among writers she was close to poet Vijayalakshmi and Sreekumari Ramachandran. “But rather than literature it was music that she discussed most with me. She was very fond of songs praising Lord Krishna and I have sung Ashtapadhi for her on many occasions. She would call me home for musical evenings when she had visitors from abroad,” recalls writer singer Sreekumari. These friends saw another face of Surayya that was hidden in the controversies surrounding her. She was very close to her sons and grandchildren even when she lived life on her own terms. “She was a typical grandmother and was very attached to children,” says Sreekumari. All her friends here were expecting her to come back at least once to her old abode in Kadavanthra, to her study room and the big brown chair, to laugh about life and its follies.
Among writers she was close to poet Vijayalakshmi and Sreekumari Ramachandran. “But rather than literature it was music that she discussed most with me. She was very fond of songs praising Lord Krishna and I have sung Ashtapadhi for her on many occasions. She would call me home for musical evenings when she had visitors from abroad,” recalls writer singer Sreekumari. These friends saw another face of Surayya that was hidden in the controversies surrounding her. She was very close to her sons and grandchildren even when she lived life on her own terms. “She was a typical grandmother and was very attached to children,” says Sreekumari. All her friends here were expecting her to come back at least once to her old abode in Kadavanthra, to her study room and the big brown chair, to laugh about life and its follies.
ts_preetha@epmltd.com,
The New Indian Express.
