Date:06/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/06/stories/2008070650290200.htm

Kerala

Thakazhy’s legacy lives on

— Photo: H. Vibhu

WITNESS TO AN EPOCH: Katha, widow of Thakazhy Sivasankara Pillai, at her home in Thakazhy, Alappuzha.

Ten years of solitude, and the burden is already weighing on Katha.

Each word, each gesture and each step that she takes with the white plastered wall offering support reflect that. Ever since Malayalam’s favourite writer Thakazhy Shivashankara Pillai passed away on a bitter April day a decade ago, his wife Kath a has been biding her time. “I’m 91 now. It’s not easy living alone,” she says.

But at the same time, the busy schedule that the small, but beautiful house in Thakazhy used to see during the days of Thakazhy, as the maestro was known, is still the same, particularly after a major portion of the structure was converted by the government into the Thakazhy Smrithi Mandapam and Museum.

Connoisseurs of Malayalam literature, students, tourists and everyone who has seen his or her reflection at least once in the mirror that Thakazhy held up to life through his stories, drop in to reminisce and learn more. There are times when, Katha says, there are 150-200 visitors a day. Not surprising, given the glimpse into Thakazhy’s personality that the museum offers.

From the numerous awards that he won, starting from the Padma Bhushan, the KPAC award, the Jnanapitham, the 1980 Vayalar Ramavarma award to the Vallathol Sammanam and the 1973 Soviet Land Nehru award, to name just a few, the articles on display include all the 39 novels and 23 anthologies of the writer.

One room that stands apart is where his spectacles, collection of walking sticks, hearing aid, pan box, pens and passport and even a worn-out Optima typewriter are preserved.

Katha too is more like a visitor to these parts of her own house. The museum is set up in a portion that is locked to the rest of the house. To live even in the other portion, she pays an annual rent of Re.1.

“I’m not worried about that. I’m sure the government will take good care of the house,” she says.

Dennis Marcus Mathew