Chennai: What does one do when s/he is above 80 years? Probably watch television or pass time with one’s grandchildren. But, here at Ashok Nagar, this octogenarian has proved age is not a hindrance to achieve something.
The 87-year-old woman, Kamala Natarajan, released her first book, a collection of 20 short stories – ‘Yasodhayin Kannan’ at Russian Centre of Science and Culture here recently.
Prominent writers like Ravi Tamilvanan, J Bhaskaran, Mohana, Kanthalakshmi Chandramouli and R V Rajan participated in the event.
Kamala was born in Bargur, Krishnagiri district. When she was around 19 years old, she married Natarajan and moved to Chennai where her husband worked in the Railway department.
Speaking to News Today, the octogenarian said, “Though I am an avid reader of novels for a very long period, I didn’t think about writing short stories until four years ago. All the stories are purely from my imagination.”
She recalls that she hardly steps out of her house ever since she came to Chennai and tells that she has spent her entire life with household chores and her three children – Girija Raghavan, N Ramesh and Banumathi Prabhakaran.
When asked about the genre of the book, Kamala said, “People have a common perception that housewives have no exposure to the outside world – I broke that stereotype in my book via short stories. My stories mostly revolve around family, women-centric and village environment-related ones.”
It was her elder daughter Girija Raghavan, a publisher and editor of monthly magazine ‘Ladies Special’, who motivated her mother Kamala to write something in her free time by giving her a diary.
Girija recalled that she was surprised when she found that her mother had written a collection of stories in the diary. “I didn’t know that she can write so well. I thought it should be published as a book and I initiated the process. As a publisher, I edited my mother’s short stories,” she said.
Kamala said she went to school up to sixth standard and discontinued her studies. “You know those days, girl children can’t even step out of their house after a certain age,” she said.
But Kamala didn’t give up her reading habit. She continued to read novels and especially then monthly magazines like Kalki and Ananda Vikatan.
When she first started writing, her husband Natarajan was the motivator and editor. After he edits the rough draft, he would pass it on to his children to read. “At age 83, I started to write and I couldn’t believe myself because the writing came easily. My husband motivated me along with my children. But for the past one year, I couldn’t write or read due to my age,” said Kamala.
When asked about the book’s title, Kamala said she liked ‘Yasodhayin Kannan’ (one of the 20 short stories) more than any other story and her daughter, who is also the editor, kept that as a title.
Speaking about her mother’s achievement, Girija said, “When my mother told me that she has many things to say but there is no one to share, I gave her a notebook to write. After a month, I took her note to find beautiful short stories revolving around villages. Then she started writing while living in my house and my siblings’ houses.”
Girija added that only 20 stories have been released as a book and they are in the process of editing another 30 short stories and it would be published as a single book with total 50 short stories. Kamala’s life took a setback when her husband Natarajan passed away two months ago. “We are asking our mother to write more to move on from my father’s loss but she is struggling to write,” said Girija.