Kerala bids tearful adieu to writer Ashitha

THRISSUR: The last rites of noted Malayalam writer Ashitha (63), who died at a private hospital early on Wednesday, were performed with state honours around noon at Santhighat crematorium. Ashitha had been undergoing treatment for cancer over the past two years.
Several leaders and cultural figures – including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Sahithya Akademi president Vaisakhan – condoled her death.
Ashitha was born at Pazhayannur in Thrissur on April 5, 1956. She completed her schooling in Mumbai and Delhi and did her post graduation at Maharaja's College, Kochi.
Ashitha is the author of several works including ‘Vismaya Chinnangal’, ‘Apoorna Viramangal’, ‘Ashithayude Kathakal’, ‘Oru Sthreeyum Parayathathu’, ‘Mayilpeeli Sparsham’, ‘Kalluvecha Nunakal’ and ‘Vivaaham Oru Sthreeyodu Cheyyunnathu’.
Though she wrote short stories, she also won acclaim as a poet. She played a key role in popularizing haiku poems among the literary fraternity of Kerala. She also tried her hand at translation and her translation of the works of Russian poet Alexander Pushkin are quite popular.
She won various awards including the Kerala Sahithya Akademi Award in 2015. Her candid interview with the author Shihabuddin Poythumkadavu, serialized in a popular Malayalam weekly, had ignited a series of controversies.
Ashitha’s works are largely from a woman’s perspective and dwell on issues like repression of women, their craving for freedom, gender equity, stress in married life, said writer Ashtamurthi. Echoing similar views, writer and Gandhian K Aravindakshan said many of her stories capture the struggles of women who want to confront isolation and darkness they face in their daily life. These struggles push some of her characters into the bizarre world, he said.
The journey she took to be a writer was not an easy one. Ashitha had to wage relentless struggles to enter the literary field because of the resistance she faced in immediate circles. However, she withdrew from the field of writing in between for some time. But, later she returned with renewed vigour.
She is survived by husband Ramankutty K V, professor (retd), department of communication and journalism, University of Kerala, and daughter Uma.