Nayagi is a group of young Chennai women tied by the bond of love for literature. I first met them when they invited me to an event to celebrate the women writers of the previous century (Kadandha nootraandin penn ezhutthalargal). They said that the list of women spoken about that day was not an exhaustive one, and it would be continued. My grand-aunt K Savitri Ammal was one among their list.
Nayagi is a very democratic group – all are equal as there are no posts like president, secretary and so on. I shall therefore name the members in alphabetical order: Ahila Sridhar is assistant director of movies and a translator, Ja Deepa is a writer and dialogue writer for films, Gayathri R is a lecturer in French and co-founder of Zero Degree Publishing, Jayashree is executive director of Samarpan Study Centre, Palaivana Lanthar is a poet, writer and founder of Lanthar Art Entertainment – an event management company, Reva is a poet and writer, Savita too is a poet and writer and Tamizhponni is a tailoring expert.
This year on Independence Day, I attended their Nayagi-1947, at the Kavikko Manram. It was a day to remember the women who were married to celebrated freedom fighters; women whom we have forgotten or whose names we may not know; women who remain invisible. Nayagi decided to focus the light on them, by inviting scholars and academics to speak about each one of them.
Only one speaker was a direct descendant of one of these women, Jebamani Masilamani. The speakers had applied themselves to their task with earnestness, sincerity and humility. Referring to the year 1947 mentioned in the title, one of the speakers said it was not just one year, but many years of sacrifice. There were many moments when one felt a lump in one’s throat.
Chitra Balasubramaniam spoke about Chellammal Bharathi, perhaps one of the few women about whom we have heard. Gomathisankar spoke about Bhagyalakshmi Va Ve Su Iyer; and Ja Deepa spoke about Ponnammal Vanchinathan. We learnt that two other men Madasami and Chavadi Arunachalam were with Vanchi and their wives too were young women who, like Ponnammal, would have spent just a few days with the men they had married. Dominic spoke about his grandmother Jebamani Masilamani, Rangiah Murugan spoke about Valli Ammal and Meenatchi Ammal, wives of VO Chidambaranar, Kadarkarai Mattha Vilasa Angadam spoke about Mutthammal and Soundarammal – the wives of Namakkal Kavignar Ve Ramalingam. These are women forgotten by history, said the writer S Ramakrishnan who spoke on the occasion.
It was a remarkably unique way to celebrate Independence Day. Fortunately Shruti TV has recorded the whole event. So readers like me, who feel strongly about the injustice done to the ‘forgotten women’, can see it on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1Ib1Ak4Za0.
The group Nayagi, deserves applause.