P. Valsala, who died at a private hospital in Kozhikode, Kerala, late on November 21 (Tuesday) night at the age of 85, was a significant Malayalam novelist of her generation and one of the early female writers to make a mark. Her masterpiece, Nellu, introduced to the readers a world that they were not familiar with: the lives of tribal people, in Wayanad.
The novel had caught the attention of readers when it was serialised in the magazine Kunkumam five decades ago. She followed it up with Agneyam, which she wrote after her unexpected meeting with Naxal Varghese on the banks of Kalindi River one evening. Agneyam, and then years later, Koomankolli would form a trilogy of novels set in Wayanad.
Wayanad was indeed a second home to Valsala who belonged very much to Kozhikode. She was fascinated by the hilly district after listening to her father about it.
She felt she could write a novel set in Wayanad; she lived there and researched on the lives of the much-exploited tribal people.
“I remember reading Nellu in the serial form in Kunkumam and was very impressed,” writer C.V. Balakrishnan told The Hindu. “That novel, I felt, continued in the great tradition of the Malayalam novel maintained by the likes of Uroob and S.K. Pottekkatt. Nellu was definitely a novel experience for the Malayali readers,” he said.
Among those readers was Ramu Kariat, the National Award-winning film director. He wanted to adapt Nellu for the screen. Valsala agreed to the proposal because she had liked the way Kariat turned Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai’s novel Chemmeen into a fine film.
Kariat also asked her to write the script, but he had also entrusted the same task with K.G. George and S.L. Puram Sadanandan. “In the end, he took scenes from all the three scripts and made the film,” Valsala had said.
However, she was not too pleased with the film.
Nellu was her second novel, the first was Thakarcha. Her other novels include Nizhalurangunna Vazhikal, which won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, Venal, Palayam, Gauthaman, Kanal and Melppalam.
Several short stories
She also wrote several short stories. Two years ago, she was awarded the Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, Kerala’s highest literary honour.
“Valsala had fine craft as a writer,” noted Mr. Balakrishnan. “She was very dedicated.”
She needed to, as she once said, since it was not easy for a woman – and she was a working woman, a teacher – to be a writer. “For, it is assumed that the first duty of a woman is to take care of the family,” Valsala had said. “I was determined to be a writer, so I managed my time well, and ensured that I had enough time to write.”
