Nearly two decades ago, I called on an old lady in Thrissur. My purpose was simple — to see face-to-face the person whose memoir I had just translated from Malayalam to English. Devaki Nilayamgode had made waves in Kerala with her book Nashtabodhangalillathe (With No Sense of Loss, 2003), a warts-and-all, insider account of the life of an Antharjanam (a Namboodiri woman). She had started writing in her 70s and was around 75 when the book was published.
Her youth had coincided with the time when the Namboodiri community, like the rest of Malabar, was transitioning from the life-sapping confines of orthodoxy to the relatively freer space of liberal values. Like other women of that time, Nilayamgode heeded the calls of social reformers, such as V. T. Bhattarthiripad, and drew inspiration from the works of M. R. Bhattathiripad. The popularity of the book was so resounding that it encouraged her to publish a slim, complementary volume three years later. It was titled Yaathra: Kaattilum Naattilum (Journey: Through Forests and Lands).
