Sugathakumari is no more. A light has gone from the lives of victims of betrayal and violence, making them orphans in the self-centered world. Polluted rivers, trees facing gallows, destitute, mentally illed, rape victims and many more victims of our society have literally lost their mother.
Sugathakumari born in Thiruvananthapuram as one of the daughters of a father who was an altruistic freedom fighter, a Malayalam poet and a mother, who was an eminent scholar in Sanskrit. She was a poet-activist with a life long pursuit of empathising with the griefs of victims, questioning the conscience of society based on her moral anguish and becoming an institution providing love, care, support.
Her life and contribution flows from the source indicating the entrenched meaninglessness and unsustainablity of the world and human life. One of her poem, ‘Pity the human heart’ goes like this..
‘Pity the human heart
It sees the lonely star and forget the long night
It sees the passing drizzle and forgets the long drought
Seeing a milky smile, it forgets death and rejoices
Pity the human heart’
In 1970’s, when Kerala government decided to construct an hydro electric power project by destroying Kunthi river and silent valley, her pen became mightier than sword, wrote an ‘ode to tree’, aroused the public conscience and forced government to give up the project.
Once sugathakumari visited Thiruvananthapuram mental hospital and was shattered by seeing the plight of the inmates. She recounted her disturbing experience there in the following way, “ the place was synonymous to hell. The mentally illed inmates were half or fully naked. They were living in a cell with a dry toilet in a corner. The floor was completely wet and stinking because the toilets are cleaned by spraying water from outside. The inmates cried and yelled by shaking the bars of the cell. I ran out of the cell not able to withstand the atrocities of my fellow human being. That evening, ‘Abhaya’ a care home for mentally illed patients was founded.” Today, Abaya has branched out into various institutions like ‘Athaani’, ‘Bodhi’ serving destitute women, orphan etc., There is nothing very innovative in establishing a care home but the greatness of sugathakumari lies in her instantaneous response towards misery without doing any cost benefit analysis.
Sugathakumari was a relentless fighter even in her ripe age of 80’s. She was not at all an happy person at the time of her death. She was very much concerned about the goals and paths the world has chosen for instant gratification leading the humanity to destruction.
According to Hindu Mythology, ‘Amrut’- that which confers immortality evolved from ‘Samudra Manthan’ – the great churning of ocean. Similarly, Sugathakumari’s poems, activism and constructivism are the product of the relentless internal churning of emotions by the meaningless and unjust world.
