Lit up with local flavour

At a session with Minister M B Rajesh on the concluding day of the festival, Meera said she didn't mean any particular political party but the broad left movement in general. "It is that perspective that always ignites writing," she said, adding that one cannot become a writer without upholding human dignity and freedom.

- KRISHNA P S@Wayanad

WRITERS always walked along with the left movement and not the other way around, said writer K R Meera at the Wayanad Literature Festival on Sunday.

Meera said it is politics that defines every aspect of life. "Literature doesn't have an existence without politics and vice versa. The aim of my writing is to reflect the hopes and concerns of the people," she said.

The award-winning writer said those who show aversion to politics have leniency towards a particular brand of politics.

Rajesh said politics need not necessarily be imposed from the outside but is ingrained in writing. To a question from the minister as to why the motif of fear looms large in her writing, Meera said it is easy for a woman to understand fear because she is brought up in an atmosphere of fear in the family. "Dismantling patriarchy is a precondition for the establishment of true democracy," she said.

Rajesh noted the brooding atmosphere in Meera's novels may have been influenced by the traumatic experiences resulting from developments like the demolition of Babri Masjid and the Gujarat riots.

Writer Arundhati Roy, in a conversation with actor Parvathy Thiruvothu, said the Hema Committee report cannot be made into a men versus women issue. "We are looking for a climate of change and culture, not just criminal action," she said. Roy said that even though women in Kerala are financially independent and join the workforce, they are still so much less free.