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Chapter - IV

The Feminist Stories that Touch the Soil

The situation that evolved in the world after the modernism in

science, the modernism in economics, and also the modernism in

literature and culture is now designated as environmental situation.

The modernism that is mobilized by combustible fuels in now facing

a great crisis. The fuels of the world are not inexhaustible and

mankind recognizes the need for innovative thinking and ecofriendly

existence. So environmentalism is a post modern phenomenon and

it is not a journey back to romanticism or primitivism.

Environmentalists try to establish a realistic outlook about the world.

It is the attitude of the economic planners and rulers that they can

go on exploiting the resources of the world and maintain the rate of

material progress and economic growth uninterruptedly, that is

becoming Utopian in the post modern circumstances.

Environmentalism ensures the onward movement of human race

that may be stagnated and disrupted by the modern industrial and

economic attitudes. Ecofeminism lays bare fresh avenues for female

participation in the preservation of the earth and the preservation of

human race with a clear agenda against androcentricism. Kamala

Das especially towards the end of her literary career has written

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several stories which demand ecofeminist reading and many of the

ideas that she evolves go at par with the western ideas of

ecofeminism.

Kamala Das is an author who exhibits rich variety and depth

in the creation of her stories. The comment made by V.C. Harris and

C.K. Mohammed Ummer in their preface to the translation of stories

by Kamala Das is worth quoting:

With forty years of story-telling behind her, Kamala Das has

by now explored to the full the various vicissitudes of her life

and times, and her work, displaying a strange sort of

consistency even, amidst the bustle of enthralling variety, has

left its indelible imprint on short fiction in Malayalam. Of

course, she does have her predecessors – Lalithambika

Antharjanam (1909-1987) and K. Saraswathy Amma (1919-

1975) who spoke the woman’s language in a series of stories

that both covertly and overtly challenged the male order. Yet

when Kamala Das entered the scene, the short story in

Malayalam, acquired a vibrance, a dynamism, that surely was

the contribution of a full-blown genius, and a very disturbed

and disturbing genius at that. (vii)

The vibrance and dynamism of Kamala Das helped her to cross the

borders of various literary schools. In the beginning of her career

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she was considered as a confessional author, then people began to

identify the feminist aspects of her writing, but at this advanced

stage, the ecofeminist aspects Kamala Das are also made manifest.

The preface written by O.K. Johnney to the book

Madhavikuttiyude Sthreekal (The Women of Madhavikkutty) clearly

brings out the ecofeminist aspects of Kamala Das stories, though he

doesn’t use the term ecofeminism.

Madhavikutty is an author in Malayalam who has created a

new landscape for the human experiences using the depths of

female psyche portrayed in her stories. The startling genius of

the author brilliantly illuminated not merely the Malayalam

literature, but the sensibility of Kerala. The writings of

Madhavikutty are the imprints of a soul which is ever turbulent

and ever enlightened due to a peculiar vision about man,

nature, god, the grass and the grasshopper. The life and

works of the author very often remain in an unreadable

language for the Malayalam psyche due to the peculiarity of

vision… Madhavikutty is a rare genius in Malayalam fictional

writing who could rewrite the conventional concepts using her

deep awareness about woman, womanhood, man and

nature. (3)

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The technical terms consciously left behind by O.K. Johnney

in his brief introduction include pantheism, anthopoentrism,

androcentrism and ecofeminism. Kamala Das opposes the

androcentrism prevailing in an anthropocentric world with a

pantheistic fervour and definitely leans towards ecofeminism.

The five streams of ecofeminism are seen reflected in the

several stories of Kamala Das. “Subhadramma” is a story which

goes according to the patterns of spiritual ecoeminism.

Subhadramma, the 81 year old lady who lives all alone in her village

house is the pivotal character in the story. She has a son, a

multimillionaire living in America, and a daughter, wedded to a

doctor, who is well placed in Kerala. The lonely existence of the old

lady invites (Madhavikuttiyude Sthreekal 91-96) criticism from the

neighbours. But the old woman has her own explanation for not

going to live together with her son or daughter. She has a daily

‘schedule’ of her own.

Bath at six in the morning. Then she chants

Lalithasahasranamam. At 7.30 she has her tea and two dosai,

or wheat upma and a plantain. At twelve she has her lunch

with rice, chilly stew, and fried bitter gourd. Then she sleeps

for three hours. In the evening she takes broken rice pudding

and boiled curd, she goes to bed at 8 p.m. (93)

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She frequents the nearby Pavittamkulangara temple and she

enjoys the warmth of the love of the villagers. She says that the

schedule and tranquility of her life will be spoiled if she goes to her

son’s or daughters house.

The story is very simple as well as very much suggestive. It is

not merely because of her schedule that she stays in her own

house. The son and the daughter have severed themselves from

the organic bonds of the village and they are cherishing a utilitarian

and capitalistic approach towards life. They guage life in terms of

money. When Subhadramma is hospitalized due to a cancerous

growth in the head, the son doesn’t bother to visit his mother and

the daughter is happy that her brother has sent one thousand

dollars for the expenses of the surgery. She however prays for the

peaceful death of her mother. Even the doctor who performed the

surgery couldn’t believe that the old lady could survive the major

surgery on her head, after which he got, a big tumour like, a

coconut, which was preserved in a jar.

The old women miraculously gets healed and she returns to

her house and to her routine. She is even now, unwilling to go with

her children. She does love her children. She writes letters twice a

month to her son, though he scarcely writes a reply. She lover her

grand children and also she is happy to learn that they are all well

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placed. The old woman is sustained by her life in her house and in

her village. Even the village diety has a key role in her life. The

diety, Bhagavathy, “is the goddess, of the jungle and the temple is

without roof or wall” (96). The pantheistic undercurrent of this part of

the story should not be unseen. We cannot merely say that the

nostalgia of the author for the countryside is the only driving force

behind this story. She is laying bare a pattern of life restricting

human greed and utilitarian approach and reminds the readers

about the minimal requirements for life.

Bhagavathy, the goddess, Velayudhan Master, Bhargavi

teacher, Moosa, the grocer, the Brahmin priest, the village itself,

Karayogam (a communal organization of Nairs) are all consciously

created by the author to show how life can be made ecofreindly and

human friendly, and at the same time spiritually inclined. An

individual is not rooted merely in a family, the entire village or the

society should form the soil for the growth of the individual.

Alienation, the ailment of modernism, is something not akin to

environmentalism. Subhadramma who is alone in her house is not

at all alone in her mind or in the village. Environmentalism promotes

cohabitation.

Social and socialist ecofeminsit interpretations can be given to

two of the very famous stories of Kamala Das “Neypayasam” (Ente

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Priyapetta Kathakal 64) and “Kolad” (Madhavikuttiyude Sthreekal

32-33). Before such a consideration, the comment made by V R

Sudheesh, the famous Malayalam short story writer and critic about

these stories in the introduction to the collection of stores,

Madhavikuttiyude Premakathakal (The Love Stories of

Madhavikutty) is quite mentionable:

Women have naturally been blended as the body, the soul

and the background of life in these two stories. Man may not

portray this world of woman with the poetic ease exhibited by

Madhavikutty. Perhaps it may be correct to say that this is

possible only for Madhavikutty. The mother in “Kolad” is

getting the smell of the kitchen even in the hospital room.

Without any complaint, the mother was continuously and

tirelessly working in the kitchen. Even before the feminist

poets’ protesting statement about women as a machine that

wears out in the kitchen, Madhavikuty wrote in “Kolad”, “At

least that machine also became disfunctional”. The female

characters of Madhavikutty do not shout out anything in the

feminine path and they don’t openly decry male chauvinism.

There is a condensed silence in the story “Neypayasam”

which is aimed at attacking the male selfishness and

viciousness using its suggestive implications. These stories

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show us how woman comprehends the places where she

enters and the activities that she engages in. Knowingly or

unknowingly, Madhavikutty is the source of energy for the

new generation of female writers in Malayalam. Overtly and

covertly they have received a lot from Madhavikutty (14).

The contention in this thesis, that Kamala Das was the

ecofeminist pioneer of Kerala, is established in these words though

Sudheesh also doesn’t use the term ecofeminism like O.K. Johnney.

She was an innovator in this field and the new arena opened by her

is very much enthusiastically emulated and followed in Malayalam

by authors like P.Valsala, Sarah Joseph, Chandramati etc. The

miserable plight of domesticated women is very often a favourite

theme of Kamala Das, as is seen in these two stories. Men don’t

themselves assume the role of culprits in these stories, but the

system is more responsible. The patriarchal mode of living and the

assumption that men are supreme prove detrimental to women. The

sacrificial role of woman doesn’t actually fetch her any familial and

social recognition. She is given only a utilitarian treatment. She is

committed to the family to the core. But this commitment is not

reciprocated and Kamala Das reminds the readers about the

miserable plight of womanhood and the social recognition that a

women should get form the undercurrent of these stories.

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K.S Ravikumar’s Comment about the environment of Kamala

Das’ stories is worth quoting here:

Among the writings of Madhavikutty, it is in the stories written

with urban background that we mostly find the existential

tensions of women. The pitiable plight in the life of a woman is

portrayed with utmost brevity and force in ‘Neypayasam’. The

plot of the story is very much decided by its urban

background. If the family in the story lived in a village, they

would not have experienced the utter alienation and

desolation after the death of the mother. Relatives and

neighbours would have been there to comfort them. The

entire course of the story would have changed (Samakalika

Malayalam Varika 44).

The exploitation of womanhood is seen portrayed in several

stories of Kamala Das and prostitution is an significant theme for

these kind of stories. “Padmavati the Harlot” “Sonagachi” and ‘A Doll

for the Child Prostitute’ are there stories which approach prostitution

from three different perspectives, but definitely with ecofeminist

implications. The environment intended by ecofeminism is not

merely a natural environment, but also a conducive environment,

including family, economic freedom, social acceptance etc. These

ideas have their origin in social ecofeminism. Prostitution is very

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often created due to the deprivity of the basic requirements of life.

When a section of people in a society is marginalized, the women in

that peculiar section is doubly marginalized and social evils like

prostitution stem up there.

“Padmavati the Harlot” (Padmavati the Harlot and Other

Stories 23-25) has both social ecofeminist and spiritual ecofeminist

levels. Padmavati, the poor girl who got the charge of her sister and

brother in her early childhood, who had to bring them up, by selling

herself, was performing the utmost act of renunciation. The sacrifice

of Padmavati fetches her only contempt and rejection and the

middle aged woman goes to the shrine of her Lord, to see him, to

offer herself to him, for she doesn’t have anything else to give him.

Even a packet of fruit that she brought for the Lord was snatched

from her by the loafers near the temple. The Lord recognizes her,

consoler her, and embraces her. The story assumes the shape of a

beautiful fantasy at the end. The unrequitted love from the world is

well replayed by the Lord. The level of sacrifice achieved by this

harlot is unachievable for any man.

Padmavati became and continued as a harlot for educating

her brothers and also for saving money for the dowry of her sister.

When two brothers got good jobs and when the sister was married

off, she was forgotten by them. Padmavati recollects her past “I was

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busy looking after my family, lending my body to strangers who

hated me and then hated themselves” (Padmavati the Harlot and

Other Stories 25). This aspect of hatred and rejection, the act of

social ostracism is the pitiable plight of prostitution. The entire

blame for the carnal sinfulness of a phallocratic society is thrust

upon the prostitute and her own body becomes a prison for her.

Those who partake in the sin with the prostitute go entirely scot free.

It is the diseased social fabric and contaminated environment that

prevail for women give the story an ecofeminist significance.

“Sonagachi” (Madhavikuttiyude Sthreekal 28-31) is a story

about man-woman relationship, as well as about prostitution. It is a

revolutionary story with much symbolic significance. Amala is also a

socially victimized prostitute. Rajendran, the hero, once visited her

in her brothel in Calcutta, before his marriage. After several years

he remembers and longs to visit her again. Rajendran’s matrimony

was quite happy, with his rich and beautiful wife and a smart child.

Rajendran’s first visit to Amala, the only prostitute in his life

was quite memorable. The ugly surroundings in the brothel didn’t

cause distaste in him, he spent the whole night with Amala,

embracing her. Amala’s words, “Those who come here are all

wolves. They tear me. But when I sleep with you, I think that I am

sleeping with my childhood friend Meera” (Madhavikuttiyude

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Sthreekal 29). Rajendran approached Amala not merely for sexual

satisfaction. A sublimer warmth of man-woman relationship inspired

him.

Rajendran’s second visit to the brothel was acutely painful.

Amala had become a T.B patient and as Amala said, she had

stopped “the trade”. She was continuously coughing. Though she

had no utility value, Rajendran spends a night with her, embracing

her. Amala is quite unable to recognize Rajendran, when he visited

her the second time. She also confesses that she is unable to

recognize any one’s face. This face of the women marginalized from

life to a state of oblivion is the consequence of androcentric

exploitation. However, Rajendran is not the representative of the

exploiters. He tries to go deep into the inner spiritual bonds between

man and woman. Rajendran is a rare idealized picture of the male,

who tries to extend a helping hand. The social situation surrounding

Amala, makes her quite helpless in reciprocating. She is entirely a

victim, a victim who has been rendered entirely drained. V.R.

Sudheesh has made a memorable comment about this story:

Sonagachi is one of the finest stories written in Malayalam.

But there are not many comments noted about this story. The

story provides an untranslable experience of language. If we

have to learn how woman describes woman, we have to read

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stories like this. When many of our feminist writings are

merely ‘fancy

dress’, Madhavikutty stands out with originality.

(Madhavikuttiyude Premakathakal 16)

“A Doll for the Child Prostitute” (Padmavati the Harlot and

Other Stories 66-101) is a longer story on prostitution, which lays

bare the social background of prostitution, how prostitutes are

created and maintained, and the inner agony of these wounded

creatures. Child prostitution is yet another serious issue discussed

in the story, also pregnancy, abortion, death and such bleak realities

in the life of a child prostitute. Structurally and emotionally this long

narrative story doesn’t create the loftiness of “Padmavati the Harlot’

or “Sonagachi”. But this story deserves consideration for the social

ecofeminist aspects included in it. The social ostracision of women,

their exploitation, victimization and the over powering presence of a

phallocratic social setup are manifested in this story.

The respect for the past, the concept of the continuity of life

through generations, a concern for the future are all important

aspects of environmental thinking. Life in the present is not merely

for the exploitation of the resources of the earth and enjoyment. The

undue significance for the present is a utilitarian concept evolved by

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the market forces to promote consumerism. There are certain

interpretations about Kamala Das’ stories that they are nostalgic

narrations of her life in the countryside. “Neermathalathinte Pookkal”

(Madhavikuttiyude Premakathakal 106-113) is such a story where

the heroine takes her husband to her ancestoral house. The house

has been deserted by all and the senior members of the family are

all no more. The heroine imaginatively recreates her past, her

grandma, uncle and all other members of her family. Her husband

was born and brought up in the city and he admits that he doesn’t

have the colourful childhood of his wife in a village. The house itself

assumes the prominence of a character and the nature around the

house exerts an organic influence on the narrator. The wooden doll

that she used to play in her childhood, is taken by her husband to be

given to their daughter. This act is highly suggestive and it refers to

the continuity of life. The Neermathalam tree bearing fragrant

flowers was seen in the courtyard of the house and the fragrance of

the flowers is there in the sanctity of rustic life and also in the mind

of the narrator. The writer underlines the need for preserving this

fragrance throughout life, though we are destined to be in the city, in

the midst of harsh materialism.

Apart from the description of the visit to the ancestoral home,

and the details of the reminiscent night spent there, there is not

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much of action going on in the story, the entire progress in the story

is internal or spiritual and it naturally goes according to the patterns

of spiritual ecofeminist narration. The heroine of the story has her

own identity and outlook which is luckily accepted by the husband

also.

The heroine of “Chekkerunna Pakshikal” (The Roosting Birds)

(Madhavikuttiyude Premakathakal 221-225) comes to her village

and to her lover, after being in the city for over thirty years. She is a

famous writer and she has wealth and fame very much at her

disposal, together with another wealth-cancer. Cancer is a physical

reality for her and also it is symbolic for her diseased and frustrated

mind. She meets her erstwhile lover in his house. He approaches

her with a worshipful attitude. But as the lady lays bare the pitiable

inner reality of her life, he is extremely sorry, she has come to

Guruvayoor, to stay there in the temple for seven days in prayers.

But, he recognizes that she is a pronounced atheist. “I started

chanting without understanding the meaning. I learned everything

by rote. Yet the entire life was a performance without grasping the

meaning. I became a mechanical doll” (223).

Her father, wanted to “sacrifice” her to the urban culture and

her husband was also an urban dweller, with all its sophistications.

She now admits that she longed for a life in the village and to follow

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the pattern of life of her family in the village. “Society will have a

conventional style of life set ready for us. Life will be a failure, if we

don’t accept this style and go for another” (225).

The greed for wealth and fame is inculcated in the mind by

the city. Life becomes a struggle for the achievement of them. The

harmony and peace of life are sacrificed there as is evidenced by

the heroine of the story. Turbulence of city life and tranquility of

village life are effectively contrasted in the story. Also, the city

doesn’t actually grant or acknowledge the freedom or identity of

women. It seems that the city is more andocentric than the village.

“Walls” (Patmavati the Harlot and Other Stories 102-106) is a

story written in the early part of the literary career of the author in

1955. No body would have attempted to give an ecocritical reading

for this story at that time. But when this story is now approached

with the environmental yard sticks, it does have its relevance. The

detachment and distaste that the ambitious manager of a bank in a

metro, feels towards his carefully and painstakingly acquired house

and belongings and the carefully nurtured members of this family,

including his wife, is the sort of dissatisfaction that is inherent in

capitalistic and materialistic possessions. In such a situation, the

ambitious person is always concerned about himself, or his family,

his ascension in life and is least concerned about others.

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Narayanankutty, the manager remembers his childhood in rural

Palakkad in Kerala. Though he escaped from the poverty of his

childhood by migrating to the city, there still remains poverty – the

inner poverty; the dissatisfaction in spite of all possessions.

Pillay is a clerk in the bank, the manager’s one time fellow

worker, who was never ambitious enough to get promotions, who

always did the same monotonous job in the bank, “like a circus dog

leaping through a loop, Pillay went through the same movements,

day after day” (104). Ramachandran is a very ambitious and

industrious assistant manager. He has only hatred towards the

performance of Pillay. These two characters represent two different

approaches towards life-The aggressive approach bent on

ascension in life and possessing things and the reconciled approach

where one tries to be contended in the existing situation.

“Walls” is a story having great internal movement, compared

with the external movement. Narayanankutty issues order to

Ramachandran, for the promotion of Pillay, though Pillay was a

misfit for the post and at the end of the story, Naryanankutty decides

to resign his job and to quit the city to his ancestoral village. A

concern for the underprevilaged and ill equipped is definitely an

environmental concern. It is the same concern that is shown in

promoting Pillay. It may not be merely because of the nostalgia for

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the village, that Narayankutty returns to the village. It may also be

an escape from the target bound and ambition driven life in the city

to the tranquil and serene lap of nature in a village. Peaceful

cohabitation is another valuable environmental message given in

the story.

“Ekanthathayude Kavadangal” (The Doors of Solitude) from

Hamsadhwani (The Sound of the Swan) is a story published in 2001

which deals with issues comparable with that are in “Walls”. Retired

judge Parameswaran Nair gets up very early in the morning and

without a clear idea about the time, and without wearing his glasses,

he goes out for his morning walk, alone, even, without his dear dog

Meenu (which died quite recently) Parameswaran Nair hadn’t gone

for morning walk after the death of Meenu. He walks as if in a

trance, deflects from his normal route, moves through unfamiliar

paths, reaches a grassy way and he goes down to a retrospection.

Parameswaran Nair remembers his past. His, matrimonial

compromises, his sacrificial mentality for domestic tranquility, the

domineering influence of the family of his wife in his life, his country

background being belittled by the urbane wife, his inability to do

justice to his own mother and family etc. haunt him. He walks further

and reaches a place where he finds a familiar temple, the pond

beside, and the vision of girls bathing the pond. Ammini, his

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beloved, who died when he was studying in college, welcomes him.

He is led to his own old house, his mother appears young and

cheerful and also his uncle and the dead dog are seen there. He

recognizes that,

This is my village. The rivulets, snake shrines, temple lamps,

the wet soil, the mist, chirping birds and all in this village,

contributed to the making of me as a human being. All these

are my body. After my death, this village will try to possess

the lonely soul of mine which is housed in this body (43).

Parameswaran Nair couldn’t do justices to his own family.

After his marriage, he had come to meet his mother only thrice. He

was busy in the city, acting various roles-rich advocate, then a

prominent judge, and also the dutiful husband of

Kamalakshiyamma. The journey of Parameswaran Nair with

retrospective eyes can definitely be given an ecocritical reading. He

was engaged in the city in the construction of an artificial world, just

like the huge house that he built in the city, where he was getting

suffocated, and from where, he longed for an escape to his village

which was never approved by his wife. He very often wished,

…to live in the village where I was born, to live in that house

for at least two weeks, to bath in the pond, to eat the special

fibrous mangoes of the village, to see the lighted worship at

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the Krishna temple, to pray to the idol of Krishna without any

particular objective…. (41)

The psychological deflection of Parameswaran Nair is actually

the portrayal of the longing in the human mind to liberate itself from

the burdens and acquisitions of modern civilized living and to

journey back to the primeval simplicity of existence, in the lap of

nature, in the colourful variations and charms of nature. Bathing in a

tub and bathing in a pond beside a temple are two entirely different

experiences and in the second, the organic and reassuring bond

with nature is making the life livable. Nature has conventionally

provided a cultural and ethical milieu for man and no one can

entirely sever these organic bonds, in the effort to modernize

oneself. Modernizing very often ends up in isolating the individual

from his natural habitat and normal patterns of existence.

Besides the natural environment, ecocritical studies can also

include, the socio political and ethical environment of an individual.

The venomed environment of modern existence is prophetically

portrayed by Kamala Das in several of her stories. Fanaticism,

casteism, communalism, sectarianism, religious fundamentalism

etc. can be the source of this venom. The individual is made a

helpless victim of this malignant environment. “The Boy Who Defied

God”, “Holy Cow” and “Holy Book” (The Sandal Trees) are three

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extremely brilliant short stories of the author which portray, this

theme. These stories are extremely brief, but extremely pertinent

and highly suggestive.

Should the individual live for the religion or should the religion

exist for the individual? Should a man sacrifice himself for the

religion? Is violence justified in the name of religion? Is there any

particular religion offering the only path to salvation? These are

certain common questions raised in these stories with obvious

answers. The boy defied god by saying that he won’t kill his mother

for the sake of religion. The starving boy in “Holy Cow”, who

competed with a cow for a banana skin from a rubbish-bin and the

hungry boy (in “Holy Book”), from whose hand, the ‘Holy Quran’ fell

down, are all instantaneously killed for their offenses. These victims

are all boys, the representatives of innocent victims in the society.

The steam roller of manipulators eradicates original and opposing

voices. The unaligned neutrality of existence is always approached

with intolerance. Can’t an individual live without being Hindu, a

Muslim or a Christian? The admonition of the author against the

compartmentalized nature of society and social institutions and the

frightening intolerance growing in the society are certain other

aspects of these stories. The sinful nature of human beings in the

anthropocentric world makes life unbearable for the human species

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themselves and also for all other category of organic and inorganic

beings.

“Sarkara Kondoru Thulabharam” is a story of the author which

very clearly exhibits the aspects of ecofeminism. It gives the journey

of a city bred woman back to the lap of nature. Ammu and her

betrothed Biju are brought up in Bombay, in the heart of the city.

They are not at all exposed to the warm and loving touch of the soil.

Though they are deeply in love, Ammu couldn’t tolerate the totally

urbanized character of Biju When he falls sick due to jaundice, she

nurses him back to life. This disease is given as the symbol of the

rotting influence of urban life. After his cure, Ammu and Biju visit the

Guruvayoor temple for Thulabharam. There she meets Appu, her

uncle’s son. They stay in Appu’s house. Appu is one of the most

idealized characters of the author. He has given up his Icurative job

in the city and has come to the village to nurse his ailing mother.

Appu is portrayed as the incarnation of the rural virtues, manliness;

tolerance and service. He loves his mother, so also he loves his

farm, intensely and passionately. He is quite comfortable and happy

in the village and doesn’t want to go back to the city for his job.

Appu doesn’t live alone in the village; he is actively engaged

in the life of the village. The village becomes an extended home for

him with not only human beings, but also the animals and plants

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and the entire nature. When Biju finds the smell of cowdung

pungent, Ammu is getting charmed by it. Appu is following a

technique of biocultivation and organic manuring. The novel ideas

about ecofriendly living that the author wants to communicate are

practiced by Appu. The fertility of the soil and the fecundity of nature

arouses basic feminine instincts in Ammu and the city bred woman

finds it difficult leave the village. She delightfully perceives and

experiences the warmth of nature. There develops a worshipful

attitude in her towards nature and towards Appu that she decides

not to go with Biju to the city. The comment made by K.S Ravikumar

about this story in the article “Nilam Thottu Nilkunna Kathakal” is

worth quoting:

This story gives the vision that femininity blooms in the organic rural

nature and not in the decaying surroundings in the city. Whether we

call this vision, ecofeminist or not, this vision is seen as an

undercurrent in several of the stories of Madhavikutty, and this story

is a successful expression of this ecofeminist vision (Samakalika

Malayalam Varika 44).

Ecofeminism comes up as a natural phenomenon in the

stories of Kamala Das. She is an author who is concerned about the

multiplicity of feminine issues, and she is very much discussed as a

feminist, expressing the repression and marginalization of

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womanhood. Knowingly or unknowingly, Kamala Das was also

taking the readers to hear the call of nature, to which the feminine

instinct is more naturally inclined. The feminine instincts for

preservation, protection and the care about posterity are very often

overpowered by the androcentric system. The author argues for the

parity of woman in the male dominated world. Appu in “Sarkara

Kondoru Thulabharam” is the finest male character portrayed of

Kamala Das which suits the environmentally threatened modern

world. Man should also be able to hear the call of nature, the

peaceful and lovable cohabitation of man and woman in harmony

with nature was dreamt by the author.