![]() ![]() Nagammal was detained on a false complaint made by members of her caste who were baying for her blood ever since she left her upper-caste husband to marry someone from theĬheri. Seeralan, a Left activist who was accused of being a naxalite, was brutally tortured and killed by the police. Mythili Sivaraman’s essays, “Murder of Seeralan” and “Story of Nagammal,” published in theĮconomic and Political Weekly in 19 respectively, are chilling accounts of violations during the Emergency. ![]() And every bit haunted - a characteristic that unfailingly comes through in her essays on Caste, Class, Exploitation and Emancipation in her book Soon after the performance - despite failing memory - she had something to share about Nagammal and Seeralan to friends who gathered around her.ĭecades after fighting the cause of those wronged by the Emergency, Mythili Sivaraman witnessed their stories come alive on the stage from her own accounts of them. On that day, despite fighting a medical condition that “mocks at memory,” she had her eyes glued to the stage, sometimes reminiscing, sometimes looking lost. She had always “nourished her mind by remaining focussed on the struggles of the citizens of the world,” as Mary Wollstonecraft would say. ![]() Mangai’s Marapachi theatre group staged plays on Nagammal and Seeralan, two victims of Emergency excesses, some months ago in Chennai, among the audience was the frail woman who had recorded their histories for posterity. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |