21 minute read
A banker gives way to poetic expressions
By Cris/ Newsminute.com
Meet Shyla Kerala poet who went from banking to creative writing in her 50s
Advertisement
Mrs. Shyla C George, daughter of Mrs. Koothattukulam Mary, freedom fighter and Communist party leader, is the one of the pioneering women journalsits in Malayalam regional language news papers. She started her career in Janayugam daily along with two other colleagues, Mrs. Geetha Nazeer, of Janayugam and Mrs. P.S. Nirmlaa of Mathrubhumi in 1970s Shyla C. George
Author, Editor & Banking Professional
Cover Story
At the end of a one-and-ahalf hour chat, it’s likely that Shyla C George will remember the tiny details of our meeting – the corner table of a nearlyempty café in Thiruvananthapuram, the bad tea she couldn’t take a second sip of, the road outside the glass wall screeching with the afternoon traffic. Every detail, retained in her mind, like a picture, to be remembered later, and perhaps be made a poem of.
Shyla, days after publishing her first book of poems Rain in the Attic, is a bundle of such surprises. She worked for 35 years in a bank. Two years before retirement, she decided to do a creative writing course in the Nottingham University in the UK.
She is 60 something years old, and can still remember the rain she saw and marvelled at as a child of seven, somewhere in Perunthalamanna, where Shyla grew up in a family of communists. Her mother Koothattukulam Mary had joined the Indian freedom struggle as a girl of Class IX, and later the Communist Party of India at a time when it was banned. Mary was arrested once and tortured in custody. Shyla’s father CS George was another communist leader who had, for long, gone underground when the party was banned.
Shyla, the second daughter among the four girls born to the couple, had obvious influences at an early age. But apart from her parents, she also names IV Sasankan, communist leader and brother of late filmmaker IV Sasi, as the one who got her to write.
“He got me to write columns for Janayugam (a Malayalam daily
Shyla C George, author of ‘Rain in the Attic’, talks about her early influences living in a communist family, her work in a bank, and life in a foreign University.
affiliated to the CPI). I wrote about women – interviewing some who lived in the Papathy colony, others who made baskets, sitting on small hills – I wrote columns on how to treat your domestic help with respect and not like someone you have rights over,” Shyla, with her impeccable memory, narrates a few of her story ideas.
She had a small tryst with journalism earlier when she with her friend and colleague Nirmala, went off to Kollam to interview a dancer, and both of them forgot to take any notes. “But Nirmala wrote a beautiful copy of it anyway!” says the dear friend, decades later. Shyla would have liked to pursue journalism or literature but for reasons she’d rather not talk about, she did a degree in Economics and joined a bank. “I did like the discipline of the work, and that I had an office to go to and colleagues to interact with every day. I miss all of that now!” she says with the lovely wide smile that she easily breaks into between her words.
It is that longing, that feeling of having missed doing something really dear to her, that made her fly off to the UK and do a creative writing course a little late in life. Appreciation came her way for not letting age stop her but Shyla writes in the preface of her book: “It is always better to study when you are young.”
The course did present her the confidence that she went in search of, but Shyla didn’t have the best of days, living in a foreign country, surrounded by young classmates who didn’t seem too welcoming of her. She did find friends there, nice humans who stood by her when she felt ignored. Shyla also wrote most of the poems in her book in those few months at the University.
In her poems, are the wind that once caught a fruit and ‘breezed
Mrs. Shjyla C George, with her husband Mr. Binoy Viswam MP, and children Adv. Soorya Binoy and Ms. Reshmi Binoy, Journalist
down to place it gently on the palms of a girl’ and the girl (perhaps the same one) who took out the house key from her pocket, threw it up once, caught it, threw it again, until ‘in the fifth round, it didn’t come down to her hands’. Thoughts emerged in her poems from passengers relaxing on a train, the ‘thoughts that heated up and caught fire’ and gave momentum to the train that had slowed to a halt. Somewhere else, there is a funeral, and the author, who didn’t know who was crying or who carried the dead, knew ‘that she had waited for friends and that it had been long and painful’. Cats walk into her poems, windows open and dry leaves enter, and poems get eaten. There are leaves that did not know how to hurt, unlike humans who did. Along the way is a man called Ayyappan whom the coconut trees loved and would cry for when he died.
“He was real, there really was an Ayyappan who took so much care of coconut trees – not any other trees but ‘thengu’,” Shyla says dreamily, slipping for a few moments into her past. The mention of Ayyappan brings another poem into my mind – ‘Wisdom’. It’s only a few lines long and about a temple atop a hill and an old woman in a hurry to meet the deity. The poem ends with these lines: ‘Today, she stops at each step / waiting for the young girl / climbing after her’.
Shyla’s eyes widen. No, she had not written that about Sabarimala or the round of controversies surrounding it when young women were suddenly allowed by the law to enter the Ayyappa temple they were banned from before. Shyla had written this years earlier, before any of the ruckus. She only notices now how those words would seem very much like a prophecy. “It wasn’t even meant to be Sabarimala, just a temple on the top of a hill and an old woman’s eagerness to meet the god, making her climb much faster than a young girl,” she says.
Just snippets that Shyla notices like these would make it to her poems on unpredictable days. She has not brought her family into the picture, at least not obviously – so her husband, CPI leader and Rajya Sabha member Binoy Viswam, and her two girls stay away from the book, but urge her to write all the time.
Apart from the cats and the windows and the girls in her poems, there is of course the rain. Rain in the attic and rain everywhere else. But Shyla writes in the beginning of her book: “I haven’t learnt how to swim, how to climb a tree, and have never dared touch an elephant, nevertheless, I have smelled the earth and I have understood the rain. With the recent floods in Kerala, though, I am afraid I haven’t understood the rain and that it is capable of making us fearful. I will, perhaps, if I write about it.”
But what she’s now written is a travelogue in Malayalam, off for print as we do the interview. “It’s called Thistleum Neela Poppyum (Thistle and Blue Poppy), thistle being the national flower of Edinburgh and blue poppy of Bhutan, two of the countries I have visited and written about. The other two are Estonia and Nottingham.”
What she also loves to write is for children – there have been six of those books before the book of poems. And from the interests she lays out before you – the children’s classics and other books that she is even now earnestly reading – Shyla will continue writing those. With the eagerness of a child, no doubt.
Courtesy: www.newsminute.com
Cover Story
Indian by choice
It was her burning desire to make a change in the fashion scenario in Kerala that prompted entrepreneur Shalini James to start Mantra Shalini James
Owner and lead designer of the women’s wear brand Mantra
It is the magic words that Ms. Shalini James, the owner and lead designer of the women’s wear brand Mantra, swears by. She was the first designer from Kerala to present her collection at the prestigious Amazon India Fashion week in New Delhi. Her label, ‘SHALINI JAMES’ is an exotic potpourri of all things Indian; in silhouettes that are sometimes ethnic, sometimes contemporary, and mostly a unique mix of both. Her signature line, ‘Indian by choice’, espouses her design philosophy.
A graduate in English Literature, Ms. Shalini James is also a graduate of the National Institute of Fashion Technology where she won the Best Constructed Design award for her final collection. Subsequently, she did an executive programme in business management from IIM Calcutta. Her love for fashion and a burning desire to make a change in the fashion scenario in Kerala prompted her to start Mantra, a design house and apparel brand dedicated to the traditional textiles
and textile crafts of India. Mantra retails from stores in Lulu Mall, Kochi and HiLite mall, Calicut and their onlinestore shalinijamesmantra.com. The label retails out of several leading multi designer outlets in all the major cities in India.
Ms. Shalini James was awarded the ‘Woman Entrepreneur of the Year 2015’ by TiE Kerala, the Kerala chapter of TiE Global, ‘SME Excellence award, 2017’ by Destination Kerala, South Indian Fashion Award (SIFA) 2017 and the ‘Jwala Woman Entrepreneur Award 2017’ by KairaliPeople TV.
In December 2002, after a particularly intense eureka moment, Ms. James founded a company in the living room of a house in Kochi and named it Shalini James’ Mantra. It is a firm that designs, manufactures and sells clothes that appeal to Shalini. That they appeal to a whole lot of other women too may be incidental, but it turned out to be fortunate for her.
Mantra is a design house that believes that contemporary design can be culled out of the Indian textile heritage. It creates ethnic wear that appeals to the modern, cosmopolitan woman. To adapt to lifestyle changes, Indian women need wardrobe solutions to suit their multiple social roles and needs. The ethnic wear industry at the turn of the century was a loosely organised setup, fumbling with consistent delivery in sizing, styling, and quality. There was a vacant niche for apparel for discerning customers who had a deep appreciation of Indian textiles but also wanted the advantages of a western wear brand – standardised sizing, seasonal styles and impeccable quality, according to Ms. James.
In 2004, Mantra, with the intention By applying anthropometric sizing techniques, western design methodology and pattern making tools to traditional Indian textiles, Mantra offers a product that has the best of both worlds
of bridging this gap, launched ethnic prêt; ready-to wear in its classical form with six point sizing, consistent fits, contemporary styling and great quality. By applying anthropometric sizing techniques, western design methodology and pattern making tools to traditional Indian textiles, Mantra offers a product that has the best of both worlds.
In 2020, Ms. James has come out with a new range, ‘CHITRAKOOT - The Enchanted Forest.’ Chitrakoot,
a forested hill in Madhya Pradesh is often called a hill of wonders. Fabled to hold a blue, illuminated lake in its caverns, accessible only to the truly pure of heart, Chitrakoot, with its thick, dark woods, narrow ridges and gurgling streams has for long been the perfect sylvan setting for many a legend and lore that set childhood dreams afire.
According to the designer, the collection, Chitrakoot, is inspired by this ancient forest, and is closer to nature in more ways than meet the eye. Its fabric is the eco-friendly LIVA, made from wood sourced from FSC certified forests. Its inherent fluidity and high receptiveness to colour makes it ideal for a palette of dark, mysterious forest colours in natural dyes, like bark brown, berry red, acai green and a sultry indigo – so reminiscent of the River Mandakini snaking through the forest on a moonlit night.
In this collection, the resist-dyeing and block-printing techniques of Bagru, in Rajasthan, come to life with new innovations and design inputs. Chitrakoot brings together a sensuous interplay of deep forest hues, a wild mating of foliage prints, and the lush texture of LIVA for Lotus makeup India Fashion Week A/W 19.
Cover Story Confidence
A woman can enhance by being more sensitive to the needs of the guests, staff and upkeep of a resort. For reasons unknown, certain things only catch the eyes of women. Good property maintenance does well under women. Ms. Maria Jacob
Managing Director, Nikki’s Nest & Duke’s Forest Lodge
Confidence breedsSuccess
Ms. Maria Jacob shows us it’s possible to flourish professionally even in the toughest state of affairs. She never considered the hospitality sector to be a man’s world as there are many women very actively involved in it. Her late husband Mr. Bailey Jacob and his forefathers were always into agriculture. It was quite by chance that she and her husband identified a charming piece of property by the seaside in Pulinkudi Chowara some 25 years ago, which prompted them to create Nikki’s Nest followed by Duke’s Forest Lodge in their plantation six years later. The untimely death of her husband eight years ago out of sheer necessity prompted Ms. Maria to fully concentrate on business. Fortunately being involved from the beginning she was not helpless with regard to managing the business.
Ms. Maria frankly says that she has faced any hurdles in business which was already well established. Supervision and upkeep of the property was not a problem as the natural aesthetic sense of a Animal protection and care is also her passion and actively involved the activities of People For Animals. She spearhead the beach cleaning in Pulinkudy and Chowara beaches, south of Kovalam single handedly for several
years.
woman made it easy. She always accompanied her husband while meeting travel agents so she posed any inconvenience in his absence. Initially she found it difficult to learn about the intricacies of the various taxations and follow ups with the chartered accountants regarding financial matters. More than challenges the irritation that she faced and still facing is the local petty politics. They just march in and out for donations, oblivious of the fact that she is serious tax payer and proper pay master to almost hundreds of staff.
Ms. Maria has been handling her property for past eight years on her own and had done major renovations as well as made the property pollution free. Sewage Treatment Plant converts every drop of water into garden water, biogas for the staff kitchen, incinerator for garden waste, and rain water harvesting roof. Vegetable garden for their immediate requirements in the plantation and their own Ayurveda oil making unit fondly known as “Prakarthi Satwa “ that supplies all the oil and powders required by
Cover Story
Nikki’s Nest for the various Ayurveda treatments of the guests.
They have come out with vegetarian recipe book last year, and a part of the income from the sale goes towards environment upkeep and towards a welfare fund for the staff and very lately they officially launched an environment team known as “Green Dream Team”. Even though they have been cleaning the locality including the beach for the past twenty years on a weekly basis, today they do so on a daily basis between 3.30 PM to 4.30 PM every day.
Animal protection and care is also her passion and Nikki’s Nest and Duke’s Forest Lodge are proud to be associated with People for Animals, spreading awareness towards the plight of suffering animals, birds and environment. They discourage any activity that encourages animal cruelty in the name of tourism, and have specially created a brochure that discourages elephant rides, as this brings back painful memories of their days in captivity. As part of advice to young women entering hospitality sector, Ms. Maria asks them to be bold and strong, voice out their opinions and maintain their dignity at the same time.
Too much of dependency on managerial staff should be avoided and they need to be involved in every area of the business. Meeting up with government officials in their office should be done personally as much as possible, because where it would take a minimum of three visits by a male member of staff, the same can be done by just a single visit by the lady entrepreneur herself. Also the status of the problem could be deciphered more clearly. Proper knowledge of taxation is very essential. Maintain good chartered accounts and be in constant touch with them understanding and grasping matters. Never hesitate to put in your questions or suggestions. Direct approach and conversations with guests is essential. Whatever complaints should be rectified immediately, guest opinion should be given due consideration. According to Ms. Maria a woman can enhance by being more sensitive to the needs of the guests, staff and upkeep of property. For reasons unknown, certain things only catch the eyes of women. Good property maintenance does well under women. Men surely have the capacity to deal with major issues but women never miss out finer details. It’s the finer details that finally play a vital role in upkeep and maintenance. Women can enhance by including all their creative hobbies, to spin women empowerment which certainly goes down well with guests by way of support. This in turn encourages the community women to improve their lifestyle. “As hospitality is all about neat and clean surroundings, spotless rooms and bathrooms, well maintained gardens, good wholesome food, pleasing services in all areas and happy guests, then what better choice than women in this field?”, asks Ms. Maria.
K3A TVM ZONE Office bearers for 2020-22 elected
Mr. Mohammed Shah of Star Advertising and Marketing has been elected again as the President of the Trivandrum Zone K3A, the apex body of advertising agencies in Kerala. Mr. Jayakumar of Signite Integrated Communication was elected as the secretary of the organisation, while Mr. Laj Salam of Plain Speak has been elected as the treasurer.
Mr. Rajkumar of 2K Solutions has been elected as the Vice-President and Mr. Kumar R.J. of Sharp Advertising has been chosen as the Joint Secretary.
Mr. Shasthamangalam Mohan of Varnachitra Advertising and Marketing, Mr. Jayachandran Nair of Image Creations, Mr. Prasoon Rajagopal of Vista Advertising, Mr. Dileep Thomas Kuruvila of Creative Route and Mr. Murukeshan of Binu Nanda Communications were elected to the State Committee of the organisation.
Mr. Akhilesh of Chameleon Communicatons, Mr. Thanseer T.J of Ad World Advertising, Mr. Balamurali of Sag Advertising, Mr. Habib of Suri Advertising, Mr. Murugan of Amal Communications, Mr. Santhosh of Real Image, Mr. Anil Kumar of Mint Media, and Mr. Arun Kumar of Prasya Communications have been elected to the zonal committee of K3A. Ms. Sandhya Rajendran, who was the Kollam Zone President, was the Presiding Officer.
Cover Story
Live up to your dreams
Ms. Sunu Mathew
CEO, C World Holidays
With over two and half decades of experience in the travel industry, Sunu Mathew had been selected as Titans of Travels in Indian Tourism Industry by Indian Express.
Gone are the days when women were considered no match for all powerful men in this world, says Ms. Sunu Mathew a very enthusiastic and vibrant personality who heads C World Holidays based in Trivandrum.
Ms. Mathew, overcoming all negative notions about women in the hospitality sector, has proved beyond doubt her expertise in the industry. At C World Holidays, Ms. Mathew takes care of the senior management responsibilities such as planning, strategic business alliances and associations worldwide, contracting and networking with worldwide industry partners for effective and lucrative business development, purchasing and procurement, selecting new destinations, and analysing the reporting system. The key person behind the destination Management – Out Bound Tours which is C World Holidays strength, Ms. Mathew has more than 20 years of experience in the travel industry.
Passionate about helping people, Ms. Mathew strives not to just create success graph in the industry, but bringing a positive change in the community. She believes that life should have a meaning, and works with an organisation called Ability Aids (AAIIS) whose mission is to work towards the betterment of the life of deprived children and their families, physically challenged, destitute seniors and communities living in poverty and injustice.
Ms. Mathew says organisational leaders need to be non-coercive, comprehensive thinkers - individuals who are skilled at building work relationships and fostering collaborative teams. These are the traits and behaviours most frequently associated with women’s management style.
Additionally, women tend to possess transformational leadership characteristics, those traits that enable them to enact dramatic organisational change through providing a vision and inspiring a sense of purpose in others. Women emphasize both interpersonal relationships and task accomplishment, whereas their male counterparts focus more intently on the task.
Ms. Mathew had initiated several steps in the hospitality sector for women empowerment. They are aimed at developing role models within the organisation, to inspire women to progress their own career in hospitality; establishing platforms to share experiences, seek guidance, support and inspiration ensuring internal practices are aligned; Spotting female talent with potential and cultivate mentoring relationships to support their development; Initiatives that support women as a key talent source for future leadership roles, through talent spotting, effective succession planning and active profiling; Implementing measures that enhance women participation in decision-making, leading to higher female representation in managerial positions.
The employees of C World work with Ability Aids where special focus is placed on empowering women as equipped with proper resources, women can realise their full potential, exercise greater choice to participate, contribute and become catalyst for change in their communities
Ms. Mathew’s greatest achievement is being selected as Titans of Travels in Indian Tourism Industry by Indian Express.
Cover Story From a SCIENTIST to an entrepreneur
Dr. Vidhya Ramaswamy is a world renowned Molecular Biologist, Cancer Researcher and Nanotechnologist, who has faced most adverse of circumstances. She rose to spread her knowledge for the goodness of humanity Dr. Vidya Ramaswamy
Motivational Speaker, Mind Navigator & Trainer
Dr. Vidhya Ramaswamy’s infectious enthusiasm shows that it’s possible to succeed professionally even in the most challenging of circumstances. She wore her life’s scars as her best attire and decided to impart the knowledge that she has acquired to others as a service.
Dr. Ramaswamy is an internationally renowned motivational speaker, corporate trainer, mind navigator, NLP practitioner and performance trend setter. She has conducted training programmes for government organisations, non-governmental bodies, social sector, industries, corporate companies and academic institutions across the world. Her sessions are insightful and stimulate participants to unleash their innate energies.
Dr. Ramaswamy has extensive experience in developing customised training workshops based on needs and profile of the audience. In the past 15 years, she imparted learning to more than 10,000 individuals across different hierarchy levels. She also conducts special sessions on CSR, Sexual Harassment and legal enigmas and Women Empowerment. Her new initiative‘, The World Women News’, is an internet portal exclusively for women aiming to provide a platform for upcoming leaders and their inspiring stories.
Dr. Ramaswamy is also a world renowned Molecular Biologist, Cancer Researcher and Nanotechnologist, who has more than 14 years of research experience. She was been honoured with the Young Scientist Award by the Government of India in 2002. She has won many International Awards, Fellowships, Grants and Honours, for her contributions to science.
She has conducted several international conferences, seminars, symposia and workshops of world recognition. She has 207 international publications, authored seven books and seven international funded research projects and three patents to her credit. As a world recognition, her biography has been selected for publishing in the Marquis Who’s Who in the World and in Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare.
Dr. Ramasawmy also received the world title of Top 100 Scientists Award and Iconic Achievers, Great minds of 2011 and the international Einstein Award for Scientific Achievements 2012. At present, she is Visiting Professor for three universities in United States, Singapore and Europe.
The sudden demise of her life partner in an accident left Dr.
Ramaswamy shattered. Six months after the biggest blow to her, she faced a severe health test and doctors blacklisted her as a candidate whose end has come. But somehow, she managed to pass that test too and survived.
The thought of spreading the knowledge she had acquired to others as a service put a lot of confidence back into Dr. Ramaswamy’s life. She wanted to hold aloft knowledge as a weapon to help the downtrodden. It was this thought that spurred her to float a non-government organisation. It was christened ‘International Center for Intellectual Training and Empowerment (INCITE) and was registered as a charity organisation with the blessings from Prof. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, The ideas and inputs that came from these stalwarts still serve as strong pillars of INCITE, which has its focus on social services, and training.
