This 69-Year-Old Tamil Poet Has a Very Special Way of Spending Her Earnings!

69-year-old Saraswathy Amma is no ordinary poet. With one of the poems, titled ‘Oru Prathana’, included in the syllabus of class 3 students in Tamil Nadu, this poet has an exceptional reason for selling her poetry.

Hailing from Puranattukkara in Thrissur, she sells her poetry books, to feed underprivileged and abandoned people in the city.

A veteran poet, she mostly sells her books in schools. Her income through these sales has allowed her to feed over 50 people for the last ten years.

Saraswathy was born in Kottarakkara. She grew up in Cherthala and has been residing in Thrissur for the last four years.

She cooks the food with love, packs it with care and takes it to the people herself, every Sunday.

The beneficiaries of her humble efforts include beggars at Sakthan bus stand, Puthanpally, Latin Catholic Church and Municipal Bus Stand in Thrissur.

Saraswathy has three daughters. Even though two of them live in Thrissur, Saraswathy made the conscious decision of living alone, to create a private space to write her poems.

Till date, the poet has published five books. While popular Malayalam writer Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai wrote the preface for her book ‘Irumbazhikal’ published in 1989, a CD of her poems recited by noted singer Vaikkam Vijayalakshmi was a bestseller.

In fact, writer MK Sanu wrote the introduction to her poems for the CD.

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Reading Saraswathy’s poems, one would never imagine she failed her class 10. Her work has garnered her a lot of adulation and earned her a good number of fans.

She is currently travelling across Kerala to sell her books and CD, reports Mathrubhumi. Her next book ‘Theruvinte Makan’ will soon hit the shelves.

Feature Image Credit: Mathrubhumi

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