ALAPPUZHA: Karthiyayini Amma is making waves in the world of letters, again. Amma first hit the limelight when, at the age of 96, she stood first in the state -- with more than 98% marks -- in the fourth standard-equivalency examination of the Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority (KSLMA).
The 101-year-old from Muttom, near Haripad, has now been immortalised in a book written by Vikas Khanna. The Amritsar-based celebrity chef and writer tells her story in his new book ‘Barefoot Empress’, which was released this week by Bloomsbury.
Amma joined the ‘Aksharaleksham’ course of the Literacy Mission in January 2018. The mission conducts the equivalency examinations, up to higher secondary level, for people who did not attend regular school without any age barrier. Among the around 43,000 students attending the course that year, Amma was the eldest.
In 2019, she was named a Commonwealth of Learning Goodwill Ambassador. She was also awarded the ‘Nari Shakti Puraskar’ by former President Ram Nath Kovind on Women’s Day in March 2020. Amma was preparing for her seventh-standard equivalency exam when she suffered a stroke in September this year.
The book narrates the now bedridden Amma’s life as a sweeper at a local temple and her struggles raising six children. It also describes her willpower to attain formal education at an advanced age.
“The story that everyone can relate to and a character all can love. Barefoot Empress will inspire young and adult alike,” said Krishan Chopra, editor-in-chief of Bloomsbury, in a statement. Khanna had earlier released a documentary on Amma on YouTube. The stroke left Amma partially paralysed and her daughter Ammini is the only earning member in the family,” said K Sathi, KSLMA prerak. It was Sathi who prepared Amma for her examinations.
“I helped Ammini look after her mother when she had to work. The palliative care society volunteers of Cheppad panchayat regularly visit the house and their assistance is a relief,” Sathi added.