Sankaranarayana Menon (Sports)
Malappuram: For his contributions to popularising Kalaripayattu, the nation honoured Sankaranarayana Menon (Unni Gurukkal) of Vallabhatta Kalari with Padma Shri on Tuesday. The 93-year-old is the senior-most member of the Mudavangattil family which held the legacy of having led the army of the king of Vettathu Nadu in Malabar. He was born to Chundayil Kalyanikutti Amma and Mudavangattil Sankunni Panicker on February 15, 1929. He started learning Kalaripayattu from his father when he was six. “I am happy for being chosen for the honour. I present this award to my teachers and God,” Sankaranarayana Menon said. The Mudavangattil family members came to Chavakkad from Niramaruthur near Tirur in 1955. In 1957, the family established the Vallabhatta Kalari in Chavakkad. At present, around 5,000 students learn Kalaripayattu from 30 Vallabhatta Kalaris across the world.
K V Rabiya (Social work)
Kozhikode: Kariveppil Rabiya, the 56-year-old physically challenged woman from Vellilakkad near Tirurangadi, Malappuram, needs no introduction. She enjoys global fame by kindling the light of letters to hundreds of illiterates, despite being confined to a wheelchair due to polio from the age of 14. She had started her own literacy project in a small way before the state government came up with the Kerala State Literacy Campaign in 1990. Later, she became the mascot of the literacy campaign. Rabiya had started a volunteer organisation, Chalanam, which runs six schools for the physically disabled and mentally retarded children. Rabiya had launched more than 50 neighbourhood groups for women empowerment which manufactured pickles, envelopes and handicrafts. A cancer survivor as well, she had won many awards besides publishing books including an autobiography, ‘Swapnan-galkku Chirakukalundu’ (Dreams Have Wings).
Sosamma Iype (Animal husbandry)
T’Puram: The Padma Shri award is a fitting honour to for Sosamma Iype who pioneered the revival of the Vechur breed of cows. The retired professor of animal breeding and genetics, Kerala Agriculture University, had faced murder and sedition charges for conserving the cows the brink of extinction. She is now fondly called Vechoorinte Amma (Mother of Vechur cow) by farmers and her students. “Perhaps no conservationists in the country had to face the hardships I had to go through during my effort to protect a native breed,” she said. Along with her students, she began the conservation in 1989. But it didn’t go forward as some scientists allegedly sabotaged the project. Though the cows calved successfully, they started dying mysteriously in 1993. Later, some set the stable of her hybrid cows ablaze. Her book, Vechur cow - A rebirth, describes the many travails she endured to conserve the rare endemic native breed.
P Naryana Kurup (Literature, education)
T’Puram: Poet, critic and educationist P Naryana Kurup, who was conferred the Padma Shri honour, is a two-time winner of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi award for poetry and literary criticism. Born on September 5, 1934, at Harippad in Alappuzha, Kurup did his masters in English literature. He has served as the editor and research officer in Central Information Service and Kerala Bhasha Institute. He has also served as vice-president of Sanksar Bharathi in Agra. ‘Agasthyamalyam’, ‘Hamsadhwani’ and ‘Apoornathayude Soundaryam’ are some of his noted anthology of poems. His noted works in literary criticism are ‘Kaviyum Kavithayum’, ‘Vrithapadanam’ and ‘Kaavyabeejam’. Other awards won by Kurup are: Odakkuzhal award, Kerala Panini Puraskaram, Ulloor Award and Vallathol Award.