Power to the pen

At a time when literary voices in the country are protesting against intolerance in the country by returning their awards, it would seem ironic that P. Lalitha Kumari, a leading writer and activist from the city, would accept the Sahitya Akademi Award in Telugu Literature for her collection of short stories, Vimuktha. But Volga, as she goes by, believes that the Akademi’s democracy- oriented functioning makes it easy for her to choose to accept the award. “They want to protest in that way, that is their decision,” Lalitha says, and adds, “The Akademi, I think is a good organisation, and it has a democratic way of functioning and writers are important people in the academy too.”

Her understanding of the need for the freedom of expression, she says, was ingrained in her right from her childhood as she grew up in Guntur. Lalitha says, “Since childhood, my family has been my strength — my father believed in the freedom of women. He gave me the freedom to work in literary organisations and to travel anywhere.”

First dabbling with writing while she was pursuing her Bachelor of Arts in Literature at the Andhra Christian College, her first book was a collaborative anthology of poems which she published while in her final year, in 1969.

Her pen name Volga has, both, a personal as well as a political meaning, which is a tribute to her sister who passed away when Lalitha was 16. “Volga was a pilot in the Soviet Air Forces who was killed in action, and my father named my sister after he.” Lalitha explains.

Moving to Hyderabad in 1985 Lalitha’s focus shifted to feminism, and a decade later, she co-founded the Asmita Resource Centre for Women which helps women with legal and women’s rights information.

Lalitha says that the Telugu literary movement now is just as strong as it was when she first started out: “Now the focus is the emergence of various identities — women, minorities, transgender, caste. That’s how society will evolve... that’s how people rise up.”