Shores of stories

On Saturday morning, the Women’s Association Hall in Kochi might appear like the sea — women sporting blue roaring, exuberant, calm and at times, emotional as they hug each other sharing laughter, shrieks and salty tears. It will be a gathering of women from various parts of the world who took pain to travel to Kerala, to meet each other — most of them for the first time — to host a book release. What makes the book Katha Parayum Kadalukal (Seas That Narrate Stories) special is that it is penned, edited and designed by women who bond over a 700-member-strong Facebook group named Queens Lounge.  The book comprising stories and autobiographical notes by the Queens will be released by Shipping and Navigation Department MD Prashanth Nair IAS at 11 am. Katha Parayum Kadalukal is the group’s second publication; the first, Ottanirathil Maranjirunnavar, was released last year.

“As many as 73 women aged from 18 to 70 have penned the notes and stories and have made the art works. Our editorial team of 11 members has been working on the book since June, 2018. We put up a post inviting write-ups on the theme ‘sea’ and gave a deadline. With continuous follow-up and brainstorming, all the required material was collected and split among the team for proofreading and editing. The best ones were chosen and compiled for publication,” says Safeena Reghu, an entrepreneur in Kochi who was part of the editorial team.

All the stories and notes were penned during the past one year. What they found more difficult than coordinating was motivating people to pen their thoughts. “Most women hadn’t written anything since school or college days. There are first-time writers as well. We had to coerce them into attempting and making them confident enough by assuring that even if they wrote anything ‘stupid’ as they believe, we have a great team to guide and correct the mistakes,” Safeena adds.

The team has members from all walks of life — makeup artists, journalists, homemakers, bureaucrats, medical professionals, social workers, lawyers, teachers, retired professionals, etc. Together, they have penned their views, thoughts and creative interpretations about life, love, pain, opinion, neglect and social issues. Safeena says, “This book is a woman’s perspective of life and society. How a woman looks around in calmness, violence and exhilaration, much like the sea.”