American writer here to offer her 18th Pongala

Thiruvananthapuram: The people in Thiruvananthapuram know Dianne Jenett as the ‘Pongala Lady’ from the US who has, in 18 years, only once missed her annual offering at Attukal. However, at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, California, she is famous for being one of the first to explore ‘organic enquiry,’ a new approach in research.

In this method, a researcher would pen down his or her personal experience in the paper. Dianne’s book on Attukal Pongala, released on Monday by the Devaswom Minister, follows this narrative style.

The book was an experimental dissertation which came out as a result of her research between 1997 and 1999. “I feel like disclosing what is happening to me as a researcher during the course of a research. It is an ethical position that I have taken,” says Dianne.

The autobiographical story will add to the readers’ experience and help them understand better, she says. So, beneath a paragraph where Shakuntala, a devotee she spoke to, explains how difficult it is to perform the ritual, she shares her own experience.

“I cooked Pongala in 1997 and found it extremely difficult, especially since I was in a very crowded and exposed area. I never dreamed I would do it again, but in 1998 I had an opportunity to offer it in a quiet street,” she writes.

The book offers unedited conversations of 28 women from different backgrounds. “I wanted them to speak for themselves without modifying them,” says Dianne.
In addition,  the book has a brief background of how the Pongala began.

“However,  the intention behind writing this book was not to provide a historical account,” she says. The book was published by Centre for Heritage Studies, Trippunithura.  Dianne is now working on a memoir. Many pages are likely to be devoted to Attukal then.