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After her death in December 2020, the late poet and activist Sugathakumari's house in Thiruvananthapuram had been lying in a bad state, unused for two years, when her daughter decided to sell it. But the sale of the house, named Varadha, has become a controversy over the past few days, with the Kerala government's promise of building a memorial for her in the capital city still not realised. While the Minister for Cultural Affairs Saji Cherian said that the government had no idea about the house being sold, Sugathakumari's daughter Lakshmy Devi cleared the air, saying she had not been approached by any organisation or government official to turn the house into a memorial.
"It is true that a proposal to build a memorial for my mother was signed by [cultural figures] including T Padmanabhan, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Sara Joseph, Sreekumaran Thampy, K Jayakumar, George Onakkoor and others, and submitted to the Chief Minister and the Cultural Affairs Minister," Lakshmy writes in a statement for the media. While she has come to know that the plan is progressing, the proposal does not talk about converting Varadha into a memorial, she clarifies.
The house was built by Lakshmy's father and given to her by her mother to sell if she needed to. As the only heir to Sugathakumari's properties, she has all the right to sell it, she says. “Also, I sold the house to people who have assured me that they will not destroy the house or the trees [in the compound],” she adds.
Lakshmy also points out that the only path to reach the house was through the front yard of Sugathakumari's sister's house nearby, and those who inherited that house had closed this path in recent years. “Varadha, where even a car cannot reach, is not an apt place for a memorial. That is why the government wasn’t asked to make it one. The house had to be sold because it could not be inhabited. Till date, no individual organisation has approached me with such a purpose," Lakshmy says.
She suggests that instead of Varadha, the house that Sugathakumari grew up in with her sisters Hridayakumari and Sujatha Devi would be ideal to convert into a memorial. This house, called Abhaya, was built by Lakshmy's grandparents Bodeshwaran and Karthyayani. Sugathakumari got married in that house. Abhaya is also the name Sugathakumari gave to her charity organisation. Sugathakumari had asked that upon her death, she should be placed there for the public to pay homage, Lakshmy writes.
She adds that since she sold the house, she and the people who bought Varadha have been receiving threats. “The declarations made by some people, about not allowing anyone to enter the house and about standing guard outside it, have deeply troubled the people who bought it. These people (making threats) have no rights over the house. They don’t have any connection with my mother. I am requesting everyone to leave the innocent people who bought this house alone. I hope the controversy ends here."
Last year, there was a similar controversy over reports about the sale of legendary actor Prem Nazir's house in Thiruvananthapuram's Chirayinkeezhu. However, his daughter Rita had immediately put the rumours to rest, clarifying that she had no such plan.
