Who is a writer? Obviously a story teller. In whatever different forms or genre, one chooses to write, she or he is digging out an underlying story that has been waiting to manifest itself. Through her numerous columns, travelogues, life sketches, children’s literature, short stories, and essays on a lot of different topics, Ms. K.A. Beena has told innumerable stories about the world around her.
As in Seamus Heaney’s famous poem ‘Digging’, Ms. Beena always holds a pen to be able to ‘dig’ and to write incessantly. Seamus Heaney had seen his father and his grandpa digging for cultivating the land and he being a poet writes about his idea of digging.
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I will dig with it.
Our country is not an easy place for a woman who thinks differently. What Beena aspired from her childhood was to become a writer and she has turned out to be not only an accomplished writer but also a real fighter and a leader. The journey was not easy. Though extraordinarily multi-faceted and versatile like many a woman in our country, Beena had to go through the hard way to pursue her dreams.
Even as a young girl Beena had kept a notebook for jotting down whatever came across her wonderful life. Her father had been travelling around the world as he was in the Merchant Navy. He used to inspire her by writing letters in post cards from wherever his travels led him to.
Meanwhile Ms. Beena had been thoroughly enjoying her utterly rural life. She still keeps the memories of her ancestral house with cows, paddy fields, fruit bearing trees and whatever activities that came with this scenario.
Ms. Beena likes to travel. She loves to write about her travels. She goes to places where she would try to understand their peculiarities. It is very intriguing and very appreciative how she found out the dearth of napkins in a place in Uttar Pradesh.
The introduction to her travelogue titled ‘Brahmaputhrayile Veedu’ translated into English by Ms. Ayisha Sasidharan could be an apt example of her style in travel writing and a piece of it is quoted here:
“It is this majestic expanse of water and its range of moods, from the furious to the friendly, agitated, meditatively still or just as a silent spectator, that has been the one constant in a region that has been in a state of flux throughout its history.”
Other topics
Beena wrote exclusively for her son when he was almost a child. She had had a wonderful childhood that had been adventurous and brimming with life. The mother in her could bring those moments alive by transforming herself into his son’s companion. Her books written for children are very nostalgic and lively.
The memoir ‘Basheer Enna Anugraham’ is the story of an unusual friendship that Vaikom Mohammed Basheer had with Ms.Beena. They used to write letters to one another almost till the death of Basheer. Mr. Adoor Gopalakrishnan says that this book spreads radiance like one of Basheer’s books.
Ms. Beena has written a book on Radio titled ‘Radio, Kalayum Kadhayum’. The book is so simple that any literate person can read and understand the working of a radio station. As long as radio is an inevitable part of our households, this book never loses its significance.
It would take pages if I go on writing about Ms. Beena’s literary contributions. Nevertheless, I have to mention ‘Beena Kanda Russia’, the first travelogue she wrote when she was a thirteen-year-old student. The book retells her experiences of attending the International Children’s camp at Artek in the erstwhile USSR in 1977. She wrote
this book with all the passion and happiness the camp could give her. Ms. Beena remembers her best friend Mehreen (Mehrunnisa) from Tajikistan who had been her close companion while in the camp. Ms. Beena had tried and located her which amounts to an adventurous story. She was on the verge of meeting her when Ms. Beena learnt that Mehrin had disappeared from her home. Ms. Beena keeps her hopes of finding her high.
Coming to the other aspects of her life, one can see that Ms. Beena has excelled in her career and that she had been a motivator to many a woman around her and a staunch supporter of women’s rights. As a coordinator of the Network of Women in Media, Trivandrum region, she has led some remarkable protests against the atrocities prevailing in our male centered society.
She started her career as a journalist in Kerala Kaumudi Women’s magazine in 1987 and in 1989, she moved to Grihalakshmi, the women’s magazine of Mathrubhoomi Publications. In 1991 she joined the Indian Information Service of the Government of India. She had been the news editor of All India Radio and Dooradarshan.
Ms. Beena has also worked in the Press Information Bureau and is now serving as the Deputy Director of Regional Outreach Bureau, Kochi under Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India.
It is interesting to notice that Ms. Beena is a woman journalist who has worked with print, television and radio, a rare achievement in one’s career.
Ms. Beena is both a good orator and a teacher.
The UNFPA is a UN organization. It works in partnership with governments, along with other United Nations agencies, communities, NGOs, foundations and the private sector, to raise awareness and to achieve its mission to promote the rights and health of women and young people. Ms. Beena got the Laadli Media Award 2014 and 2016 (online and print), Regional and National Awards instituted by the United Nations Population Fund and Population First, Mumbai.
Ms. Beena had gone to UP during the election. During the journey she finds out how poor are the sanitary conditions of women in our country during menstrual periods. There were no sanitary napkins available. Most of the women are using hay, soil etc. instead of napkins and cloth. After a careful study she published an essay on these shocking findings. This led not only to winning awards but to creating awareness among the public.
Ms. Beena has won the V.K. Madhavankutty award for print media, 2016, Sheela Teacher award for socially committed journalism work, 2019, Akashavani National Awards for best script, 2010 and Rajalekshmy Award for literary contribution, 2015.
To become successful in life is not easy. To remain humane is more difficult. She has passed these tests of her life. Ms. Beena had remained positive on the face of many adversities that had been along with her throughout her life. She still remains positive not bothering about where life leads her to.
