Book titled A woman of no consequence launched

The book, A Woman Of No Consequence, written by Kalpana Karunakaran — Associate professor, Humanities and Social Sciences Department, IIT-Madras, and daughter of Communist leader Mythily Sivaraman — was released here on Saturday. It follows the life of her maternal grandmother Pankajam (1911-2007).

Ms. Kalpana, who began speaking by invoking her mother, said she chanced upon her grandmother’s autobiographical notes during her research aimed at writing a book on Ms. Sivaraman. She had described herself as a woman of no consequence. Though not formally schooled, her grandmother was a voracious reader. 

N. Ram, Director, The Hindu Group Publishing Private Limited, praised Ms. Kalpana for both her intimate and anthropological approach to a book.

Writer, translator, and feminist historian V. Geetha, said for Pankajam, reading was a way of being, of existing. Her writing career that began at 38 continued till she was 90. 

Writer and researcher Nivedita Louis appreciated the way Pankajam wrote autofiction.