In 2007, she translated Dravidian ideologue Periyar’s feminist tract, Penn Yaen Adimai Aanaal? (Why Were Women Enslaved?), and co-wrote the first English biography of Kerala’s iconic Dalit leader, Ayyankali. Thirumavalavan-the founder of the political party, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi.

She translated into English the essays and speeches of Thol. Around this time, she also took to translation. Armed with a doctorate in socio-linguistics from Anna University, she became the editor of The Dalit, a bimonthly alternative English magazine. Things started to change when Kandasamy began understanding how deeply entrenched caste was in society. He went on to earn a PhD in Tamil literature. Her father belonged to a nomadic tribe (Andi Pandaram) and was the first graduate from a village near Trichy. Many times, Kandasamy assisted her in fighting the court case. Her mother, Vasantha, fought for the implementation of reservation policy for 18 years. Kandasamy is that, for sure, by nurture as much as by nature.īorn in 1984 in Chennai, she is the daughter of two university professors. Kandasamy herself is a ‘Ms Militant’, said the vice-president of the German PEN Centre, which recently awarded her the Hermann Kesten Prize 2022 for being “a fearless fighter for democracy and human rights”. “They brave bombs, belittle kings and take on the sun.

Her Kali kills, Draupadi strips, and Sita climbs onto a stranger’s lap. In Ms Militancy, her second anthology of poems which came out in 2010, the outlet for her rage is a bevy of mythological women. In her world, women are not passive, nor are the downtrodden voiceless.

The poet, novelist and social activist takes pains to upend traditional beliefs in her books. “Our destiny is our anger and our fight against the system, and I do it using words.” “Words are the little space that we are allowed to negotiate on our own,” she says as she sips her filter coffee. Her spoken word might be soft, but her written word is razor sharp, and she puts it to good use against existing hierarchies, patriarchy, and social injustice.

“Am I late?” she asks gently, before slipping into a chair. On a rainy evening, Meena Kandasamy walks into the coffee shop in a long black skirt and sleeveless T-shirt.

Ms Militancy by Meena Kandasamy