A post she’s made six hours ago has more than six hundred ‘likes’. Coming to write on Facebook, for Deepa Nisanth, is like coming home. This is where her writing as it is now was born, nurtured, grew into a memoir book that’s now in its fifth edition. Kunnolamundallo Boothakalakkulir was published on November 21, last year. Book stores almost always give the same answer to those seeking her book: out of stock. Her Facebook page is full of comments about not getting a copy. The ones who do, post glorifying reviews. It’s come as a big surprise for Deepa — not just the attention the book was getting, but also the fact that no negative comments come even from those who had vehemently opposed her only months ago, when a post she made became viral.
That’s the incident that brought her to the limelight back in October. Deepa, an assistant professor of Malayalam at Sree Kerala Varma College in Thrissur, had made a post about beef ban around the time there was a beef festival at the campus.
She was caught in a controversy for allegedly supporting the fest. But she’s come out to receive a whole lot of support from the social media. The same people had also encouraged her to write a book of her posts. “Acceptance came even from those who had hurt me with their comments earlier. They wrote that while they continue to disagree with my politics, they appreciate the writer in me,” Deepa says. She feels that it is perhaps a little overrated. “I am not an established writer. I wouldn’t even call myself a writer. Every person has memories, these are mine.” The book covers her childhood memories, her college days including her relationship with another ‘Keralavarmakaran’ — Nisanth —who became her husband, and her experiences as a teacher. “It’s mostly the notes I made on the different experiences of the students I come across. That has changed me a lot.” One of those notes — Jalam Kondulla Murivukal — had increased her Facebook followers a lot, to nearly 70,000. That was even before the controversy.
“The controversy may have increased the reach of my book, but then social media gives the same space for good and bad comments, so they could have criticised it if they wanted to.” Deepa herself has written two books critiquing works by others. But now she wishes no one reads it. “People write their stories and poems, there is no need for a critic to tear them apart and examine it like a doctor, I feel now. Perspectives change.” Hers had when she went to Kerala Varma College as a pre-degree student. Coming from an orthodox family, Deepa agreed when her dad asked to take second group even as she wanted third group. Two years later, the college and her teachers had given her enough confidence to say no, and she chose to learn Malayalam. After her MA, she joined as teacher.
Deepa began like any other teacher, wanting every student to be silent in class and not ask questions. Somewhere along she realised you won’t get anything out of making a student obey out of fear. “They should listen to you out of love. And you should listen to them. Teaching should not be one-way communication.” “We should be like Kobayashi Master in the book Totto-Chan, giving students, confidence.” Deepa had a bitter experience once when she found a student sleeping in class and asked him to leave. “Later I saw him working at a shoe shop and realised there will be no food in his house that day if he didn’t work. He barely has the time to come to college, but because he wished to study, he did. When I found him sleeping, I forgot to ask myself why.” That’s the story of Jalam Kondulla Murivukal, at which point Deepa’s book ends. The controversy had happened after that. It may appear in her next book. “It is something that’s made me bolder. I realised that if I reacted against something wrong, there is a society to stand with me, people I have never met to support me. Now I pay more attention to my words for it reaches more people, and that brings a certain responsibility. I do not wish to be known through the controversy, but through my writing.”
