When I go back to my campus days, I feel so happy. It was a period of absolute freedom for me. I was never discouraged from taking part in different activities in the college. That is because of my parents, Kottukoyikkal Velayudhan, who was a freedom fighter, and mother, Saradamma, an erudite woman well-versed in Sanskrit.
I grew up to become a strong-willed woman something, which I carried on to my campus life at S.N. College Kollam, and later at Government Law College Thiruvananthapuram [which functioned at Ernakulam during the first year of my course].
When I joined S.N. College for my intermediate course in 1948, the college had started that year. The classes were held in thatched sheds. Even if there was a lack of proper infrastructure, we had the best of teachers. I later joined for BA Economics in the same college.
Actually, I wanted to graduate in psychology, but was discouraged by many and had to settle for Economics. The love for psychology had a lot to do with the teachers who taught me the subject during my intermediate course, especially professors Annamma and Anantharaman. Once Nithyachaitanya Yathi had led a psychology session. Even though I couldn’t pursue the subject, the classes I attended were inspiration enough to do a course in counselling post retirement and later handle a Q&A column for women in a women’s magazine.
The campus was vibrant with political and literary discussions and meetings. Cinema was not a much-discussed topic then. I was interested in politics, literature, theatre and all kinds of extra curricular activities. The amusing part was that my brother and I were staunch supporters of the Left, whereas my parents and other relatives were ardent supporters of the Congress.
I treasure my teachers a lot. K.J. Mathew Tharakan, Velayudhan Nair, P.C. Alexander, Subramaniam, and Thirunelloor Karunakaran were among the teachers who made learning a wonderful experience for me. I want to make special mention of Velayudhan Nair sir, who used to be called Shakespeare Velayudhan Nair and with whom I had a strong relationship till he passed away. Once I acted in a play for our hostel day programme as a male character, Raghavan Nair, a taxi driver. From that day onwards, whenever he wrote a letter to me, he would address me as ‘My dear taxi driver’.
After graduation, I joined Government Law College in Ernakulam. The campus was so welcoming and vibrant. There were no taboos on boy-girl friendship. We respected for each other. One thing I very fondly remember about the period was the umpteen Hindi movies I saw then. A year later, the college campus was shifted to Thiruvananthapuram. In 1957 I was enrolled as an advocate and worked in Kollam.
Looking back, I strongly feel that my college days had played a significant role in moulding me, be it as an advocate, a counsellor, a spokesperson for women’s issues or as an employee with All India Radio.
Fact file
S. Saraswathi Amma, who retired as assistant station director from All India Radio Thiruvananthapuram, is well known for the programmes she produced, ‘Mahilalayam’, a women-centric programme, and children’s programmes such as ‘Balalokam’ and ‘Rashmi’. Post retirement she handled a column ‘Vanitha Vedi’ for a women’s magazine. She has written Kuppichillukalum Rosadalangalum , Ammamaar Arinjirikkan , and Pookkalum Kunjungalum . She is currently working on a book about her AIR days, Aakashathile Nakshathrangal .
(A column to commemorate the platinum jubilee of the University of Kerala. Eminent teachers and people from different walks of life talk about their student days in various colleges under the University.)
