Sneha : The moving spirit

Dr. U. R. Anantha Murthy

It is hard to believe that Snehalata is dead at the age of forty four. She will remain a vivid memory of her innumerable admirers among whom are people from all walks of life. Socialist leaders and intellectuals, theatre artists from India and abroad, writers and above all many young people still searching for a meaning and purpose in life. She met them always in her bright and simple drawing room. She had a luminious, fiery personality which could never tolerate injustice and ugliness. Otherwise she would not have found herself in a jail with no charges against her. For many of us who knew why she had to suffer what turned out to be virtually a solitary confinement for eight months that ruined her frail health, she is one of the martyrs of our age. By her manner of life and death she has redeemed us who have had to live in a state of sin, because of our quietism and indifference in the face of evil.

When I met her last on December 25, she was on a parole and felt guilty about it. But those who had worked hard for her parole knew the terror and anxiety of her lonely days and long nights in jail when she got her violent asthma attacks. Yet, what worried her was the plight of the women convicts, mostly prostitutes, who she had left behind. She had taught them songs and games in jail, and fought with the jail authorities to improve their condition. She did not allow me to talk about her, but asked me what we could all do for those unfortunate women in jail. I could not take my eyes off Sneha’s beautiful concerned face which was disfigured by her intense and inhuman suffering in jail.

What killed Sneha? What is the stupid law which forbids a woman prisoner meeting men prisoners? - for only across a wall were of her dear political intellectual friends, also detained under MISA like her. Was it the terror and anxiety of the unpredictable asthma attacks, when she could get no immediate help? Or was it what her sensitive soul saw in the prison - the plight of other women whose cause was most dear to her? She was always deeply agitated by the male cruelty and insensititvity in India, and wrote on the theme a moving play called ‘Seetha’.

When I saw her again, it was a mystery, but her face had regained its great beauty and peace. Her agony had come to an end in death. Most of her friends were there; socialists, artists, writers, young-people, working-class men and their leaders and just friends. It was always her endeavour to bring to them together-socialist politicians and creative artists. No one went from her house without a meal or at least a cup of tea. And we had our lunch that day too- for Pattabhi, Sneha’s husband insisted that it would have been her wish also.

She was versatile. She was a dancer, trained in India and Spain. For me as the author of the novel “Samskara” which Pattabhi directed and produced and which created a new wave in Kannada films. Sneha’s acting in the heroine’s role is a memorable experience. Sneha, along with her husband, Pattabhi, who is a distinguished Telugu poet planned the film, fought for it when it was banned, and ultimately won for the film the highest Indian award, the President’s gold medal, and many international awards.

Sneha was also the moving spirit behind the theatre movement in Madras and became the centre of artistic and political activites when she and her family settled down in Bangalore. She was imaginative in whatever she did - whether it was a play she directed, or the way she entertained people without fuss. She could be very frank and critical in her opinions without hurting her adversary. Her daliy life was full of those “little unremembered acts of kindness and love”. She had as much time for the personal problems of young people as she had for her concerns in art and politics.

Sneha was a very dear friend and follower of Dr. Rammanohar Lohia, one of the most creative thinkers of our country. It was said of him that he was one of the few Indian leaders for whom there were some at least who would lay down, their lives. Yes - Sneha died in a cause that was dear to him. She leaves a daughter, Nandana, a charming person and an artist, her son Konarak, a musician of great promise, her husband Pattabhi, the most serene person I have known.

And also she leaves a cause that animates them as well as her innumerable friends.

Courtesy: Snehalatha - Published by Lohia Viganana Samithi)