C. K. Meena is a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

and newspaper columnist. She is a science graduate who went on to pursue her M.A in English and B.S. in Communication from

Bangalore University Bangalore University (BU) is a public state university located in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The university is a part of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and affiliated by Univers ...

. She started her career at ''The City Tab'', a Bangalore weekly tabloid, in the 1980s and worked at ''Deccan Herald'' from 1986–93, after which she co-founded the Asian College of Journalism in Bangalore. In 2005, Dronequill published her first novel, ''Black Lentil Doughnuts'', followed by ''Dreams for the Dying'' (2008) and ''Seven Days to Somewhere'' (2012). She has also co-authored a handbook on

adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

. She co-authored the first non academic book on disability titled
The Invisible Majority: India's Abled Disabled
(2021).'' She has been writing "City Lights", a fortnightly column, for ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' Metro Plus since 2002.

Writing style

In her own words, "Writing is so deliberate, one is working at it all the time, trying to create an effect, so there’s less spontaneity, but at the same time, one is also saying it out aloud in one's head, telling the story to an imaginary audience. I love telling stories, and hearing stories; I am a shameless eavesdropper, and I can be totally poker-faced; I can even hear things said in an undertone." Charumathi Supraja reckons after doing an interview with her, "Meena decimates stereotypes in her writing. She etches out real “characters” in her stories. There’s a swagger to her writing that’s not conceited – just original. You’ll find a chuckle beneath many a line. Lush, leisurely descriptions don’t fit Meena’s writing persona. But don’t expect to drop the book till you’ve followed every twist, sparkle and glint in her neatly laid out story." Meena was influenced by T G Vaidyanathan.

Feminism

Meena is a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

. From one of her interviews, "Why are women in the centre? Not the man but the woman. For me, women are in the centre, whether I like it or not. It’s possibly linked to the feminist perspective that I have always had. Somehow when I start writing I find that it’s the women who take centre stage, the men are either not very nice guys (laughs) or are incidental."

Works

Her first novel, ''Black Lentil Doughnuts'' was published in 2005. In it, Meena talks about Shanthi and her alter-ego Lilly who escape the oppressive warmth of their small town to taste the freedom of an emerging metropolis. Shanthi is seduced by the anarchism of the Three Mosquitoes, while Lilly's seductions are on more predictable lines. But all the while they are being stalked by an insane mass hysteria that sees them as outsiders C K Meena takes the readers on a roller coaster ride through the love and hate, gentleness and brutality that is metropolitan India.

Other works

*Seven Days to Somewhere. *Adoption: what, why, when, how. *Dreams for the Dying.

Articles

*Walk into the night without fear *This lady is a tramp

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meena, C K 1957 births Living people Indian women novelists Indian columnists Novelists from Kerala Indian women columnists 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian journalists 21st-century Indian novelists Women writers from Kerala Journalists from Kerala Indian women journalists