Inside the home of Havva
Memories from Havva Beevi's family as narrated by Haneena P.A
The house is named Havva Mahal, ( the home of Havva). It belongs to Havva Beevi’s second son, fondly called Saleem. He is now 80. Havva Beevi is the first Muslim woman in Travancore and Cochin to hold a degree. When I asked about the name of the house, he said he named it when it is being built. It is around 10-12 years old. Saleem recalls his memories of his mother with great fondness. "When I mentioned an article written by their mother, which I found in Malayalam Visheshal Prathi, they were unaware of it's existence. It brought me great joy to share it with them and share that moment with the family. Saleem Ikka was born in 1942, 7 years after the article came out.
Saleem ikka's granddaughter is very smart. She paints very well. I took both of their photos in my camera and they shared with me the coloured older photographs of Havva Beevi from their family albums. I had with me a black and white photograph of Havva Beevi from the 1930s. They also showed me her Degree certificates, mark lists and salary slips. “She worked as a teacher and retired in a prominent position,” Saleem ikka recalls.
Saleem Ikka shares memories of Havva Beevi
He continued to recount more memories about his mother. Upon showing him the works of other women writers in the same magazine, like Habsha Beevi Marakkar and Aysha Marakkar, he recognized them as his mother's close friends. Majeed Marakkar was their family friend. When Habsha Marakkar passed away, they didn’t break the news to Havva immediately. Havva Beevi also passed away around a month after she came to know of Habsha's passing.
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We moved to talking about many other things. Saleem Ikka told me about the story of a novel called ‘Roots’ by Alex Hailey, an 18th-century African living in America who goes in search of his roots and finds himself with African families and continues to live there.
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It’s worth mentioning the name of Abukka here, my auto driver on the day who instantly turned into my research companion after a few conversations. Together, we found Havva Beevi’s home, despite having no prior information about her whereabouts.
Image credits: Havva Beevi's family for her salary slips, degree certificate, mark sheets, photographs and other material.