Now, Sudhakaran's twin books surprise readers

A year ago, she hogged headlines for giving birth to twin daughters 13 months after her husband's death in an accident. That was made possible with the help of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) technique. Shilna, 36, wife of late Sudhakaran who was a Malayalam professor at Government Brennen College, Thalassery, is back in news with another twin delivery.

She has published two books of her husband at a function at Government Brennen College on Monday. Sudhakaran's twin daughters - Nima Mithra and Niya Manvi – received the first copies of the books from Malayalam writer Zacharia.

Zacharia read out a few lines from the books at the function.

“I was rankled by the thoughts of my twin children. They are the fruits of my twelve years of hard work, prayers and offerings,” wrote Sudhakaran years before his daughters were born.

“It is a mystery how he wrote these lines about our daughters whom he had never seen,” says Shilna.

The books -- an anthology titled 'Kadalinu oru Choonda' and a collection of short stories 'Elayatte magic paalam' – include the writing of Sudhakaran over several years. His friends helped Shilna for collecting all his works and sort them out.

The two came in contact with each other as pen pals when a 13-year-old Shilna wrote a letter to Sudhakaran, praising him for a poem he wrote in a literary magazine. They tied the knot in 2006.

The childless college professor-banker couple tried all possible fertility treatments for 12 years to have their children. Sudhakaran died in an accident on way to a famous fertility clinic in Kozhikode on August 15, 2017. But Shilna did not lose hope. She continued the treatment with two frozen embryos stored by the clinic. The treatment was successful and Shilna gave birth to the daughters in September 2018.

Shilna says she is puzzled by the references to their twin daughters in the stories Sudhakaran wrote several years ago. “It was his dream to raise two daughters, that too, twins. Even when we were unsure of becoming parents, he used to dream of raising twin daughters. He had already decided on their names. He also wrote about his daughters very proudly wherever he could. The stories and poems in these books are proof for that,” she said.

Shilna said she wanted to publish her husband's writings one day. “It was my hobby to collect his writings and arrange them in chronological order. I had only planned to publish his short stories. His friends suggested releasing a second book compiling his poems also. That is how we published his second book,” she added.

Sudhakaran was very fond of his village Elayad. 'Elayatte magic paalam' has several short stories capturing the rustic beauty and serenity of the village, Shilna said. The anthology is named after Sudhakaran's most discussed poem 'Chooda.'

Shilna hopes one of her daughters would become a writer.

The twin books were published by Insight publications.