No place for women: Sabarimala a blot on Kerala's progressive state status

The Sabarimala protests are a blot on the progressive state whose highest literacy has not translated to good education

From the time I can remember my grandmother, only one image of her comes to my mind  – of a widow with a tonsured head, wrapped on top by a dull brown cotton saree worn in traditional style, a blank forehead without the usual red vermilion or ‘kumkum’, bare neck, empty ears and hands unadorned and shorn off all jewellery. Her ankles and feet were bare too – without the traditional anklets or silver rings worn on the toes of both feet – the symbol of married women.

A very vivid story of my grandmother is etched in my memory.