Eighty eight year old MT Vasudevan Nair, literary icon of Malayalam language, turned nostalgic on Sunday as he was presented with the first Akkitham Achuthan Nampoothiri Award for his contributions to arts, culture and literature over the last six decades.
The award was in memory of Akkitham Achuthan Nampoothiri, the Jnanapeeth Award winning Mahakavi of Malayalam language who breathed his last in 2020. It turned out to be a special event for Vasudevan Nair, popularly known in the sphere of arts and culture as MT, himself a Jnanapeeth Award winner.
“It was Akkitham who inspired and encouraged me to read literature. He also taught me how to write poems,” said MT while accepting the award presented to him by Prof P G Haridas, president, Tapasya, the oldest socio-cultural organization in Kerala of which Akkitham was one of the founders.
The award carries a cash prize of `One lakh, citation and a plaque.
Prof Haridas said presentation of Akkitham Award to MT was like the coming together of two vast oceans, the depths or intensity of which were impossible to fathom. MT was selected for the award by a jury consisting of lead poet P Narayana Kurup, literary critic Asha Menon, veteran journalist P Balakrishnan and Prof Sreesailam Unnikrishnan, noted critic.