Leading Malayalam author Kakkattil dies aged 62

Malayalam writer Akbar Kakkattil, famous for his school stories from his long teaching years, died in the northern Kerala city of Kozhikode yesterday.He was 62.His body was buried at Kakkattil Juma Masjid with state honours in the afternoon. Earlier the body was kept at Calicut Town Hall, Vadakara Town Hall and Kakkattil National Higher Secondary School, where he taught children for three decades, for people to pay their last respects. Hundreds of people thronged these places.Kakkattil was under treatment for cancer for more than a year but he was still active in the cultural sphere. “His death was most unexpected. In fact, I reached the city to hold discussions on some activities of Kerala Sahitya Academy,” said Perumbadavam Sreedharan, chair of the Academy.A two-time Kerala Sahitya Academy award winner, Kakkattil was its vice-chairman at the time of his death.He has 54 books to his credit which include four novels, 27 short stories, six collections of essays, seven novelettes and a play.He was also a member of Malayalam Advisory Panel of the National Book Trust and the Malayalam Advisory Board of the Kerala government.He had worked as a member of the governing body of South Zone Cultural Centre of the central government and the Kerala State Institute of Children’s Literature.The writer had also served as a member of Curriculum Steering Committee, the Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi, the State Television Jury, State Cinema Jury, Ezhuthachan Puraskara Samiti and Programme Advisory Board of the All India Radio, Kozhikode.Kakkattil was also a member of Malayalam Advisory Board of the Kendra Sahitya Akademi and Convener of Publication Committee, Kerala Sahitya Akademi.He was also a recipient of the state-run academy’s first-ever award in humour section in 1992 for his School Diary - an anthology of short essays and in 2004, his Vadakkuninnoru Kudumba Vruthantham got the award for the best novel.