Renowned poet and activist Sugathakumari passed away on Wednesday, days after testing positive for the coronavirus. The 86-year-old was very critical and not responding to medication. She was admitted to the Government Medical College in Thiruvananthapuram and passed away at 10.52 am on Wednesday.

A year-and-a-half ago, Sugathakumari, like a premonition, said that she had to disclose a few things to Mathrubhumi, one of the most popular Malayalam dailies in Kerala. In the interview that followed, the renowned poet and activist said that she thought ‘her time was nearing.’ She had just had a heart attack and went through a lot of pain. She spoke of her family, Abhaya, the home she began for destitute women and people with mental illnesses, and of her last wish to visit the Silent Valley again.

She was one of the most active campaigners of the Save Silent Valley Movement when it took shape in the 1970s. Silent Valley – a tropical evergreen forest in Palakkad district – was at the time proposed by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) to host a hydroelectric dam. Environmentalists all over the world fought against the proposal that would not only destroy part of the forest but also threaten the lives of endangered lion-tailed macaques. Sugathakumari wrote a poem – Marathinu Sthuti (Hymn to a Tree) — which was recited at every other protest to save the Silent Valley.

It was also in Palakkad that Sugathakumari and a few others created Krishnavanam, converting a stretch of barren land in Attappady to a natural forest.