Award-winning writer Kakkattil passes away

 Famous Malayalam short story writer and novelist Akbar Kakkattil, who regaled Malayalees with his creative voyage in his own inimitable style for nearly four decades, passed away in Kerala's northern city of Calicut on Wednesday.
The writer, who was under treatment for a lung-related disease for over a year, died at a private hospital in the city at 5.30am. He was 62 and is survived by his wife V Jameela and daughters Sithara and Suhana.
His body was kept at Town Hall from 9am for public to pay homage. A large number of people from different walks of life paid respect to him. The funeral was held with full state honours at Kandoth Kuni Juma Masjid in his home town of Kakkattil in the evening.
A two-time Sahitya Akademi award winner, he has a collection of 54 books to his credit. They include four novels, seven collections of novelettes, 27 anthologies of short stories and six collections of essays, a play and a volume of critical essays and interviews with the leading writers of Malayalam.
Born to P Abdullah and C K Kunjhamina on July 7, 1954, at Kakkattil near Nadapuram, Akbar served as a teacher for about 30 years in various schools. Being a teacher, Akbar's stories were mainly based on schools. The stories centered on teachers and their foibles gave birth to a new genre in Malayalam literature.
His works are known for their unique narrative style, which was laced with an unfailing humour. His work, Sarga Sameeksha, a creative and critical interface of a young writer with the iconic writers of the old generation is perhaps the first of its kind among Indian languages.
Akbar, who was vice-president of the Kerala Sahithya Academi, won academy award for School Diary and Vadakku Ninnoru Kutumbavrithantham.
He also won the S K Pottekkatt Award for "Mrithyuyogam', Joseph Mundasseri Award for 'Sthrainam', Abudhabi Sakthi Award for 'Vadakku Ninnoru Kutumbavrithantham', Indian Government Fellowship for Literature, Rajiv Gandhi Peace Foundation Award for 'Selected Stories', Gramadeepam Award and T V Kochubava Award.
Akbar, who turned to creative writing at the age of 14 by publishing short stories in a regular column for children in a leading Malayalam weekly, had developed pen friendship with literary giants of Malayalam like G. Sankara Kurup, Thakazhi and Basheer even during his student life.
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