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Google Doodle Celebrates Balamani Amma's 113th Birthday Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Kerala-based artist Devika Ramachandran, celebrates the 113th birthday of Balamani Amma, a famous Indian poet who was known as the grandmother of Malayalam literature—a language spoken in Kerala, India. On this day in 1909, she was born in Nalapat, her ancestral home in Punnayurkulam located in the Thrissur district. She was a recipient of countless awards for her poetry including the Saraswati Samman—the nation’s most esteemed literary award—and Padma Vibhushanthe—the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India. Amma got no official education or training and was instead educated at home by her uncle Nalappat Narayana Menon, a prominent Malayali poet. He possessed an outstanding collection of books and works, which Amma had studied since she was a child. At the age of 19, she married V.M. Nair, the managing director and managing editor of the Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi. Amma released ...