Chellamma is a composite portrait based on several women whom I have known well, chiefly my mother-in-law and my grandmother, both of whom, though about ten years apart in age, were similar in many respects and whom I dearly loved and respected; and also a few others of their class, caste and time. The portrait projects a woman of about fifty, though when I wrote the piece several were much older. These women threw a spell over me, not least because they were so different from my own parents and their circle, English-educated, consciously iconoclastic and forward-looking. Newly awakened to feminism as I was by the classic Towards Equality Report of 1974, I could still admire these women, their achievements, under many disadvantages, their powerful influence over others, especially younger people, and their gracious presence. looking back at what I wrote, I do not think I could have done better at that time, so I have not changed it, except for a few editorial corrections.