Kamala Surayya

Early life and childhood

Kamala Das was born in Punnayurkulam, Ponnani taluk, Malabar District, British India (present-day Thrissur district, Kerala) on 31 March 1934, to V. M. Nair, a managing editor of the widely circulated Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi, and poet Nalapat Balamani Amma, a renowned Malayali family. Kamala got her family name, Nalapat, through matrilineal succession.

She spent her childhood in Calcutta, where her father was employed as a senior officer in the Walford Transport Company that sold Bentley and Rolls-Royce automobiles, and the Nalapat ancestral home in Punnayurkulam.

Like her mother Balamani Amma, Kamala Das also excelled in writing. Her love of poetry began at an early age through the influence of her great-uncle, Nalapat Narayana Menon, a prominent writer.

At 15 years old, she wed bank officer K. Madhava Das of the Kalipurayath family, who supported her literary pursuits. She commenced writing and publishing in both English and Malayalam. The 1960s in Calcutta witnessed an era of artistic turbulence, during which Kamala Das emerged as one of numerous voices featured in esteemed anthologies along with a generation of Indian English poets. English was the language she chose for all six of her published poetry collections.

Literary career

She was known for her several Malayalam short stories as well as poems written in English. Kamala Das was also a syndicated columnist. She once claimed that "poetry does not sell in this country [India]", but her forthright columns, which sounded off on everything from women's issues and child care to politics, were popular. Kamala Das was a confessional poet whose poems have often been considered at par with those of Anne Sexton, Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath.

Kamala Das' first book of poetry, Summer in Calcutta was a breath of fresh air in Indian English poetry. She wrote chiefly of love, betrayal, and the consequent anguish. Kamala Das abandoned the certainties offered by an archaic, and somewhat sterile, aestheticism for an independence of mind and body at a time when Indian poets were still governed by "19th-century diction, sentiment and romanticised love." | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100523080513/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6488710.ece | url-status = dead | archive-date = 23 May 2010 | access-date = 28 May 2011

Her second book of poetry, The Descendants was even more explicit, urging women to: :{{Poem quote|text=Gift him what makes you woman, the scent of Long hair, the musk of sweat between the breasts, The warm shock of menstrual blood, and all your Endless female hungers ...|sign=Kamala Das|title="The Looking Glass"|source=The Descendants}} This directness of her voice led to comparisons with Marguerite Duras and Sylvia Plath. At the age of 42, she published a daring autobiography, My Story; it was originally written in Malayalam (titled Ente Katha) and later she translated it into English. Later she admitted that much of the autobiography had fictional elements. | access-date = 28 May 2011

"An Introduction" is very bold poem in which Das expresses her femininity, individuality, and true feelings about men. This autobiographical poem is written in the colloquial style. She presents her feelings and thoughts in a bold manner. She realises her identity and understands that it is the need of every woman to raise a voice in this male-dominated society. The poet longs for love that is the result of her loneliness and frustration.

The poem "A Hot Noon in Malabar" is about climate, surrounding in a town in Malabar. The people may be annoyed by the heat, dust and noise but she likes it. She longs for the hot noon in Malabar because she associates it with the wild men, wild thoughts and wild love. It is a torture for her to be away from Malabar.

In "My Mother at Sixty-Six," Das explores the irony in a mother-daughter relationship, and it also includes the themes of aging, growing-up, separation and love. "Dance of Eunuchs" is another fine poem in which Das sympathises with eunuchs. It has an autobiographical tone. The eunuchs dance in the heat of the sun. Their costumes, makeup and their passion with which they dance suggest the female delicacy. Their outward appearance and joy is contrasted with their inward sadness. Actually, there is no joy in their heart, they cannot even dream of happiness. In the poem "A Request," Das realises that her life is meaningless. She is alone and her colourless life is designed of crumbling patterns.

Kamala Das is essentially known for her bold and frank expression. The prominent features of her poetry are an acute obsession with love and the use of confession. The main theme of her poetry is based upon freedom, love and protection. She wrote on a diverse range of topics, often disparate - from the story of a poor old servant, about the sexual disposition of upper-middle-class women living near a metropolitan city or in the middle of the ghetto. Some of her better-known stories include Pakshiyude Manam, Neypayasam, Thanuppu, and Chandana Marangal. She wrote a few novels, out of which Neermathalam Pootha Kalam, which was received favourably by the general readers, as well as, the critics, stands out.

She travelled extensively to read poetry to Germany's University of Duisburg-Essen, University of Bonn and University of Duisburg universities, Adelaide Writer's Festival, Frankfurt Book Fair, University of Kingston, Jamaica, Singapore, and South Bank Festival (London), Concordia University (Montreal, Canada), etc. Her works are available in French, Spanish, Russian, German and Japanese.

She has also held positions as Vice-chairperson in Kerala Sahitya Akademi, chairperson in Kerala Forestry Board, President of the Kerala Children's Film Society, editor of Poet magazine and poetry editor of Illustrated Weekly of India.

Although occasionally seen as an attention-grabber in her early years, she is now seen as one of the most formative influences on Indian English poetry. In 2009, The Times called her "the mother of modern English Indian poetry".

Her last book titled The Kept Woman and Other Stories, featuring translation of her short stories, was published posthumously. Kamala Das is best remembered for her controversial writings where she openly talks about the restriction imposed on women. She is known for her rebellious nature against the patriarchal conventions.

Personal life

Kamala married K. Madhava Das at the age of 15. The couple had three sons: Madhav Das Nalapat, Chinen Das and Jayasurya Das. Her husband predeceased her in 1992, after 43 years of marriage. Her eldest son, Madhav Das Nalapat is married to Princess Thiruvathira Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi from the Travancore Royal House. He holds the UNESCO Peace Chair and is a professor of geopolitics at the Manipal University. He had been a resident editor of The Times of India. Kamala Surayya converted to Islam in 1999 and it was alleged that she did it to marry someone she loved although she never remarried.

On 31 May 2009, aged 75, she died at a hospital in Pune, after a long battle with pneumonia. Her body was flown to her home state of Kerala. She was interred at the Palayam Juma Masjid at Thiruvananthapuram with full state honour.{{cite news |access-date = 4 June 2009 |archive-date = 5 November 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121105120920/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200906011831.htm |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121107102057/http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/02/stories/2009060253900400.htm |url-status = dead |archive-date = 7 November 2012 |access-date = 4 June 2009

Politics

Though never politically active before, she launched a national political party, Lok Seva Party, aiming at the promotion of secularism and providing asylum to orphaned mothers. In 1984 she unsuccessfully contested in the Indian Parliament elections from Thiruvananthapuram constituency. She contested as an independent candidate and received only 1786 votes. She was depressed after the results and was advised to rest at her sister's house in Anamalai hills. She wrote the Anamalai Poems during this period. She wrote over twenty poems in this series, but only eleven have been published: eight of them in Indian Literature journal by the Sahitya Akademi (1985) and an additional three of them in the book The Best of Kamala Das (1991).

Conversion to Islam

She was born in a conservative Hindu Nair (Nalapat) family, and married a member of the Aristrocratic Menon family (Kalipurayath) with royal ancestry. She converted to Islam on 11 December 1999, at the age of 65 and assumed the name Kamala Surayya.

Legacy

• On 1 February 2018, Google Doodle by artist Manjit Thapp celebrates the work she left behind, which provides a window into the world of an engrossing woman.
• A biopic on her titled Aami directed by Kamal, released on 9 February 2018.
• Mazha, a 2000 Malayalam drama film written and directed by Lenin Rajendran was based on her short story Nashtappetta Neelambari.
• Kadhaveedu, a 2013 Malayalam anthology film written and directed by Sohanlal, was based on three stories penned by Surayya, Vaikkom Muhammad Basheer and M. T. Vasudevan Nair. In the film, the third tale was based on her short story Neypayasam.
• Neermaathalathinte Pookkal/Flowers of Neermaathalam, a 2006 Malayalam television film directed by Sohanlal was based on a story written by Surayya. The television film won a Kerala State award.

Awards and other recognitions

Kamala Das has received many awards for her literary contribution, including:

• 1963: PEN Asian Poetry Prize
• 1968: Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Story – Thanuppu
• 1985: Kendra Sahitya Academy Award (English) – Collected Poems
• 1988: Kerala State Film Award for Best Story
• 1997: Vayalar Award – Neermathalam Pootha Kalam
• 1998: Asian Poetry Prize
• 2002: Ezhuthachan Award
• 2006: Honorary D.Litt by University of Calicut
• 2006: Muttathu Varkey Award

Books

English

Malayalam

Appearances in the following poetry Anthologies

• Ten Twentieth-Century Indian Poets (1976) ed. by R. Parthasarathy and published by Oxford University Press, New Delhi
• The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets (1992) ed. by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and published by Oxford University Press, New Delhi
• The Golden Treasure of Writers Workshop Poetry (2008) ed. by Rubana Huq and published by Writers Workshop, Calcutta

References

References

1. (19 July 2000). "The Rediff Interview/ Kamala Suraiya". [[Rediff.com]].
2. (31 May 2009). "Writer Kamala Das passes away". [[Hindustan Times]].
3. (February 2018). "Who is Kamala Das? Why is the Google Doodle dedicated to her today?".
4. Sirur, Simrin. (2019-03-31). "Remembering Kamala Das, a feminist Indian writer who chose a 'stern husband' in Islam".
5. (2019-05-31). "Ten years after her death, writer Kamala Surayya rests in Palayam Juma Masjid, Trivandrum.".
6. "Book Excerptise: strangertime: an anthology of Indian Poetry in English by Pritish Nandy (ed)".
7. Rumens, Carol. (2015-08-03). "Poem of the week: Someone Else's Song by Kamala Das". The Guardian.
8. (9 August 2022). "Analysis of An Introduction by Kamala Das".
9. (9 August 2022). "Analysis of My Mother at Sixty-Six by Kamala Das".
10. (15 December 2002). "Love and longing in Kerala". The Times of India.
11. {{usurped. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080626082233/http://www.hinduonnet.com/2000/02/06/stories/1306078m.htm The histrionics of Kamala Das] [[The Hindu]], 6 February 2000
12. Pisharoty, Sangeeta Barooah. (2010-10-27). "Thus spake Das". The Hindu.
13. Habib, Shahnaz. "Kamala Das".
14. (June 2009). "Kamala Das passes away". The Times of India.
15. (7 February 2018). "'She lived her life her way': Kamala Das' son opens up about his fearless mother".
16. "Lakshmi Bayi, Author at Open The Magazine".
17. "Rediff On The NeT: When the temptress dons the purdah...".
18. "Kamla Das".
19. (31 May 2009). "Noted writer Kamala Das Suraiya passes away". [[Zee News]].
20. "Indian Parliament Election Results-- Kerala 1984: 20. TRIVANDRUM". [[Kerala Legislative Assembly]].
21. P.P. Raveendran. (1994). "Text as History, History as Text: A Reading of Kamala Das's Anamalai Poems". The Journal of Commonwealth Literature.
22. Untying and retying the text: an analysis of Kamala Das's My story, by Ikbala Kaura, 1990. p.188
23. George Iype (14 December 1999). [https://www.rediff.com/news/1999/dec/14kamala.htm "When the temptress dons the purdah"]. Rediff. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
24. "Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine".
25. "Celebrating Kamala Das".
26. "Literary Awards". [[Government of Kerala]].
27. "AKADEMI AWARDS (1955-2016)". [[Sahitya Akademi]].
28. "Awards and achievements of Kamala Das".
29. (1 January 2003). "Writer Kamala Surayiya receives Ezhuthachan prize". [[The Times of India]].
30. "Honorary degree by Calicut University".
31. "Literary Awards – official website of Onformation and Public Relation Department".
32. "Ten 20th Century Indian Poets".
33. "The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets".
34. (3 January 2013). "Book review: 'Twelve Modern Indian Poets' by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra".
35. (15 June 2009). "Rubana Huq, ed. The Golden Treasury of Writers Workshop Poetry. Kolkata: Writers Workshop, 2008. 410pp. ISBN 978-81-8157-801-3". Asiatic.