Kamala Surayya

Kamala Surayya (born Kamala; 31 March 1934 – 31 May 2009), popularly known by her one-time pen name Madhavikutty and married name Kamala Das, was an Indian poet in English as well as an author in Malayalam from Kerala, India .Her fame in Kerala primarily stems from her short stories and autobiography, "My Story," whereas her body of work in English, penned under the pseudonym Kamala Das, is renowned for its poems and candid autobiography.

She was also a widely read columnist and wrote on diverse topics including women's issues, child care, politics, etc. Her liberal treatment of female sexuality, marked her as an iconoclast in popular culture of her generation.

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

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 Madhav Das, 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.

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.

On 31 May 2009, aged 75, she died at Jehangir Hospital in Pune.

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."

Her second book of poetry, The Descendants was even more explicit, urging women to:

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.

"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.