Kamala Das

Kamala Das

<p>Kamala Suraiyya, aka Madhavikutty, (31 March 1934 – 31 May 2009) was an "Gender writer who wrote in English and Malayalam, her native language. A poet, short-story writer and memoirist, Das was known for her open discussion of women’s sexual and romantic lives.</p>
<div id="toc">
<h2>Table of Contents</h2>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_early-life"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Early Life</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_writing-career"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Writing Career</span></a>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#w_memoir-my-story-1976"><span class="tocnumber">2.1</span> <span class="toctext">Memoir – ‘My Story’ (1976)</span></a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_public-life-politics-feminism-and-religion"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Public Life – Politics, Feminism and Religion</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_prizes"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Prizes</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_references"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></li>
</ul>
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<h2 id="w_early-life">Early Life</h2>
<p>Kamala Das was born in Punnayurkulam, Thrissur District in Kerala, to V. M. Nair, a former managing editor of the widely-circulated Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi, and Nalappatt Balamani Amma, a renowned Malayali poetess. She spent her childhood between Calcutta, where her father was employed as a senior officer in the Walford Transport Company that sold Bentley and Rolls Royce automobiles, and the Nalappatt ancestral home in Punnayurkulam, south Malabar. region.</p>
<h2 id="w_writing-career">Writing Career</h2>
<p>Das began to write after her marriage. In addition to writing Malayalam short stories and poems written in English. 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.</p>
<p>Das wrote about a range of topics from the story of poor old servant (Punnayoorkulam) or 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. </p>
<h3 id="w_memoir-my-story-1976">Memoir – ‘My Story’ (1976)</h3>
<p>“My Story,” the most famous of her memoirs was written in English and published in 1976. In it Das recounts her childhood in an artistic but emotionally distant family; her unfulfilling arranged marriage to an older man shortly before her 16th birthday; the emotional breakdowns and suicidal thoughts that punctuated her years as a young wife and mother; her husband’s apparent homosexuality; and the deep undercurrent of sexual and romantic yearning that ran through most of her married life.</p>
<p>Originally serialized in an Indian journal, “My Story” is organized into 50 fragmentary chapters. In a detached, dreamlike voice, Das tells of her husband’s brutish sexual inadequacy and her own lifetime of desire, often unrequited but sometimes consummated in affairs with other men and occasionally with women.</p>
<h2 id="w_public-life-politics-feminism-and-religion">Public Life – Politics, Feminism and Religion</h2>
<p>For decades a public figure in India, Ms. Das by many accounts embraced both controversy and contradiction. Championed by feminists for writing about women’s oppression, she declined to be identified as a feminist herself. She ran unsuccessfully for a seat in India’s Parliament in 1984 but later turned away from political life. Born to a prominent Hindu family, she converted to Islam in 1999, renaming herself Kamala Suraiya. Highly publicized, her conversion drew criticism, for a diverse array of reasons, from Hindus, Muslims and feminists.</p>
<h2 id="w_prizes">Prizes</h2>
<p>Kamala Das has received many awards for her literary contribution including:</p>
<ul>
<li>Asian Poetry Prize</li>
<li>Kent Award for English Writing from Asian Countries</li>
<li>Asan World Prize</li>
<li>Ezhuthachan Award</li>
<li>Sahitya Academy Award</li>
<li>Vayalar Award</li>
<li>Kerala Sahitya Academy Award</li>
<li>Muttathu Varkey Award</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="w_references">References</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/books/14das.html?_r=1">The NY Times (2009), "Kamala Das, Indian Poet and Memoirist, Dies at 75"</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wikihoidap.org/">Wikihoidap</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamaladas">Wikipedia, "Kamala Surayya"</a>  </li>
</ul>
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