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    Kamala Surayya: Kamala Suraiyya (Formerly Known As Kamala Das)

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    Kamala Surayya (1934-2009) was an Indian poet and writer who wrote in both English and Malayalam. She is renowned for openly discussing female sexuality in her work, which was unconventional for her time. Some of her notable works include the autobiography My Story and the poetry collections Summer in Calcutta and The Sirens. She received several prestigious awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award, for her literary contributions.

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    Kamala Surayya: Kamala Suraiyya (Formerly Known As Kamala Das)

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    ahana68
    322 views5 pages
    Kamala Surayya (1934-2009) was an Indian poet and writer who wrote in both English and Malayalam. She is renowned for openly discussing female sexuality in her work, which was unconventional for her time. Some of her notable works include the autobiography My Story and the poetry collections Summer in Calcutta and The Sirens. She received several prestigious awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award, for her literary contributions.

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    Kamala Surayy1

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    Kamala Surayya (1934-2009) was an Indian poet and writer who wrote in both English and Malayalam. She is renowned for openly discussing female sexuality in her work, which was unconventional for her time. Some of her notable works include the autobiography My Story and the poetry collections Summer in Calcutta and The Sirens. She received several prestigious awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award, for her literary contributions.

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    322 views5 pages

    Kamala Surayya: Kamala Suraiyya (Formerly Known As Kamala Das)

    Uploaded by

    ahana68
    Kamala Surayya (1934-2009) was an Indian poet and writer who wrote in both English and Malayalam. She is renowned for openly discussing female sexuality in her work, which was unconventional for her time. Some of her notable works include the autobiography My Story and the poetry collections Summer in Calcutta and The Sirens. She received several prestigious awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award, for her literary contributions.

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    Kamala Surayya

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    Kamala Suraiyya (formerly known as Kamala


    Das)

    March 31, 1934


    Born Punnayurkulam, Malabar District, Madras
    Presidency, British India

    May 31, 2009 (aged 75)


    Died
    Pune, Maharashtra, India

    Pen name Madhavikkutty

    Occupation Poet, short story writer

    Nationality Indian

    Genres Poetry, Short story

    Ezhuthachchan Puraskaram, Vayalar Award,


    Notable
    Sahitya Akademi Award, Asan World Prize,
    award(s)
    Asian Poetry Prize, Kent Award

    Spouse(s) Madhava Das

    Kamala Suraiyya (Malayalam: കമലാ സുരയ്യ) a.k.a. Madhavikutty (Malayalam:


    മാധവിക്കുട്ടി) (31 March 1934 – 31 May 2009) was an Indian writer who wrote in English
    and Malayalam, her native language. Her popularity in Kerala is based chiefly on her short
    stories and autobiography.

    She openly and honestly discussed and wrote about the sexual desires of Indian women, which
    made her an iconoclast of her generation.[1] On 31 May 2009, aged 75, she died at a hospital in
    Pune.[2]
    Contents
    [hide]

     1 Early life
     2 Career
     3 Conversion to Islam
     4 Politics
     5 Personal life
     6 Awards and other recognitions
     7 Bibliography
    o 7.1 English
    o 7.2 Malayalam
     8 References
     9 External links

    [edit] Early life


    Kamala Das was born in Punnayurkulam, Thrissur District in Kerala, on March 31, 1934, 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.

    Like her mother, Kamala Das also excelled in writing. Her love of poetry began at an early age
    through the influence of her great uncle, Nalappatt Narayana Menon, a prominent writer.
    However, she did not start writing professionally until she got married and became a mother.

    [edit] Career
    Kamala wished to begin writing, her husband supported her decision to augment the family's
    income. She would often wait until nightfall after her family had gone to sleep and would write
    until morning: "There was only the kitchen table where I would cut vegetables, and after all the
    plates and things were cleared, I would sit there and start typing".[citation needed] This rigorous
    schedule took its toll upon her health.

    She was noted for her many Malayalam short stories as well as many 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.
    Das' first book, Summer In Calcutta was a promising start. She wrote chiefly of love, its betrayal,
    and the consequent anguish. Ms. Das abandoned the certainties offered by an archaic, and
    somewhat sterile, aestheticism for an independence of mind and body at a time when Indian
    women poets were still expected to write about fantasies of eternal, bloodless, unrequited love.
    [citation needed]

    At the age of 42, she published her autobiography, My Story, which was later translated into
    many foreign languages.[citation needed]

    Kamala Das 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 reading public 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 Academy, chairperson in
    Kerala forestry Board, President of the Kerala Children's Film Society, editor of Poet magazine[3]
    and Poetry editor of Illustrated Weekly of India.

    [edit] Conversion to Islam


    She was born in a conservative Hindu Nair (Nallappattu) family having Royal anscestry[4], she
    embraced Islam in 1999 at the age of 65 and assumed the name Kamala Suraiyya. Her
    conversion was somewhat controversial, among social and literary circles. Later, she said it was
    not worth it to change one's religion.[5]

    [edit] Politics
    Though never politically active before, she launched a national political party, Lok Seva Party,
    aiming asylum to orphaned mothers and promotion of secularism. In 1984 she unsuccessfully
    contested in the Indian Parliament elections.[6]

    [edit] Personal life


    Kamala Das had three sons - M D Nalapat, Chinnen Das and Jayasurya Das.[7] Madhav Das
    Nalapat, the eldest, is married to Princess Lakshmi Bayi (daughter of M.R.Ry. Sri Chembrol
    Raja Raja Varma Avargal) from the Travancore Royal House.[8] He holds the UNESCO Peace
    Chair and Professor of geopolitics at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education. He was
    formerly a resident editor of the Times of India.

    On 31 May 2009, aged 75, she died at a hospital in Pune. Her body was flown to her home state
    of Kerala. She was buried at the Palayam Juma Masjid at Thiruvanathapuram with full state
    honour.[9][10]

    [edit] Awards and other recognitions


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

     Asian Poetry Prize


     Kent Award for English Writing from Asian Countries
     Asan World Prize
     Ezhuthachan Award
     Sahitya Academy Award
     Vayalar Award
     Kerala Sahitya Academy Award
     Muttathu Varkey Award[11]

    [edit] Bibliography
    [edit] English

     1964: The Sirens (Asian Poetry Prize winner)


     1965: Summer in Calcutta (poetry; Kent's Award winner)
     1967: The Descendants (poetry)
     1973: The Old Playhouse and Other Poems (poetry)
     1976: My Story (autobiography)
     1977: Alphabet of Lust (novel)
     1985: The Anamalai Poems (poetry)
     1992: Padmavati the Harlot and Other Stories (collection of short stories)
     1996: Only the Soul Knows How to Sing (poetry)
     2001: Yaa Allah (collection of poems)

    [edit] Malayalam

     1964: Pakshiyude Manam (short stories)


     1966: Naricheerukal Parakkumbol (short stories)
     1968: Thanuppu (short story, Sahitya Academi award)
     1987: Balyakala Smaranakal (Childhood Memories)
     1989: Varshangalkku Mumbu (Years Before)
     1990: Palayan (novel)
     1991: Neypayasam (short story)
     1992: Dayarikkurippukal (novel)
     1994: Neermathalam Pootha Kalam (novel, Vayalar Award)
     1996: Chekkerunna Pakshikal (short stories)
     1998: Nashtapetta Neelambari (short stories)
     2005: Chandana Marangal (Novel)
     2005: Madhavikkuttiyude Unmakkadhakal (short stories

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