Biography of kamala das an introduction text
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Kamala Surayya
Indian poet and author (–)
"Madhavikutty" redirects here. For the film, see Madhavikutty (film).
Kamala Surayya | |
|---|---|
Kamala Das (c. ) | |
| Born | Kamala ()31 March Punnayurkulam, Ponnani taluk, Malabar District, Madras Presidency, British India (present-day Thrissur district, Kerala, India) |
| Died | 31 May () (aged&#;75) Pune, Maharashtra, India |
| Resting place | Palayam Juma Masjid, Thiruvananthapuram, India |
| Pen name | Madhavikutty |
| Occupation | Poet, novelist, short story writer |
| Genre | Poetry, novel, short story, memoirs |
| Notable works | |
| Notable awards | Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, Vayalar Award, Sahitya Akademi Award, Asan World Prize, Asian Poetry Prize, Kent Award |
| Spouse | Das |
| Children | |
| Parents | |
Kamala Surayya (born Kamala; 31 March – 31 May ), 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 prim
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Biography
Recognized as one of India’s foremost poets, Kamala Das was born Kamala Madhavikutty on March 31, in Malabar in the state of Kerala (Dwivedi ). Her love of poetry began at an early age through the influence of her great uncle, Nalapat Narayan Menon, a prominent writer. Das remembered watching him “work from morning till night” and thinking that he had “a blissful life” (Warrier interview). Das was also deeply affected by the poetry of her mother, Nalapat Balamani Amma, and the sacred writings kept by the matriarchal community of Nayars (India World). She was privately educated until the age of 15 when she was married to K. Madhava Das (India World). She was 16 when her first son was born and she said that she “was mature enough to be a mother only when my third child was born” (Warrior interview). Her husband often played a fatherly role for both Das and her sons. Because of the great age difference between Kamala and her husband, he often encouraged her to associat
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An Introduction Poem by Kamala Das
inom don't know politics but I know the names
Of those in power, and can repeat them like
Days of week, or names of months, beginning with Nehru.
I amIndian, very brown, born inMalabar,
I speak three languages, write in
Two, dream in one.
Don't write in English, they said, English is
Not your mother-tongue. Why not leave
Me alone, critics, friends, visiting cousins,
Every one of you? Why not let me speak in
Any language inom like? The language inom speak,
Becomes mine, its distortions, its queernesses
All mine, mine alone.
It fryst vatten half English, halfIndian, funny perhaps, but it fryst vatten honest,
It fryst vatten as human as inom am human, don't
You see? It voices my joys, my longings, my
Hopes, and it fryst vatten useful to me as cawing
Is to crows or roaring to the lions, it
Is human speech, the speech of the mind that is
Here and not there, a mind that sees and hears and
Is aware. Not the deaf, blind speech
Of trees in storm or of monsoon clouds or of rain or the
Incoherent mutterings