KOCHI: Kerala and the Indian literary world suffered a huge loss with the demise of celebrated writer Kamala Surayya who with her candid writing prompted readers to introspect and delve into the nuances of human nature.
Kamala Das was one of the leading bi-lingual writers who made strides in both English and her mother tongue Malayalam. The daughter of V M Nair, former managing editor of 'Mathrubhumi' daily, and poet Nalappat Balamani Amma, Kamala was born in Punnayarkulam in Thrissur district in Kerala.
An outstanding Indo-Anglian poet, Kamala’s popularity in Kerala is based chiefly on her short stories and autobiography. Kamala took to writing poetry at an early age under the influence of her grand uncle and writer Nalappat Narayana Menon and her mother. Acquainted with great writers in Malayalam literature at a tender age, young Kamala read the Malayalam translation of Victor Hugo’s `Les Miserables’ by Nalapattu Narayana Menon when she was eight.
Her ancestral house and grandmother’s love nurtured young `Amy’ to become Malayalam writer Madhavikutty as well as English poet Kamala Das.
She was married to Madhava Das at the age of 13, Her husband, several years older than her, often played the father to her besides to their three sons.
Like her mother Kamala excelled in writing. Though her love for poetry began at an early age, she started writing professionally only after she became a mother. When Kamala expressed her wish to write, her husband supported her wholeheartedly.
She was a housewife during the day and after her family went to bed, she would spend the night writing.
In 1965, Kamala wrote about love, betrayal and its consequences in ‘Summer in Calcutta’, which was received with great enthusiasm. Kamala broke away from the stereotype women writers of her time and poured out frank words on sex, usually swept under the carpet by the Indian society.
In 1976, at the age of 42, she wrote her autobiography `My Story’, which was iconoclastic to say the least. The book detailed her musings of the heart and created a lot of controversy in the literary world. The book was a great success and was read widely and translated into more than 15 languages.
She is famous for her Malayalam short stories and English poems as well. But Kamala Das moved to print media as she felt that `poetry did not sell in this country.’ Her forthright columns did.
Kamala made a controversial decision in 1999, when she converted from Hinduism to Islam and called herself Kamala Surayya. The poet who always wrote about Lord Krishna and imagined herself to be his Radha suddenly started to address Allah.
Her statement `I converted my Krishna to Islam’ evoked much opposition from conservative Hindus in Kerala. However, she stood firmly by her faith.
She left Kerala to settle in Pune with her youngest son Jaisurya nearly two years ago.
Kamala Surayya also dabbled in politics and launched the Lok Seva Party to undertake humanitarian work and provide succour to orphaned mothers. In 1984, she lost in the parliamentary election from Thiruvananthapuram.