Paper IV Indian Writing in English ENGBA (604) Unit : IV Chapter 1 An introduction by Kamala Das About Author 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 English poet as well as a leading Malayalam author from Kerala, India. Her popularity in Kerala is based chiefly on her short stories and autobiography, while her oeuvre in English, written under the name Kamala Das, is noted for the poems and explicit autobiography. She was also a widely read columnist and wrote on diverse topics including women's issues, child care, politics among others. Kamala Surayya Kamala 31 March 1934 Punnayurkulam, Madras Born Presidency, British India Died 31 May 2009(aged 75) Pune, Maharashtra, India Pen name Madhavikutty Occupation Poet, novelist, short story writer Nationality Indian Genre Poetry, novel, short story, memoirs Notable Ente Katha, My Story, The works Descendants Notable Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, Vayalar awards Award, Sahitya Akademi Award, Asan World Prize, Asian Poetry Prize, Kent Award Spouse K. Madhav Das Children Madhav Das Nalapat Chinnen Das Jayasurya Das Relatives Balamani Amma(mother) V. M. Nair (father) Her open and honest treatment of female sexuality, free from any sense of guilt, infused her writing with power and she got hope after freedom, but also marked her as an iconoclast in her generation. On 31 May 2009, aged 75, she died at a hospital in Pune. Awards and other recognitions Kamala Das has received many awards for her literary contribution, including: • 1963: PEN Asian Poetry Prize • 1968: Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Story – Thanuppu • 1984: Shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature • 1985: Kendra Sahitya Academy Award (English) – Collected Poems • 1988: Kerala State Film Award for Best Story • 1997: Vayalar Award – Neermathalam Pootha Kalam • 2006: Honorary D.Litt by University of Calicut[24] • 2006: Muttathu Varkey Award[25] • 2009: Ezhuthachan Award[26] Works English Novel • 1976: Alphabet of Lust Autobiography • 1976: My Story Short stories • 1977: A Doll for the Child Prostitute • 1992: Padmavati the Harlot and Other Stories Poetry • 1964: The Sirens • 1965: Summer in Calcutta • 1967: The Descendants • 1973: The Old Playhouse and Other Poems • 1977: The Stranger Time • 1979: Tonight, This Savage Rite (with Pritish Nandy) • 1984: Collected Poems • 1985: The Anamalai Poems • 1997: Only the Soul Knows How to Sing • 1999: My Mother At Sixty-six • 2001: Yaa Allah Malayalam • 1964: Pakshiyude Manam (short stories) • 1966: Naricheerukal Parakkumbol (short stories) • 1968: Thanuppu (short story) • 1982: Ente Katha (autobiography) • 1987: Balyakala Smaranakal (childhood memoirs) • 1989: Varshangalkku Mumbu (novel) • 1990: Palayan (novel) • 1991: Neypayasam (short story) • 1992: Dayarikkurippukal (novel) • 1994: Neermathalam Pootha Kalam (novel) • 1996: Kadal Mayooram (short novel) • 1996: Rohini (short novel) • 1996: Rathriyude Padavinyasam (short novel) • 1996: Aattukattil (short novel) • 1996: Chekkerunna Pakshikal (short stories) • 1998: Nashtapetta Neelambari (short stories) • 2005: Chandana Marangal (novel) • 2005: Madhavikkuttiyude Unmakkadhakal(short stories) • 2005: Vandikkalakal (novel) An Introduction by Kamala Das Kamala Suraiyya, sometimes named as Kamala Madhavikutty (31 March 1934 – 31 May 2009) was a majorIndian English poet and littérateur and at the same time a leading Malayalam author from Kerala, India. Her popularity in Kerala is based chiefly on her short stories and autobiography, while her oeuvre in English, written under the name Kamala Das, is noted for the fiery poems and explicit autobiography. Her open and honest treatment of female sexuality, free from any sense of guilt, infused her writing with power, but also marked her as an iconoclast in her generation. On 31 May 2009, aged 75, she died at a hospital in Pune, but has earned considerable respect in recent years. THE POEM I 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 am Indian, very brown, born in Malabar, 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 I like? The language I speak, Becomes mine, its distortions, its queernesses All mine, mine alone. It is half English, half Indian, funny perhaps, but it is honest, It is as human as I am human, don't You see? It voices my joys, my longings, my Hopes, and it is 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 of the blazing Funeral pyre. I was child, and later they Told me I grew, for I became tall, my limbs Swelled and one or two places sprouted hair. When I asked for love, not knowing what else to ask For, he drew a youth of sixteen into the Bedroom and closed the door, He did not beat me But my sad woman-body felt so beaten. The weight of my breasts and womb crushed me. I shrank Pitifully. Then … I wore a shirt and my Brother's trousers, cut my hair short and ignored My womanliness. Dress in sarees, be girl Be wife, they said. Be embroiderer, be cook, Be a quarreller with servants. Fit in. Oh, Belong, cried the categorizers. Don't sit On walls or peep in through our lace-draped windows. Be Amy, or be Kamala. Or, better Still, be Madhavikutty. It is time to Choose a name, a role. Don't play pretending games. Don't play at schizophrenia or be a Nympho. Don't cry embarrassingly loud when Jilted in love … I met a man, loved him. Call Him not by any name, he is every man Who wants. a woman, just as I am every Woman who seeks love. In him . the hungry haste Of rivers, in me . the oceans' tireless Waiting. Who are you, I ask each and everyone, The answer is, it is I. Anywhere and, Everywhere, I see the one who calls himself I In this world, he is tightly packed like the Sword in its sheath. It is I who drink lonely Drinks at twelve, midnight, in hotels of strange towns, It is I who laugh, it is I who make love And then, feel shame, it is I who lie dying With a rattle in my throat. I am sinner, I am saint. I am the beloved and the Betrayed. I have no joys that are not yours, no Aches which are not yours. I too call myself I. SUMMARY Kamala Das’s poem ‘An Introduction’ is included in her first collection of poems, ‘Summer in Calcutta’. In the poem, she speaks in the voice of a girl, rebelling against the norms and dictates of a patriarchal society which ask her to ‘fit in’ and ‘belong’ against her own wishes. ‘Malabar’; a south Indian location, covering a large part of Kerala which also extends to parts of Karnataka. Her rebellion against patriarchy is to secure an identity for herself in a male-dominated world. The poem begins with the assertion, ‘I don’t know politics, but I know the names of those in power’ which shows her distaste for politics in a country where politics is considered a domain for men. Next comes her defiant assertion of her right to write in any language she likes, in response to suggestions that she should not ‘write in English’. Her reply to her critics is a reiteration of the (language of) appropriation of a colonial language to serve native needs. ‘Categorizers’; an allusion to those who see and group other people in different structures or brackets: the term suggests the tendency to stereo-type people. From the issue of the politics of language, the poem moves on the subject of sexual politics. The poet is in utter bewilderment during her pubescent years, her sudden marriage and her first sexual encounter all leave her traumatized. On an impulse, she defies the gender code and dresses up as a man by wearing a shirt and a trouser and ‘sits on the wall’. The guardians of morality force a respectable woman’s attire on with instructions that she should fit into the socially accepted role of a woman as a ‘wife’ and a ‘mother’. “Madhavikutti’; the pseudonym Kamala Das used while writing in Malayalam. ‘Schizophrenia’; a disorder that results in the misinterpretation of reality: the perception change is now seen as being a health condition as well as the case of social insufficiency: following thinkers like Michel Foucault, now schizophrenia is understood to be a reflection of a society’s inflexibility as much as it is associated with an individual’s mental state. Identifying herself with other suffering women of the world, Kamala Das universalizes suffering and seeks freedom and love. The poem becomes a statement on gender differences and a move to transcend the restrictions imposed on a woman by seeking individual freedom, love that allows the body to come to terms with its own needs and a self that is allowed to celebrate love’s true glory. EXPLANATION “An Introduction" is Kamala Das's most famous poem in the confessional mode. Writing to her, always served as a sort of spiritual therapy:" If I had been a loved person, I wouldn't have become a writer. I would have been a happy human being." Kamala Das begins by self-assertion: I am what I am.