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The Real Feminists in Indian English Writing: Kamala Das and Imtiyaz Dharkar

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The Real Feminists in Indian English Writing: Kamala Das and Imtiyaz Dharkar Vol. 4(10), pp. 542-548, December, 2013 DOI: 10.5897/IJEL2013.0485 International Journal of English and Literature ISSN 2141-2626 ©2013 Academic Journals http://www.academicjournals.org/IJEL Review The real feminists in Indian English writing: Kamala Das and Imtiyaz Dharkar Kanak Lata Tiwari K J Somaiya College of Engineering Mumbai, India. Accepted 8 August, 2013 Kamala Das belongs to the first generation of modern English poets who evolved a new poetics for themselves and made a new start both in theme and technique around the 1960s. The first phase of Indo-Anglican poetry ended in the 1950s. To the poets of this period the spirit of modernism was almost alien. Their main preoccupation was the spirit of nationalism and the war of independence, partition of country. It was only in the sixties that things began to take a new dimension where a new generation of young poets took control of the Indo-Anglican poetic realm. Kamala Das is one of the most powerful voices of this post-colonial era. In Kamala Das’s poetry we find the best expression of feminine sensibility, its suppression in a male dominated society. So her poetry is confessional and auto- biographical to a great extent, but at times she universalizes what is personal. The main themes of Dharker's poetry include home, freedom, journeys, communal conflict and gender politics. Purdah and other poems deal with the various aspects of a Muslim woman's life where she experiences injustice, oppression and violence engineered through the culture of purdah. This mixed heritage and itinerant lifestyle is at the heart of her writing: questioning, imagistic and richly textured poems that span geographical and cultural displacement, while also interrogating received ideas about home, freedom and faith. This research paper would unfold how both above mentioned poetesses rebel against the conventional restraints of society which are meant to exploit women in this man made world. “An Introduction” and “Stone Age” are two of Kamala Das’s poems where she is intensely conscious of herself as woman, and by writing about the self she challenges the accepted notions of the female and redraft general opinion of the feminine mystique.”Purdah” and “Living Space” are Imtiyaz Dharkar’s poems which show the passion of an undaunted rebel, not to retreat and not to fail. The intensity and eloquence of her life and poetic accomplishment have dumbfounded the male-chauvinists and have left her female counterparts in soaring spirits not only inside the Islamic social, cultural and religious setup but also outside it. That is why her life and poetry make a fascinating study in the crushing indictment of the suppressive prescriptions against the freedom, dignity and respectful living of women, especially in the Muslim society. Imtiaz confirms our convictions that socio-cultural and socio-religious restrictions on women have robbed them of all their potentialities, leaving them not only physically and mentally handicapped but also psychological wrecks age after age. The lived experiences of Imtiaz have been honestly expressed in her poetry with the courage of conviction. Key words: Feminist, sexuality, rebel, patriarchy, post-colonial study. INTRODUCTION Women‟s poetry in India has a distinct landmark and original inhabitants; it includes: the Pali songs of Buddhist tradition of its own right from the original tribal songs of its nuns of the 6th Century B. C., the Sangam poets of Tamil E-mail: [email protected]. Tiwari 543 like Andal and Auvaiyar, the devotional poets of the whichever religion the female belongs to, sufferings and middle ages like Mirabai, Ratna Bai, Jana Bai, Aatukri atrocities are the same .They show the women‟s psyche Mollw and Akkamahadevi, Muddupalani, Bahinabai, from childhood, as a wife, as lover, a voice against Mahlaq Bai Chanda and Sanoiya Hosannamma of 17th exploitation; each role constitutes different demands and and 18th Centuries and reached up to Kamala Das‟s a different perspective on the people around them. Such mother Balamoni Amma (19 July 1909 – 29 September a poetic treatment belongs to the history of the recent 2004). Kamala Das‟s poetry has her autobiography years in which there has been a heightening of interest in written in it. She is not just any women or the incarnation the work and achievement of women in particular. of „‟essential womanhood‟ if at all there is one. She is an Imtiaz Dharker belongs to that generation of post- Indian poet, writing in English when Indian poetry in independence women poets who have given a con- English is breaking free from the rhetorical and romantic vincing assurance that Indian English Poetry matches the tradition. Kamala‟s much discussed poem, “An Intro- best anywhere. Among these poets, we may include duction” (1965) is a comprehensive articulation of the Kamla Das (born 31 March, 1934 – 31 May 2009), different individual and social components that go into the Melanie Silgardo (1956), Sujata Bhatt (born 6 May, 1956) making of this sub genre. First appeared in “Summer in , Eunice de Souza (1940), Mamta Kalia, Tara Patel etc. Calcutta” (1965) and the in “The Old Playhouse and other They have not only broadened the thematic concerns of poems”, “An Introduction” is one of the best poems ever Indian English Poetry but also shown how words and written by Kamala Das. Here we should note that she is images – simple, suggestive and highly evocative – can the inheritor of many traditions, the regional cultural recite the music of their anguish and agony, their traditions of Kerala and the pan-Indian tradition: and irritations and humor, their observations and reflections within the regional tradition she has a specifically with no sign of pretension. This serious and well- matrilineal background provided by her caste, and a considered response to the observed and lived specific provincial background offered by Malabar Coast experiences is a drama of daily life here and there when she was born and spent her early childhood. poeticized. Not only the technical excellence but also the She bears the fruit of two poetic traditions, that of pain and poignancy endured in suffocation and Malayalam whose roots go back into the ancient Tamil suppression have found a justifiable outlet in their Sangam poetry and medieval folklore, and another one is creative instinct. Indian English poetry beginning with Henri Derozio and The present study includes only Purdah group of Toru Dutt. She herself has two poets in her family, poems and “I Speak For the Devil (2001)” and her Balamoni Amma her mother and Nalapat Narayan “Postcards from god (1997)” and “The Terrorist at My Menon, her maternal uncle. As a small school going child Table (2006)” have been deliberately kept out of purview she felt tortured by the „‟subtle sadism‟ of her teachers for such is the demand of the present venture. Imtiaz and house maids. Kamala Das is the first Hindu woman Dharker regards herself as a Scottish Calvinist Muslim to write honestly about sexual feelings and her bodily and her poetry is a confluence of three cultures. It reflects needs and was sort listed in 1984 for the Nobel Prize in and depicts her deeply sensitive and keenly insightful Literature; along with Marguerite Yourcenar (8 June, understanding and response to these three cultures. Her 1903 – 17 December, 1987), Doris Lessing (born 22 sincerity in handling the issues of social, cultural and October, 1919) and Nadine she occupies a unique place religious significance sensitizes the reader equally well. among Indian English poets. The delicacy and the tenderness that run in her silky She introduced a new idiom, a genre of her own, a strains awakens us to the wrongs and songs of the daily novel approach and an altogether new sensibility. She life of women under the norms, rules and sanctions laid gathered courage through Gordimer (born 20 November, down by the patriarchal society for power dynamics. She 1923). Her wistfulness to assert herself and write poetry captures even the fleeting moments and thoughts with was unique and it became an expression of revolt against the rare touch of the artist who is heart and soul, mind deep rooted malaise prevalent in a patriarchal society. and spirit, body and intellect, integrally and indispensably Feminist consciousness and language found an associated with all that is the fragile fabric of life. The exponent of sensuality and spirituality in Kamala Das, surety Imtiaz gives and the impact she creates in so who unmindful of brickbats and accolades, carried on doing leaves the reader stunned. untiringly creating poems of abiding charm, enduring The exquisite simplicity of her style lends to her poems empathy and inconceivable audacity. She was not an an inimitable brilliant conversation, a lively and stinging exhibitionist. She represents the essential every woman, comment trapping us in the enchanting romance of The their desires and anguish, giving voice to the universally 1000 Nights deconstructed as a morale-booster to voiceless women. In this venture Kamala Das carried on feminism. Purdah has been sung and celebrated age her mission undaunted, inviting controversies now and after age in poetry, films and common parlance. With the then till the point of her death. rise of feminism and its becoming a world-wide rage, a This paper would try to focus on the feminist streak in force; purdah is seen in new light and new perspectives. Kamala Das as well as Imtiyaz Dharkar who show that We know that purdah is associated with Muslim women 544 Int. J. English Lit. only; although in parts of Indian society also, even today, angularities and eccentricities, her human joys and purdah is observed and the tradition adhered to in the longing. It is the voice of her instincts as is the lion‟s roar same spirit of social and cultural prescription.
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