KAMLA DAS

[ 1934-2009 ]
 BIOGRAPHY
Born : 31 March, 1934
Passed Away on : 31 May 2009 (75 years)
Pen-name : Madhavikutty
Married name : Kamala Das
Genre : Poetry, Novel, Short Story, Memoirs
Notable Oeuvres : ‘Summer in Calcutta’, ‘The Descendants’, ‘My Story’
Notable Awards : Ezhuttachan Puraskaram, Vayalar Award, Sahitya Akademi Award, Asian Poetry Prize, Kent
Award.

LITERARY INTEREST:
❖ Muslim name Kamala Surayya
❖ To her Malayalam readers she was Madhavikutty and to her English patrons she was Kamala Das. On account of her extensive
contribution to the poetry in our country, she earned the label ‘The Mother of Modern Indian English Poetry’.
❖ Das was part of a generation of Indian writers whose work centered on personal rather than colonial experiences, and her short stories, poetries, memoirs,
and essays brought her respect and infamy in equal measures.
❖ Das wrote both in English (mostly poetry) and, in the Malayalam language.
❖ Her writing consisted of vivid descriptions of menstruation, puberty, love, lust, lesbian encounters, child marriage, infidelity and physical intimacy.
❖ Kamala Das' first book of poetry, “Summer in Calcutta” was a breath of fresh air in Indian English poetry. She wrote chiefly of love, its betrayal,
and the consequent anguish.
❖ Her use of explicit tone of sexuality makes her stand out among others.
❖ Kamala Das has read her poetries at different places such as University of Duisburg-Essen at Germany, University of Bonn, University of
Duisburg, University of Kingston, Jamaica, Singapore, Frankfurt Book Fair and South Bank Festival at London. Her works have been translated
in different languages such as French, Spanish, Russian, German and Japanese.
❖ She was the Vice chairperson in Kerala Sahitya Academy, chairperson in Kerala forestry board, President of the Kerala Children’s Film Society. She was
also the editor of the magazine, Poet Magazine and Poetry editor of Illustrated Weekly of India.
❖ Her second book of poetry, “The Descendants” was even more explicit,
“Gift him what makes you woman, the scent of
Long hair, the musk of sweat between the breasts,
The warm shock of menstrual blood, and all your
Endless female hungers ..." – The Looking Glass
The poet talks about the problems that a woman being a woman faces. The patriarchal society has made the woman dependent
on man which ultimately leads to her misery. It is a confessional verse.
❖ This directness of her voice led to comparisons with Marguerite Duras and Sylvia Plath.

REMARKABLE OEUVRES:
(a) Das’ Poetry: Professor Santanu Saha of Saltora Netaji Centenary College, West Bengal, summarizes the poetic work of Kamala Das as follows:
“Kamala Das has neither written innumerable numbers of poems nor are these poems varied in themes … She has not applied any complex
poetic technique and the mode of expression is very colloquial in manner. Her English is the ultimate form of ‘Indianization of English Language.’
And consciously she is never worried for experimentation in the poems. In spite of these limitations she is very much popular in the Indian
subcontinent as well as in abroad. And this is due to her ‘honest’ declaration of self which establishes her as a ‘confessional’ poet. Among her
contemporaries she is much debated, disputed and criticized poet. But undoubtedly Kamala Das is accepted as a universal poet whose life
experiences are beautifully portrayed in her poems.”
PROMINENT Summer In Calcutta [(1965) poetically presents her sincere autobiographical exploration of womanhood and love coupled with
eroticism. Encumbered love is no love. Her poems depict the complexity of life and selfhood. This book has complied 50 poems.]
POEMS :
An Introduction (This poem first appeared in Kamala Das's very first volume of poem which was entitled Summer in Calcutta and which
was published in 1965. This poem is wholly autobiographical and may also be labelled as a confessional poem.)

A Hot Noon In Malabar (The poem, 'A Hot Noon in Malabar', is taken from the collection of poems titled 'Summer in Calcutta” (1965). It
deals with Kamala Das's happy childhood spent in her grandmother's house in Malabar.)

My Grandmother’s House (first appeared in Kamala Das's first anthology of verse titled Summer in Calcutta (1965). It is also an
autobiographical poem in which the poet's longing for her parental house in Malabar is movingly described.)

My Mother at Sixty-Six (My mother at sixty six is written by Kamala Das who is famous for capturing complexities of human
relationships. ... It describes the pain and fear of the poet – of losing her mother due to harsh reality of life which is death.)

Forest Fire (Kamal Das, in her poem Forest Fire talks about the various aspects of female life and uses her words to provide an external
outlet to her burning, internalized outrage against the various hard and fast rule that the female body and female desires are subjected to
by the oppressive patriarchal society.)
The Freaks (The Freaks, dramatizes an abnormal situation in love-making which exposes the futility of loveless relationships.)

The Sunshine Cat (The poem, The Sunshine Cat, is taken from the collection of poems titled Summer in Calcutta (1965). It shows the
difference between lust and love in a very convincing manner. It is a personal poem having universal implications.)

A Losing Battle (In “A Losing Battle”, the poet asserts the men are worthless to trap them with the cheapest baits which in a woman must
mean tears and silence in the blood or anger. Kamala Das exaggerates to emphasize important issue which is the lust and how it able to
destroy love simply.)

Words (Words by Kamala Das is a short poem describing the power of words and the poet's fear of them as they keep growing in her. This
poem, like her other poem An Introduction is also Confessional.)
(b) Das’ Prose Writings:
English-language works included the novel “Alphabet of Lust” (1976) and the short stories “A Doll for the Child Prostitute” (1977),
“Padmavati the Harlot” (1992) and “The Kept Woman and Other Stories”.
Perhaps her best-known work was an autobiography, which first appeared as a series of columns in the weekly Malayalanadu, then in Malayalam as “Ente
Katha” (1973), and finally in English as “MY STORY” (1976). A shockingly intimate work and finally was regarded as a classic.
THE SHINE
 The Sunshine Cat
• Introduction to the poem:
• The poem, “The Sunshine Cat”, is extracted from the collection of poems “Summer in Calcutta”
(1965).
• It shows the difference between lust and love in a very convincing manner. It is a personal poem
having universal implications. The poet has approached the tragic consequences of the life of lust
wherein there is no space for emotional and spiritual satisfaction.
• Das has adopted the female perspective for highlighting the predicament & mess of a helpless
and frustrated woman in the modern male-dominated society.
• The poem realistically deals with the pathos of a forlorn woman who failed to get real love in life.
She was sexually ill-treated and exploited by men whom she loved and in return, they indulged in
lust but denied her the emotional and spiritual thrills of love.
 Encapsulation
: In the first section, she tells about the cold nature of her
• Lines 1-4
husband.

: In the second component, she talks about the lustful nature of

• Lines 5-10
those with whom she was having extra-marital affairs.

• Lines 11-14 : In the third part, she throws light on her sorrows and griefs.

: In the fourth section, she describes how she became a half-

• Lines 15-22
dead woman and inefficacious to men.
• The persona in the poem describes her sexual experiences with her husband & lovers. She expresses her feeling of
complete disillusionment with all her sexual partners. The persona is most probably Kamala Das herself.
• The men in her life gave her false hopes & used her to satisfy their lustful gratifications.
• She says that her husband was self centered and cowardice.
• She was in the need of solace & true love but all she got from the men in her life, including her husband, was nothing. They
all treated her as mere sex object.

• Her husband showed himself to be a keen & relentless observer & not a true lover. In sheer desperation she acquired other
lovers and tried to share emotional bond with them & failed again.

• However, all the men turned out to be “the band of cynics”.

• She approached other men for love. She was clinging (holding tightly) to their chests where new hair sprouted like great-
winged moths (patriarchal dominance over women).

• Her life revolved around these egocentric people. Nevertheless, she ‘burrows’ herself in the chest of these men. Note the
word “burrow” is generally used with reference to mongooses or rats that dig holes to hide themselves for security. For the
poetess, this was a temporary refuge to make herself secure as long as it lasted.

• The hair on their chest were like “great-winged moths” that came like parasites between them. The lovers were younger
than herself and told her that they could not love her, but could be ‘kind’ to her.
• In pursuit to forget or ignore their lust in the guise of love, she submitted to them who used her body. They used her body
without any compassion.
• The poet felt being lost in that hair and their smell and tried forgetting their real motives.

• The lovers who were sexually involved with her simply said that they cannot love her, when she begged for it. One
said I do not love, other said, I cannot love and another said It is not in my nature to love. All of them then said
the same thing that they can be kind to her.
• However, their cold behavior towards her made her so sorrowful that her wisdom, health and all the good things
withered away and she kept weeping which made even her bed wet and soft with tears and she could never sleep
well.

• She says that she will weep enough to build walls with tears, walls in which she will shut herself in. The wall
means an external protection against those who desire her body. She is probably trying to say that she will give up
all her sexual desires and her emotions and thus alienate from this patriarchal world.
• The husband jails her in a room full of books. The persona does not crave for intellectual company, but emotional
companionship.

• She seeks solace in the streak of sunlight beneath the door. This is her ray of hope: her Sunshine Cat: the sunny
impulse in her. Nevertheless, as her life approached its winter, her husband notices her while locking her one day,
that this streak had reduced to a thin line.
• The evening made him realize that she had mellowed down, partly due to age and partly owing to her
despondency. The fire in her had died away. Hence, she was of no use to any man, as though the sole purpose of
the woman in a man’s life is for fulfilling his sexual needs.
 Use of Realistic & Vivid Imagery
• The poem contains some vivid imagery like, “clinging to their chests where new hair
sprouted like great-winged moths”.

• An image which is partly abstract and partly concrete is used in the line “build walls
with tears”, to enclose her and shut her in.

• Then follows the vivid picture of her husband locking her in a room of books where is
“a streak of sunshine lying near the door like a yellow cat”.

• The simile comparing a streak of sunshine to a yellow cat is shown.

• Also onset of winter with the streak of sunshine becoming a hair- thin line, her
becoming a half-dead, now of no use at all to men.
 Major Themes
• Distinction between lust & love.

• Tragic consequences of the life of lust wherein there is no space for the emotional and
spiritual satisfaction.

• The predicament of a helpless & frustrated woman in the modern male-dominated society.

• Craving for emotional companionship.

• Sexual humiliation.

• Women are fated to play roles that have been predetermined by the society. No one gives
any thought to their individuality, their hopes, desire, aspirations or even frustrations.
Style & Language of the poem

• A 22 line poem, written in blank verse.

• Kamala Das’ craftsmanship as a poet is corroborated by her diction and

her amalgamation of words into phrases & clauses and crowded lines.

• The poem manifests Das’ capacity to use the accurate words at the right
places and to build efficacious & eloquent phrases and lines.
Closure
• Her poetry may be regarded as the poetry of protest. Her protest is
directed against the injustices and the persecution to which women
in India have always been subjected.

• The poem shows that only real love can give a person emotional and
spiritual satisfaction. The poem realistically deals with the pathos of
a forlorn woman who failed to get real love in life. She was sexually
ill-treated and exploited by those whom she loved and were known to
her.