Kamala Suraiya : Rarity of literary brilliance

Kamala Suraiya’s was a literary genre so radiant of a unique world... full of images from female experiences and their world of anguishes! Her typical literary style has rendered a unique style of moulding the female world into the cast of their unique realm of experiences, idol-breaking story types with a rarity of observation, vision and predictions of life . Her carving for independence of mind and body at a time when Indian women poets were left behind in the matter of honestly expressing their self -teenage fantasies of eternal, unrequited love and feelings.

She had been the light fire drawing forth a perpetual state of literary and aesthetic appeal from its readers- a notable presence throughout the lives of Keralites for six decades. She was equally at home in urban and rural settings. As a born rebel, she followed dynamic prototypes of women, an half way experiment between becoming a hard core feminist and a tradition bearing women.

As a woman, she was an embodiment of love and has craving for it. Not in the feminist libertine or not one of her female characters is a ‘liberated’ woman. Her sketches of the nuances of female mind and body, and firmly realised the importance of positively sharing the world with the opposite gender.

When she began writing in Malayalam under the name Madhavikutty, her vocabulary was limited. She overcame the hurdle by creating amazing poetic images and her literature found a language to carry the profound yet spontaneous world of emotions.

Most of her stories are set after twilight or just before dawn, adding immense depth and dimensions to the narrative.

Madhavikutty-childhood

Kamala Suraiya’s childhood was spent at Calcutta where her father was employed as a senior officer in the Walford Transport Company. And she spent a part of her childhood in the Nalappatt ancestral home in Ponnayoorkulam, south Malabar as well.

She was noted for her many Malayalam short stories as well as many poems written in English. Suraiya was also a syndicated columnist. English Das' first book, Summer In Calcutta was a promising start. She wrote chiefly of love, its betrayal, and the consequent anguish.

Malayalam

Kamala Das wrote about a range of topics, from the story of poor old servant of her home place in Punnayoorkulam or about the sexual disposition of upper middle class women living near a Metropolitan city . Some of her better-known stories include Pakshiyude Manam, Neypayasam, Thanuppu, and Chandana Marangal.

Awards and other recognitions

    Asian Poetry Prize

She also participated in the poetry recitation sessions held at Germany's Essen, Bonn and Duisburg universities, Adelaide Writer's Festival (Adelaide, Australia), Frankfurt Book Fair, University of Kingston, Jamaica, Singapore, and South Bank Festival (London), Concordia University (Montreal, Canada), Columbia University (New York), Qatar, Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, etc. Her works are also translated into French, Spanish, Russian, German and Japanese.

She spent her childhood between Calcutta, where her father was employed as a senior officer in the Walford Transport Company, the Nalappatt ancestral home in Ponnayoorkulam, south Malabar. However, she did not start writing professionally until after she married and became a mother.

She spent her childhood between Calcutta, where her father was employed as a senior officer in the Walford Transport Company and the Nalappatt ancestral home in Ponnayoorkulam, south Malabar region of kerala.

Like her mother, Kamala Das also excelled in writing. Her love of poetry began at an early age through the influence of her great uncle, Nalappatt Narayana Menon, a prominent writer.

English Das' first book, Summer In Calcutta, was a promising start. She wrote chiefly of love, its betrayal, and the consequent anguish.
At the age of 42, she published her autobiography, My Story, which was later translated into many foreign languages.

    Vice-Chairperson in Kerala Sahitya Academy

Conversion to Islam

Born in a conservative Hindu Nair family of Nallappattu , Madavikkutty embraced Islam in 1999 at the age of 65 and assumed the name of Kamala Suraiya (or Kamala Surayya).

Politics

Suraiya’s works

English

Malayalam Poetry

  1966: Naricheerukal Parakkumbol (short stories)

Poetry

  1968: Thanuppu (short story, Sahitya Academi award)

  1964: The Sirens (Asian Poetry Prize winner)

  1987: Balyakala Smaranakal (Childhood Memories)

  1989: Varshangalkku Mumbu (Years Before)

  1965: Summer in Calcutta (poetry; Kent's Award winner)

  1990: Palayan (novel)

  1967: The Descendants (poetry)

  1991: Neypayasam (short story)

  1992: Dayarikkurippukal (novel)

  1973: The Old Playhouse and Other Poems (poetry)

  1976: My Story (autobiography)

  1985: The Anamalai Poems (poetry)

  1998: Nashtapetta Neelambari (short stories)

  2005: Chandana Marangal (Novel)

  1996: Only the Soul Knows How to Sing (poetry)

  2005: Madhavikkuttiyude Unmakkadhakal (short stories)

  2001: Yaa Allah (collection of poems)

  2005: Vandikkalakal (novel)