Monday, June 01, 2009

Kamala Das -മലയാളത്തിന്റെ നീര്‍മാതളത്തിന് എന്റെ ആദരാഞ്ജലികള്‍


Kamala Das -

I always admired this woman.

I know her only through her Books - English and Malayalam - from "Ente Katha" to "Neermathalam Poothakalam" which I used to satisfy my reading appetite in school days.

The only woman who could sit in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and write "Wild feet stirring up the dust in my home in Malabar and I so far away"

The only woman author who had the courage to write about sex in Malayalam.The irony being that much of her writing about sex is about how disappointing she found it eventhough most of her works were sensuous and mildly erotic.

The only woman who had the courage to describe making love with her husband as ‘a marital chore’ she endured every night from the age of 15.

The only woman who encouraged her husband to take another lover: someone unlike her, someone who was good in bed and was proud about the same in her writings.

The only woman writer in Malayalam who was unpretentious and genuine and was a true feminist who thought feminism was about breaking the shackles of women in the society and was not about imitating men.

The only woman who had the courage to write poetry with out inhibitions and take on a society and intelligensia in Kerala which had very powerful inhibitions.

She inspired me simply because she chose to fight against abuse from suffocation in her own way than by fighting those abuses and shackles by violating the same.

Sad to know that she too has passed away..

മലയാളത്തിന്റെ നീര്‍മാതളത്തിന് എന്റെ ആദരാഞ്ജലികള്‍

5 comments:

Praveen said...

hmm...sad day for malayalam literature

Gymnast said...

Introduced to her writing by an aunt , and ever since been an admirer.
Her departure is indeed a great loss

Nikhil Narayanan said...

NC,
I know it is a loss.
Quite unfortunately,I have not read even a single title by her.
Ente Katha-have read in parts, but not fully.Somehow hesitant to take it home, so never bought.
Will soon buy.

-Nikhil

Jade said...

I'm like Nikhil - I haven't read much of her writing except a couple of poems here and there. But it was a shock when I heard that she had passed away. I mean - she was so alive. As Praveen said, a sad day indeed.

manoranjini said...

First time here,and absolutely loved your blog.And Yes, the loss is beyond measure for any mallu ..

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