Vol. 5(5), pp. 119-121, July, 2014
DOI: 10.5897/IJEL2014.0576
Article Number: 24FD13045664 International Journal of English and Literature  
ISSN 2141-2626
Copyright © 2014
Author(s) retain the copyright of this article
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Short Communication

Women by the woman – Kamala Das

Sofia C. Jose
Department of English, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, India.
Received 27 January, 2014; Accepted 5 May, 2014

Kamala Suraiya (also known as Kamala Das or Madhavikutty) had made it clear to readers, critics and
family that she do not want to be “categorized”. Das’s poetry have flung open its doors to let in, topics
that women had kept decorously out (the boredom of marriage, the thrills of love, the pains of being a
woman, of being a writer, the loneliness of being unloved, the joy of being in love)..

Key words: Kamala Suraiya, poetry, feminist and woman.

INTRODUCTION

Kamala Suraiya is the first and the most famous poem in therapy. She says:
the confessional mode. She begins by self assertion but
later she remarks various situations, where she was “If I had been a loved person. I would not have become a
down trodden. The poet, an individual woman tries to writer. I would have been a happy human being.”
voice a universal womanhood trying to share her
experiences, good or bad with all other women. Love and Das became the subject of her writing, viewing herself
sexuality are the strong component in her search for with a persistent lens that saw it all, later putting
female identity (Raveedran, 1994). everything onto the page in confessional bursts of poetry
or prose. This allegiance to the moment, the urgent need
to capture it in words, often gave her writing a first draft,
Women by the woman – Kamala Das see-through quality that made critics complain of
inconsistency. But Kamala Das did not care what others
Kamala Das was an exemplary new woman in many
said, she was willing to be swept away by her writing,
ways. She was bold, uninhibited, full of creative energy
without stopping to make formal considerations about the
that she sustained to the very end as is proven by her
composition or to make it reader friendly. She had to
last few poems in Closure, and secular enough to try
write it all out. Kamala Das lived an intensely uneasy life,
another religion in the last days of life…Her burial in a
and the fact that she neither gassed herself nor jumped
mosque was a great lesson to those with insular minds.
off a cliff is proof of the faith she kept in her chosen trade,
of her conviction that writing was no charlatan
Malayalam poet and bilingual critic K. Sachidanandan occupation, incapable of giving life. When she poured
herself out in poetry, stories and features, Kamala Das
Writing according to Kamala Das is a sort of spiritual was working at life, looking in her own words for

E-mail: [email protected]

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120 Int. J. English Lit.

reminders of the importance of wanting to be, wanting to storm or the clouds of rain. Neither does it echo the
write, wanting to live and no writer can pay greater tribute "incoherent mutterings of the blazing fire." It possesses a
to her trade than to acknowledge it as the reason for coherence of its own: an emotional coherence.
living. And as her readers, we too are privileged with this
tribute. She was child-like or innocent; and she knew she grew
Das's poetry has been intimately connected to critical up only because according to others her size had grown.
perception of her personality and politics; her provocative The emotional frame of mind was essentially the same.
poetry has seldom produced lukewarm reactions. While Married at the early age of sixteen, her husband confined
reviewers of Das's early poetry have praised its fierce her to a single room. She was ashamed of her feminity
originality, bold images, exploration of female sexuality, that came before time, and brought her to this predi-
and intensely personal voice, they lamented that it lacked cament. This explains her claim that she was crushed by
attention to structure and craftsmanship. Many critics the weight of her breast and womb. She tries to
have analyzed Das as a “confessional” poet, writing in overcome it by seeming tomboyish. So she cuts her hair
the tradition of Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and Denise short and adorns boyish clothes. People criticize her and
Levertov. Kamala Das begins by self-assertion: tell her to 'conform' to the various womanly roles. They
accuse her of being schizophrenic; and 'a nympho'. They
I am what I am. confuse her want of love and attention for insatiable
sexual craving.
The poetess claims that she is not interested in politics, As the girl seeks fulfillment of her adolescent passion, a
but claims to know the names of all in power beginning young lover is forced upon her to traumatize and coerce
from Nehru. She seems to state that these are the female-body since the same is the site for patriarchy
involuntarily ingrained in her. By challenging us that she to display its power and authority. When thereafter, she
can repeat these as easily as days of the week, or the opts for male clothing to hide her femininity, the
names of months she echoes that these politicians were guardians enforce typical female attire, with warnings to
caught in a repetitive cycle of time, irrespective of any fit into the socially determined attributes of a woman, to
individuality. They did not define time; rather time defined become a wife and a mother and get confined to the
them. Subsequently, she comes down to her roots. She domestic routine. She is threatened to remain within the
declares that by default she is an Indian. Other four walls of her female space lest she should make
considerations follow this factor. She says that she is herself a psychic or a maniac.
'born in' Malabar; she does not say that she belongs to But the poet is an individual woman trying to voice a
Malabar. She is far from regional prejudices. She first universal womanhood and trying to share her expe-
defines herself in terms of her nationality, and second by riences, good or bad, with all other women. Love and
her colour: sexuality are a strong component in her search for female
identity and the identity consists of polarities.
I am Indian, very brown, born in Malabar, She explains her encounter with a man. She attributes
him with not a proper noun, but a common noun-"every
And she is very proud to exclaim that she is 'very brown'. man" to reflect his universality. He defined himself by the
She goes on to articulate that she speaks in three "I", the supreme male ego. He is tightly compart-
languages, writes in two and dreams in one; as though mentalized as "the sword in its sheath'. It portrays the
dreams require a medium. Kamala Das echoes that the power politics of the patriarchal society that we thrive in
medium is not as significant as is the comfort level that that is all about control. It is this "I" that stays long away
one requires. The essence of one's thinking is the without any restrictions, is free to laugh at his own will,
prerequisite to writing. Hence she implores with all- succumbs to a woman only out of lust and later feels
"critics, friends, visiting cousins" to leave her alone. ashamed of his own weakness that lets himself lose to a
Kamala Das reflects the main theme of Girish Karnad's woman. Towards the end of the poem, a role-reversal
"Broken Images"-the conflict between writing in one's occurs as this "I" gradually transitions to the poetess
regional language and utilizing a foreign language. The herself. She pronounces how this "I" is also sinner and
language that she speaks is essentially hers; the primary saint", beloved and betrayed. As the role-reversal occurs,
ideas are not a reflection but an individual impression. It the woman too becomes the "I" reaching the pinnacle of
is the distortions and queerness that makes it individual. self-assertion.
And it is these imperfections that render it human. It is the Das once said, "I always wanted love, and if you don't
language of her expression and emotion as it voices her get it within your home, you stray a little"(Warrior
joys, sorrows and hopes. It comes to her as cawing interview). Though some might label Das as "a feminist"
comes to the crows and roaring to the lions, and is for her candor in dealing with women's needs and
therefore impulsive and instinctive. It is not the deaf, blind desires, Das "has never tried to identify herself with any
speech: though it has its own defects, it cannot be seen particular version of feminist activism”. Das' views can be
as her handicap. It is not unpredictable like the trees on characterized as "a gut response," a reaction that, like
 Jose 121

her poetry, is unfettered by other's notions of right and Citations

wrong. Nonetheless, poet Eunice de Souza claims that
Rediif Interview
Das has "mapped out the terrain for post-colonial women http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/jul/19inter.htm
in social and linguistic terms”. Das has ventured into The Hindu Condolences
areas unclaimed by society and provided a point of http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200905312123.htm
http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/kamala-das/an-introduction-
reference for her colleagues. She has transcended the
2/Rediff on the Net. Web. <http://www.rediff.com/style/das.htm>
role of a poet and simply embraced the role of a very Ravi Database Consultants. India World Poetry. Web.
honest woman. http://www.indiaworld.co.in/open/rec/poetry/mother1.html
Warrier, Shobha. Interview. Rediff on the Net. Web.
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Conflict of Interests

The author have not declared any conflict of interests.

REFERENCE

Raveedran PP (1994). “Text as History, History as Text: A Reading of

Kamala Das’ Anamalai Poems.” J. Commonw. Literature 29(2):47-
54.