Well-known English and Malayalam writer and poet, Kamala Surayya (Kamala Das, better known as Madhavikutty) died in a private hospital at Pune on May 31 following treatment in the hospital for the last few months. She was 75.
Born on March 31, 1934 in Malabar in a conservative Hindu Nair (Nallappattu) family having royal ancestry, she reverted to Islam in 1999 at the age of 65 and assumed the name Kamala Surayya. Her reversion kicked up much heat and dust in the social and literary circles.
Kamala Surayya is considered one of the outstanding Indian poets writing in English, although her popularity in Kerala is based chiefly on her short stories and autobiography, My Story, translated in as many as 15 foreign languages, including German, Spanish and Japanese. Much of her writing in Malayalam came under the pen name Madhavikkutty.
Her widely acclaimed stories include Pakshiyude Manam, Neypayasam, Thanuppu, and Chandana Marangal. She wrote a few novels, among which Neermathalam Pootha Kalam stands out, which was received favourably by the reading public as well as the critics. It is often said that even her casual talks falls in the genre of short stories. Such is her creative genius that even after succumbing to several controversies, she remained a widely popular figure.
She was also a syndicated columnist. She had moved away from poetry because she claims that “poetry does not sell in this country (India)”, but fortunately her forthright columns do. Her columns concentrated on everything from women’s issues and child care to politics.
Before her reversion to Islam, Kamala received many awards for her literary contribution. Some of them are Asian Poetry Prize, Kent Award for English Writing from Asian Countries, Asan World Prize, Ezhuthachan Award, Sahitya Academy Award, Vayalar Award, Kerala Sahitya Academy Award, etc. She had been nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature for several years – all prior to her reversion to Islam.