New Delhi: Google paid tribute to popular Malayalam and English writer and poet Kamala Das on Thursday with a colorful doodle to mark the release date of her autobiography, Kamala DasMy Story (Ente Katha). Known as Aami and Madhavikutty, she is known for her bold writing about women’s sexuality and marital problems at a time when they were considered taboo. Born into an aristocratic Hindu Nair family, Aami converted to Islam when she was 68 years old and became known as Kamala Surayya. In more than 20 books she had written, Aami was considered one of the most influential feminists of her time, earning the title “The Mother of Modern English Poetry”.
In a blog post, Google said Das was “a woman determined to live life on her own terms. The Doodle celebrates the work she left behind and gives a glimpse into the world of a captivating woman.” The autobiography was both celebrated and criticized for being about a woman in the 1970s who talked about her sexual desires and extramarital affairs.
Her writings contain detailed descriptions about menstruation, love, lust, lesbian relationships, child marriage, infidelity, among others. She also wrote about her “being in love” with a teenager just before her own wedding. Das was married off at the age of eighteen. In an interview, she said her husband K Madhava Das supported the idea of contributing to the family income and also talked about her relationship with him.
“My husband appreciated that I was trying to supplement the family income. So he let me write at night. After all the chores were done, after I fed the kids, fed him, cleaned up the kitchen, I was allowed to sit awake and write until morning. And that affected my health. He was everything to me. He was father, brother, husband, they say, friend. Another point was that he didn’t care what I wrote. He hasn’t even read it. It’s not done consciously. He did not like reading poetry. But he accepted my poetry. She’s a great writer, she’s a great poet, he would tell people, almost embarrassing me. But he was very proud of me. That’s why I lost someone who was very proud of me. No one else will be so proud of me and my achievements. There was only one,” she said in an interview. The couple had three sons.
Her conversion to Islam had caused quite a stir in Kerala. While there are many theories behind her conversion, it is said that she converted to marry a former MP and MLA from Kottakal, who had promised to marry her if she converted, but never kept his word.