{"id":536,"date":"2009-06-02T07:50:40","date_gmt":"2009-06-02T02:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mohamediqbalp.wordpress.com\/2009\/06\/02\/kamala-suraiya-the-literary-star-of-kerala-is-no-more\/"},"modified":"2009-06-02T07:50:40","modified_gmt":"2009-06-02T02:20:40","slug":"kamala-suraiya-the-literary-star-of-kerala-is-no-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/venusimportexport.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2009\/06\/02\/kamala-suraiya-the-literary-star-of-kerala-is-no-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Kamala Suraiya: The literary star of Kerala is no more"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 class=\"title\">Kamala Suraiya:  The literary star of Kerala is no more<\/h1>\n<div class=\"node\">\n      <span class=\"submitted\">Submitted by admin4 on 1 June 2009 &#8211; 5:58pm.<\/span> <span class=\"taxonomy\"><\/p>\n<ul class=\"links inline\">\n<li class=\"first taxonomy_term_6\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twocircles.net\/news\/articles\" rel=\"tag\" title=\"Articles\" class=\"taxonomy_term_6\">Articles<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"last taxonomy_term_1\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twocircles.net\/news\/indian-muslim\" rel=\"tag\" title=\"Indian Muslim\" class=\"taxonomy_term_1\">Indian Muslim<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content\"><!-- google_ad_section_start --><\/p>\n<p><b>By Najiya O., TwoCircles.net,<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The epitome of love, the dear writer of Kerala Dr. Kamala Suraiya<br \/>\nhas bid farewell to this world. Malayalis\u2019 own Madhavikkutty who<br \/>\nsecured an unforgettable place in the world of literature will now live<br \/>\nin the hearts of millions through the works that eternalize her. The<br \/>\ngreat writer who had been ailing for some months passed away at 1.55 am<br \/>\non 31st May in the Jahangir Hospital in Pune. She will be interred at<br \/>\nthe Palayam Juma Masjid in Thiruvananthapuram with State honours<br \/>\ntomorrow. She was 75 and is survived by three sons.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/lh4.ggpht.com\/_XbJJ801AbSA\/SiPQqHFQmCI\/AAAAAAAAGDY\/RYBCXZLECFY\/s288\/suraiya.jpg\" align=\"left\" hspace=\"9\" vspace=\"9\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Kamala was born in a family of eminent writers in a traditional<br \/>\nHindu family in 1934. Her mother Nalappattu Balamaniyamma was a famous<br \/>\nMalayalam poet. She spent her childhood in Kerala and Kolkatta where<br \/>\nher father worked. She got married to Madhav Das when she was only 15.<br \/>\nIt was after she gave birth to her first child that Kamala began<br \/>\nwriting. Madhav Das offered his whole-hearted support to the budding<br \/>\nwriter in his wife. Her very first book \u2018Summer in Calcutta\u2019 (1965) was<br \/>\nindeed promising. She wrote mainly of love, betrayal and the anguish<br \/>\nthat follows. She was never a feminist but brought out the problems of<br \/>\nwomen through her works. Loneliness was a presiding factor in most of<br \/>\nher works. She believed in writing everything openly, without any<br \/>\nreserves, be it about anything. And this very nature gained her<br \/>\ngarlands and thorns alike. She wrote her autobiography when she was<br \/>\nonly 42 \u2013 \u2018My Story\u2019. And the work brought her more applauses and<br \/>\ncriticism than any of her other works. Besides poems, short-stories and<br \/>\nnovels, she also wrote columns about various topics. She made her<br \/>\npresence felt in the field of painting too.<\/p>\n<p>She has received many awards in the country and abroad. She received<br \/>\nthe Asian Poetry Prize, the Asian World Prize, the Kerala Sahitya<br \/>\nAcademy Award and the Ezhuthachan Award among others. She was even<br \/>\nnominated for the prestigious Nobel Prize in 1984. Her important works<br \/>\nare \u2018The Descendants\u2019 and \u2018Only the Soul Knows How to Sing\u2019 (English)<br \/>\nand \u2018Neermathalam Pootha Kalam\u2019, \u2018Thanuppu\u2019, \u2018Vandikkaalakal\u2019, etc in<br \/>\nMalayalam.<\/p>\n<p>She wrote in three names which clearly state three stages or parts<br \/>\nin her life. She wrote in the name Kamala Das in English. She adopted<br \/>\nthe pseudonym Madhavikkutty when she wrote in Malayalam. And after she<br \/>\nreverted to Islam, she wrote under her new name, Kamala Suraiyah.<br \/>\nHowever, she was fondly called Aamy by those who loved her.<\/p>\n<p>Madhavikkutty embraced Islam in 1999, when she was 65. She announced<br \/>\nher becoming a Muslim while speaking at a public function. As always,<br \/>\nshe received much criticism for this turn in her life too. Majority of<br \/>\nthe intellectuals and writers who speak high of freedom of expression<br \/>\ncriticized this decision in her life, but her sons stood by her in all<br \/>\ncrises. Especially her eldest son M.D. Nalappatt gave his complete<br \/>\nsupport in whatever decision she took in her life.<\/p>\n<p>In the final days of her life she was in Pune with her youngest son.<br \/>\nHer sons wanted to take her with them due to her oldage ailments. She<br \/>\nleft for Pune in1997 since she felt that she was no more loved in<br \/>\nKerala. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf love is not to be had, I want to be dead&#8230;\u201d So she wrote in her<br \/>\npoem \u2018Suicide\u2019. She lived for love, and when she felt she was not<br \/>\nreceiving love back, she felt very bad. <\/p>\n<p>And her fear is now repeated in the words of many writers after her<br \/>\ndeath. Dr. M. Leelavathi, renowned writer and Padmavibhushan<br \/>\nAward-winner, says, \u201cKamala Suraiyah did not get much recognition from<br \/>\nthe Malayalam literary field. Her demise has brought irreparable loss<br \/>\nto Indian literature.\u201d Dr. Leela Menon, renowned journalist, and<br \/>\nSukumar Azheekode, famous critic, both feel that they should not have<br \/>\nlet Suraiyah go away to Pune. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed<br \/>\ngrief at the death of the great writer. He recalled that Suraiyah\u2019s<br \/>\n\u201cachievements extended well beyond her verses of poetry.\u201d M.D.<br \/>\nNalappattu recollects that his beloved mother wanted to come back to<br \/>\nKerala, towards her death, but fate had decided otherwise. <\/p>\n<p>And thus Kerala has lost its dear Madhavikkutty, and the world of literature a daring and loving writer.<\/p>\n<p><!-- google_ad_section_end --><\/div>\n<div class=\"clear-block clear\">\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kamala Suraiya: The literary star of Kerala is no more Submitted by admin4 on 1 June 2009 &#8211; 5:58pm. Articles Indian Muslim By Najiya O., TwoCircles.net, The epitome of love, the dear writer of Kerala Dr. Kamala Suraiya has bid farewell to this world. Malayalis\u2019 own Madhavikkutty who secured an unforgettable place in the world&hellip; <br \/> <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/venusimportexport.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2009\/06\/02\/kamala-suraiya-the-literary-star-of-kerala-is-no-more\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/venusimportexport.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/venusimportexport.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/venusimportexport.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venusimportexport.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venusimportexport.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/venusimportexport.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/venusimportexport.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venusimportexport.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venusimportexport.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}