An Introduction​ by Kamala Das

An Introduction​ by Kamala Das for Teacher's Day Celebration

1. An Introduction - Kamala Das  

2.    Kamala Das , Madhavikutty , Kamala Suraiya ( 1934 – 2009 ) Modern English Literature " Poetry does not sell in this country ( India) "  "The Mother of Modern English Indian Poetry" Marguerite Duras  & Sylvia Path  Poet, Novelist, Short story writer  Notable Work 1965:  Summer in Calcutta 1976:  Alphabet of Lust 1976:  My Story 1977:  A Doll for the Child Prostitute Awards  1963: PEN Asian Poetry Prize 1968:  Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Story  –  Thanuppu 1984: Shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature 1985: Kendra Sahitya Academy Award–  Collected Poems Feminist voices in the postcolonial era

3. AN INTRODUCTION “I am Indian, very brown, born in Malabar, I speak three languages write in Two, dream in one.” “….Do not write in English, they said, English is not your mother tongue. Why not leave me alone, critics, friends, visiting cousins, Every one of you? Why not let me speak in Any language I like?” “It is human speech, the speech of the mind that is Here and do there, a mind that sees and hears and Is aware. Not the deaf, blind speech Of trees in storm or monsoon clouds or of rain or the Incoherent mutterings of the blazing Funeral pyre.”

4.    “….I was child, and later they Told me I grew, for I became tall my limbs Swelled and one or two places sprouted hair. When I asked for love, not knowing what else to ask For, he drew a youth of sixteen into the bedroom And closed the door. He did not beat me But my sad woman body felt so beaten. The weight of my breasts and womb crushed me. I shrank Pitifully.” “Dress in saries, be girl. Be wife, they said. Be embroiderer, be cook, Be a quarreller with servants. Fit in, oh Belong, cried the categorizers. Don’t sit On walls or peep in through our lace draped window” AN INTRODUCTION

5.    “Be Amy, or be Kamala, Or better Still, be Madhavikutty , It is time to Choose a name, a role, Don’t play pretending game; Don’t play at schizophrenia or be a Nympho, Don’t cry embarrassingly loud when jilted in love.” “I met a man, loved him. Call Him not by any name, he is every man Who want woman, just as I am every Woman who seeks love. In him…. The hungry haste of rivers, In me. The oceans’ tireless Waiting….” “…It is I who drink lonely AN INTRODUCTION

6. AN INTRODUCTION Drinks at twelve, midnight, in hotels of strange towns, It is I who laugh, It is I who make love And then, feel shame, it is I who lie dying With a rattle in my throat.” “….I am sinner. I am saint. I am the beloved and the Betrayed. I have no joys which are not yours, no Aches which are not yours. I too call myself I.” “I have no joys which are not yours, no Aches which are not yours, I too call myself I”

7.    Men as the Rulers of Country Women are Individuals Too Poet’s Struggle for Freedom Her Miserable Married Life Her Struggle for the Status of ‘I’ “Kamala Das’s poems of love and sex are characterized by emotional intensity and are among the best of her poems. With a frankness and openness unusual in the Indian context she expresses her need for love. The vocabulary used is blunt and imagery sensuous and fleshy. The description of man woman relationship include anatomical detail and body functions are expressed undisguised by metaphor or round aboutation .”                                                                                                                        -Harish Raizada THEMES OF POEM

8. REFERNCES Das, Kamala. “An Introduction.” p oemhunter.com ,   poemhunter  , 28 Mar. 2012, www.poemhunter.com/poem/an-introduction-2. “Kamala Das – the Mother of Modern Indian English Poetry.” Feminisminindia , 2017, feminisminindia.com/2017/03/31/kamala-das-essay. Das, Bijay Kumar. “Some Indian English Poets of the Seventies.” < i >Indian Literature</ i >, vol. 25, no. 3, 1982, pp. 101–109. < i >JSTOR</ i >, www.jstor.org/stable/24158524. Accessed 4 Sept. 2021. Raphael, R. “Kamala Das: The Pity of It.” < i >Indian Literature</ i >, vol. 22, no. 3, 1979, pp. 127–137. < i >JSTOR</ i >, www.jstor.org/stable/23329993. Accessed 4 Sept. 2021.