Google India on Thursday celebrated the work and life of author poet Kamala Das by releasing a doodle, coincided with the anniversary of the publication of her autobiography ‘My Story’, which was originally published in 1976.
Kamala Surayya was born on 31 March 1934 in Kerala and was popularly known by her (one-time) name Madhavikutty and Kamala Das.
Her father was a former managing editor of Mathrubhoomi, while her mother Nalapat Balamani Amma was a renowned Malayali poet.
She was an Indian English poet and at the same time a leading Malayalam author from Kerala, India.
Her popularity in Kerala is based chiefly on her short stories and autobiography, while her oeuvre in English, written under the name Kamala Das, is noted for the poems and explicit autobiography.
She was also a widely read columnist and wrote on diverse topics including women’s issues, child care, politics among others.
Her open and honest treatment of female sexuality, free from any sense of guilt, infused her writing with power, but also marked her as an iconoclast in her generation. She died on 31 May 2009, aged 75, at a hospital in Pune.