Kamala Suraya

I always fall in quandary; when I think about someone of old age who had done craziest thing. The same thought came into my mind about Kamala Das in 1999. Why she did this at this age?

She had written many poems and short stories in Malayalam as well as in English. Her book in English "summer in Calcutta" gave her a good start and name in 1965.

Indian readers responded to her greediness for love, guiltless frankness with regards to her sexual matters.

Her words and speeches always influenced me, and it always made me to travel to my past childhood vacation days spent in my fathers and mothers ancestral house; especially about Sarpa Kavu (Naga Temple), Rice Field and Aal Maram (Banyan Tree or Ficus Benghalensis or Indian Fig Tree). The place influenced me whenever I visited my fathers ancestral house.

She replaced Krishna by Allah; she embraced Islam at the age of 65 in 1999 and afterwards she was known as Kamala Suraya. She had won prestigious awards for her literary contribution including Kent Awards for her English writings.

Her words about Krishna saying “I am converting Krishna into Allah……In Guruvayur now Krishna will not be there; Krishna will be with me”; this infuriated many conservative Hindus.

Kamala Suraya alias Madhavikutty, is no more.
She left Kerala in the name of love.
She died today at the age of 75.

Her contribution to Malayalam and English literature will be remembered always.

Indian Poet for High Post in British Poetry

Arvind Krishna Mehrotra author of An Illustrated History of Indian Literature in English and professor of English at the Allahabad University; was nominated by novelist Amit Chaudhuri and Oxford lecturer of English Peter D McDonald. He is been described as a “Finest Poet in Any Language”. Mehrotra is one of three candidates in the fray for the most high profile post in British poetry.

He never considered English as a non-Indian language; it could be colonial but that doesn’t make less Indian.

a Bitter End

Today May 18th I read news about Prabhakaran’s death. (Unconfirmed Report as per news channel).

If I start to think about him; I had to recollect my 17 years back memories. I had Tamilian friend from Jaffna who was studying for BA in Cochin; I used to hear many stories about LTTE from her.

Years passed; today I am not overjoyed but feel sympathetic too not because of LTTE rebel movement has come to end but Sri Lankan Govt had a person or group to deal with for Tamil cause; that group or person is no more.

I started to think; whether our hands and consciousness were there in this bloody war which has a bitter end. The quarter century war has finally ended. I used to read many articles saying Prabhakaran was created by us to teach Sri Lankan President a lesson; for his disrespectful attitude towards India that time. He suited our needs in all possible ways. Later global politics changed; our priorities changed; our political view also changed. Sri Lankan’s are good in tactics. There was agreement between India and Sri Lanka. We sent peace keeping force to Sri Lanka; in retaliation LTTE killed our great beloved leader.

He became our enemy. We have a great patience. We waited for opportunity. We provided intelligence and logistics support. We trained them. We blocked all possible escapes routes because we know what his tactics are. Finally Sri Lankan government got him.

All Tamil people displaced; now they will settle some other parts of Sri Lanka not in their own home land.

Slumdog Star on Street

Mumbai Municipal Corporation bulldozed the home of a "Slumdog Millionaire" child star. Azhar returned from the glitz of the Academy awards to the same plastic tent near the Bandra railway station. Film won eight Oscars and made nearly 325$ million in box office; but this star still live in slums and not benefited from it.