Kamala Das Surayya Biography: Husband, Poems, Age, Height, Net Worth, Books, Quotes, Awards, Children, Wikipedia, Siblings, Cause Of Death

Biography

Kamala Surayya, also known by her married name Kamala Das and her pen name Madhavikutty, was an Indian poet and Malayalam author from Kerala, India. She was born on March 31, 1934, and died on May 31, 2009. 

Her short tales and autobiography are her most popular works in Kerala. In contrast, her English oeuvre (works), written under the name Kamala Das, is known for her poems and explicit autobiography. 

Kamala Surayya was also a well-known columnist who covered a wide range of topics, including women’s issues, child care, politics, and so on.

Kamala Suraiyya
Kamala Suraiyya: History ‧ Bio ‧ Photo
Wiki Facts & About Data
Full Name:	Kamala Das Surayya
Stage Name:	Kamala Suraiyya, Madhavikutty
Born:	31 March 193 (age 75 years old)
Place of Birth:	Punnayurkulam, India
Died:	31 May 2009, Pune, India
Nationality:	Indian
Height:	1.7 m
Parents:	V. M. Nair, Balamani Amma
Siblings:	Sulochana Nalapat, Shyam Sunder
Husband • Spouse:	Madhava Das (m. 1949–1992)
Boyfriend • Partner:	N/A
Children:	Madhav Das Nalapat, Jayasurya Das, Chinnen Das
Occupation:	Poet • Author
Net Worth:	US$10 million

Early Life & Education

Kamala Das Surayya was born on March 31, 1934, in Punnayurkulam, Ponnani taluk, Malabar District, British India (now Thrissur district, Kerala, India). She was born to V. M. Nair (father), managing editor of the widely circulated Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi, and Balamani Amma (mother), a noted Malayali poet. Her siblings are Sulochana Nalapat and Shyam Sunder.

She split her childhood between the Nalapat ancestral house in Punnayurkulam and Calcutta, where her father worked as a senior officer for the Walford Transport Company, which marketed Bentley and Rolls Royce automobiles.

Kamala Das Surayya, like her mother Balamani Amma, was a gifted writer. Her interest in poetry began at a young age, thanks to her great uncle, Nalapat Narayana Menon, a well-known writer.

She married Madhav Das, a bank officer, when she was 15, and he encouraged her writing inclinations, so she began writing and publishing in both English and Malayalam. 

In the 1960s, Calcutta was a volatile moment for the arts. Kamala Das Surayya was one of many voices that rose to prominence and began appearing in cult anthologies alongside a generation of Indian English poets. She picked English as the language for all six of her published poetry collections. 

Personal Life

At the age of fifteen, Kamala Das Surayya got married to Madhav Das. The couple gave birth to three children (sons): Madhav Das Nalapat, Chinnen Das, and Jayasurya Das. 

After 43 years of marriage, her husband, who was later revealed to be bisexual, died in 1992. Madhav Das Nalapat, her first son, is married to Princess Lakshmi Bayi (daughter of Princess Pooyam Thirunal Gouri Parvati Bayi and Sri Chembrol Raja Raja Varma Avargal) from the Travancore Royal House

Madhav Das Nalapat is a geopolitics professor at Manipal University and holds the UNESCO Peace Chair. He used to work for The Times of India as a resident editor. In 1999, Kamala Surayya converted to Islam and announced her intention to marry her Muslim lover, although she never did.

Kamala Das Surayya gave up the ghost on May 31, 2009, at the age of 75, in a Pune hospital after a long fight with pneumonia. Her body was flown back to Kerala, where she was born. She was laid to rest with full state honors in Thiruvananthapuram’s Palayam Juma Masjid.

Career

Kamala Das Surayya was well-known for her Malayalam short stories as well as her English poetry. She also wrote a syndicated column. Her candid essays, which sounded off on everything from women’s issues to child care to politics, were popular, despite her contention that “poetry does not sell in our country [India].”

Summer in Calcutta, Kamala Das Surayya‘s first work of poetry, was a breath of fresh air in Indian English poetry. She primarily wrote about love, betrayal, and the ensuing sorrow. 

When Indian poets were still governed by “19th-century diction, passion, and romanticized love,” Kamala Das Surayya abandoned the certainties afforded by an antique and sometimes sterile aestheticism for the independence of mind and body. 

Despite never being politically active, she founded the Lok Seva Organization, a national political party dedicated to promoting secularism and providing refuge to orphaned moms. In the Indian Parliament elections of 1984, she ran unsuccessfully.

Net Worth

Before her death in 2009, Kamala Das Surayya was estimated to have a net worth of US$10 million. 

She made most of her fortune from her career as a poet, author, and in other businesses. Kamala Das Surayya was one of the highest-paid poets of her time.