Madhavikutty

Was your husband jealous of all the attention you got? Not at all. As long as I went out with an umbrella when it rained. I used to get headaches walking in the sun so he asked my escort to carry a sunshade or tell them, see, she doesn't walk in the sun. That's all. He was much older, and he felt that I should move about with people of my age. He was very understanding about it. He didn't want to go to the theatre or for a drive, so he would choose a very harmless looking young man and ask him to take me out. No complications. It was not as if I was leading a wicked life. If I went out, I went out with my children too. We all had a good time. Now Shobha De writes about sex and nobody criticises her. When you wrote about love... Shobha De is different. Shobha De writes what probably she enjoys. I may have written about love affairs, but I have not glorified lust. There was nothing obscene about love. My love was fashioned after the love of Radha and Krishna. Th...

Do you believe in God? Of course, I do. In what form? I believe that God is there is a very cell of my body, your body, every cell of this world. Some kind of power, that is how I think of God. That God is good enough for me. I don't need Gods trapped in mausoleums, temples, churches, mosques. I don't need such Gods who can be imprisoned. You are quite unconventional in your writings, lifestyle and opinions. May be because of that, you created a lot of controversies too. Do you enjoy being a controversial figure? No, I don't enjoy it at all. I suffer from such controversies. It don't know the mind of society so well so, sometimes I astonish them by my frankness and they are not willing to accept the fact that a Hindu woman could be unconventional and not-so-traditional. Probably because I have some courage to be what I am, and I don't see my faults as faults -- I see them as characteristics; strengths too. Why not, if you realise that you are only ...

Have you written any poems recently? When I was in Canada six months ago, my hostess gave me a study, plenty of paper, a Dictaphone and asked me to do some work at night. Then I wrote 23 poems for her! I was staying in a country home in Quebec and it helped. I felt happy and relieved. I felt the way was cleared and I could go back to poetry. Coming back to India, again no time at all. Poetry got shelved again. Do you feel like going somewhere like that to write poetry? Yes, I do, I do. If someone's there to fund my holiday! I would come back with a book of poems. But do you think there is anyone who considers my poetry to be worth such a fund? I have no idea at all. You have had very little formal education. But your poems are being taught in various universities all over the world. Do you sometimes feel amused about it? I feel amused, blissful. I feel if I had completed my education, if I had gone to university to learn and not to each as I am doing now, I would ha...

They say, behind every successful man, there is a woman. But don't you feel it is the other way round. Even now behind every successful writer, there is an encouraging and supporting husband. Is it necessary to have such a man in a female writer's life? If my husband had not been sympathetic to some degree, I would not have been a writer at all. I know of women who decided to become writers or artists, but then change their mind later because of the interference from the husbands. Mine not only turned away but welcomed. He took some pride in my writing which was a great help to me. How did you evolve and grow yourself as years went by, from a young bride to a wife and a mother? How did these roles or changes in life help you grow as a person and creative writer? Growth is certainly gratifying because you need to have many  avatars, avataram in one life. I had to experience, I had to see things, I had to hear things and I was in a hurry. Another point is, Shobha, we mi...

Kamala Das  has always been daring and forthright. She has criticised the tradition-bound, conservative society which, of course, was always harsh on her unconventional life style. One thing is sure: She was far ahead of many other Indian writers in her ideas, unconcerned about what others thought of her. Excerpts from an hour-long interview with  Shobha Warrier . Ladies and gentlemen, Kamala Das in inimitable style! You expressed your feelings through different media -- poetry, short stories, painting. Can we categories these as different faces of a woman, or the different roles that she has to don, like that of a wife, mother, lover etc? I think it is very difficult to separate any person. A person is the sum total of her experiences. I went on experimenting with painting, poetry, fiction, drama. I am also a columnist. I think I have become a professional writer as it is difficult remaining a poet because poetry doesn't sell in this country. I have to become a ...

'Allah told me that in order to be effective, you should have political power' K amala Suraiya  (Kamala Das a.k.a Madhavikutty in her pre-Islamic days) continues to shock the straight-laced Malayalees. One of India's best-known English poets and shortstory writers, Suraiya, who abandoned Hinduism to convert to Islam last December, launched a national political party last week. Christened as the Lok Seva Party, the new political party, she says, emerged from her conviction that social change could be possible in India only through political power. But Suraiya, 68, and with near-blind eyes puts forward another reason that compelled her to embrace the political vocation -- Allah. "Allah inspired me to launch this party," she says. Before embarking on the political mission, Suraiya says she carried out three months of meditation and prayer before Allah. Suraiya has been shocking conservative Indians for many years now. It all began with her autobiography...