SHADES OF DEFIANCE: REFLECTIONS ON SOME LESS APPRECIATED DIMENSIONS OF KAMALA DAS (Pages 148-155) by Dr. K. Ponnari Lakshmi in THE ENGLISH RESEARCH EXPRESS / ISSN:2321-1164 (Online); 2347-2642 (Print)

Kamala Das, a major Indian poet in English, grabbed the international attention by her spontaneous, straightforward, and uninhibited articulations of feminine sensibilities, with ferocity unknown to the Indian readers until then. She shattered the complacence of Indian readers by writing about her personal ecstasies, sorrows and convictions with unusual frankness and openness which is rare in Indian context. Her poetry took inspiration from the simple, pleasant, sad and beautiful events of everyday life. She liberated poetry from its monotonous mould and charged it with her unmistakable, personal and confessional tone. Her autobiography My Story is viewed as radical in those times and was subjected to callous, conventional criticism. Notwithstanding the popular, prejudiced image of her that is incessantly fuelled by her controversiality, some crucial facts about her life are not well known to the public. My paper tries to throw light on these less appreciated dimensions that are mostly shrouded in the literary polemics. Taking the references from her close associates Irshad Ahmed and from the interviews of Kamala das given to Iqbal Kaur, I would like to focus on the less appreciated dimensions of Kamala Das as a painter, a mother, a social reformer and a great human being. Key words: Autobiography My Story, less appreciated dimensions, puritan, humanist, multidimensionality etc.