PUNISHMENT IN KINDERGARDEN

BY
KAMLA DAS

- BY Ankit Jindal & Ankur

 Personal Life
of
Kamla Das

 Kamala Surayya formely known as Kamala Das and also known as

Madhavikutty She was an Indian poet and literature And at a same
time a leading Malayalam Author from Kerala.
 Kamala das was born in Punnayurkulam, Thrissur district in kerala,
on 31 march 1934, to V.M. Nair a former managing editor and
Malayali poetess She spent her childhood between Calcutta where
her father was employed as a senior officer in the Walford Transport
company that sold Bentley and Rolls Royce automobiles Like her
mother, Balamani Amma, she also excelled in writing.
 To be continued …..
 She started writing and publishing both in English and
Malayalam.
 At the age of 15 she got married to bank officer Madhava
Das, who encouraged her writings interests.
 It was a tumultuous time for the arts, and kamala das was
one of the Many voices that came up and started rising of the
Indian English Poets.
 Kamala Das had three sons MD Nalapat, Chinnen Das and
Jayasurya Das
 On 31 May 2009, aged 75 she died at a hospital in Pune.
 To be continued …..
 Das first book of poetry, summer in calcutta was a Breath of
fresh air in Indian English poetry.
 At the age of 42, she published a daring autobiography, My
story and then she admitted that much of the autobiography
had fictional elements.
 Das wrote about a range of topics from the story of poor old
servant or about the sexual disposition of upper middle class
women living near a metropolitan city or in the middle of
ghetto .
 Her works are known for their originality, Versatility and the
indigenous flavor of the soil.
 To be continued …..
 She had also held positions as vice chairperson in Kerala
Sahitya Acadamey and in Kerala Forestry Board president of
the Kerala Children's flim society, Poetry editor of illustrated
Weekly of India.
 Das reflected her social concern in such short stories as
"Padmavati the Harlot" in 1992 and "A Doll for the Child
Prostitute" in 1997
 In 2009 The Times called her "the mother of modern English
Indian poetry".
 She launched a national political party, Lok Seva Party aiming
asylum o orphaned mothers and Promotions of secularism.
 In 1984 she unsuccessfully contested in the Indian parliament
elections.
 Nominated and shortlisted for Nobel Prize for Literature in
1984.
 Award of Asian PEN anthology- 1964 Kerala
 Sahitya Academy Award - 1969 (for Cold)
 Sahitya Academy Award - 1985
 Asian Poetry Prize - 1998 Kent
 Award for English Writing from Asian Countries - 1999
 Vayalar Award- 2001
 Honorary D.Litt by University of Calicut - 2006
 Muttathu Varkey Award- 2006
 Ezhuthachan Puraskaram - 2009
 About the Poem

THE POEM ‘PUNISHMENT IN KINDERGARTEN’ IS A

CHILDHOOD HURT RECOLLECTION OF THE POET IN
THE LATER YEARS OF HER LIFE.
THE POET WAS DEEPLY HURT BY THE UNKIND WORDS OF A TEACHER. IT IS THE
INCIDENT WHEN THE POET WAS JUST A SCHOOL KID. SHE HAD GONE ON A SCHOOL
PICNIC WITH HER TEACHER AND SCHOOLMATES. WHILE OTHER KIDS WERE
PLAYING, THE POET STOOD ALONE BECAUSE SHE WAS STILL NEW IN THE SCHOOL.
ON SEEING HER ALONE, THE TEACHER WHO HAD DRESSED BLUE- COLOURED
FROCK THREW HARSH WORDS AT HER. THE HARSH WORDS DEEPLY WOUND HER
HEART. THIS WAS FOLLOWED BY ONE MORE THING THAT ADDED MORE TO HER
PAIN. THE SCHOOLMATES WHO WERE SIPPING SUGARCANE LAUGHED
RIDICULOUSLY AT HER WHEN THEY HEARD THE TEACHER DAUNTING HER. THE
POET COULD NOT BEAR THIS. SHE FELT INSULTED. THIS MADE HER HIDE IN THE
HEDGE WHERE SHE SMELT THE FLOWERS AND PAIN. WITH THE PASSAGE OF TIME,
THE POET HAS ALMOST FORGOTTEN THE PAINFUL INCIDENT AND SHE IS NOW
SATISFIED WITH HERSELF. TIME AND HER ADULT VIEWPOINT HAVE HEALED THE
PAIN. THE YEARS HAVE REDUCED THE INTENSITY AND HARSHNESS OF THE
HURTFUL INCIDENT. THE ANGRY WORDS AND LAUGHING FACES ARE VAGUE AND
UNCLEAR. THE YEARS HAVE GONE BY VERY FAST. CERTAIN INCIDENTS CLOSE TO
THE HEART ARE REMEMBERED OTHERS ARE FORGOTTEN. LIFE MOVES ON. THE
POET IS NOW ADULT LOOK BACK ON THAT PAINFUL INCIDENT PEACEFULLY. THERE
IS NO NEED MORE TO REMEMBER THAT CHILDHOOD INCIDENT WITH PAIN.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE POEM DOES NOT LIE IN ‘PUNISHMENT’ BUT IN THE
SENSE OF HURT INFLICTED ON THE CHILD BY THE HARSH WORDS OF THE TEACHER
AND THE CHILDREN’S LAUGHTER THAT ONLY AGGRAVATED IT. THE ‘ADULT PEACE’
THE POET BECAUSE OF THE HEALING TOUCH OF TIME.
 Poem

TODAY THE WORLD IS A LITTLE MORE MY OWN.

NO NEED TO REMEMBER THE PAIN
A BLUE-FROCKED WOMAN CAUSED, THROWING
WORDS AT ME LIKE POTS AND PANS, TO DRAIN
THAT HONEY-COLORED DAY OF PEACE,
“WHY DON’T YOU JOIN THE OTHERS, WHAT
A PECULIAR CHILD YOU ARE!"
ON THE LAWN, IN CLUSTERS, SAT MY SCHOOLMATES
SIPPING
SUGARCANE, THEY TURNED AND LAUGHED;
CHILDREN ARE FUNNY THINGS, THEY LAUGH
IN MIRTH AT OTHER’S TEARS, I BURIED
MY FACE IN THE SUN-WARMED HEDGE
AND SMELT THE FLOWERS AND THE PAIN.
THE WORDS ARE MUFFLED NOW, THE LAUGHING
FACES ONLY A BLUR. THE YEARS HAVE
SPED ALONG, STOPPING BRIEFLY
AT BELOVED HALTS AND MOVING
SADLY ON. MY MIND HAS FOUND
AN ADULT PEACE. NO NEED TO REMEMBER
THAT PICNIC DAY WHEN I LAY HIDDEN
BY A HEDGE, WATCHING THE STEEL-WHITE SUN
STANDING LONELY IN THE SKY.
 MAIN THEME OF THE POEM :-

THE MAJOR THEME OF THE POEM IS NOSTALGIA

(NEGATIVE FEELING) AND THE SENSE OF MOVING
ON WITH LIFE.
WITH HER LONG EXPERIENCE IN LIFE THE
AUTHOR HAS LEARNED THAT LIFE IS A MIXTURE
OF JOY AND SORROW. THE LONG PASSAGE OF TIME
HAS A TAUGHT HER MANY THINGS. SHE IS NO
MORE A LONELY INDIVIDUAL AS
SHE USED TO FEEL WHEN SHE WAS A CHILD.
THANK YOU