Merrily Weisbord’s recently published biography, of the deceased poet Kamala Das, is an asset for anyone, who loved the latter as a person, an artist and as a human being with natural feelings. The Love Queen of Malabar is a memoir of the writer’s unique friendship with the poet who made her soul flow out through her pen.
Kamala Das' life with intense passion and her confessional work had always put her amidst applauds and apprehensions. There was always a question in people who knew her-Why she’s doing all these? Critics and society gave many explanations for her acts. However, many reasons are getting unraveled in The Love Queen of Malabar in an authentic way. I call this book authentic since it is based on trust, friendship and immense loyalty between the writer and Kamala Das.
The book has been written through 10 years, since Merrily Weisbord’s first visit at Cochin in 1995 till her last visit to Kamala Das in 2005. The book got published in 2010 only after the death of Kamala Das, owing to her wish. (p.226) During these years, Merrily visited Kamala Das five times and Kamala Das visited Montreal twice to contribute for this memorable work.
The book gives the hint that all through her life Kamala Das had passionately searched for fulfillment in things she believed. She never hesitated to change her opinion on the very next day, since she believed that only through these experiments; she can understand the true value of things. She never stopped experimenting in her life:
...Rob me, destiny, if you must,
Rob me of my sustenance, but do not, I beg
Of you, do not take away my thirst... (p.5)
This passion reigned throughout the acts of kamala Das' life.
When an outsider analyzes this passion in Kamala Das' works, it can be seen that physical lovemaking and spiritual love co-existed in them. While reading her life, I could even glimpse a similarity between Kamala Das and the (in?)famous spiritual leader Osho. Both of them celebrated the importance of sexuality in a spiritual way that Indian society’s moral thinking couldn’t actually comprehend. However, towards the end of her life Kamala was convinced that her experiences are her own and she cannot make others see or feel her inner bliss.
Kamala Das seems to be contended with her life by the last years of her life. Her experiments proved to her that nothing ends anywhere and it’ll continue through something else. While she was ready to say good bye to this life, she was making Merrily to take a note of her life. As she told Merrily after the last visit:
Only names change, situations, destinations. We stop writing, someone else continues. No story never ends. (p.266)
The Love Queen of Malabar is definitely an apt tribute to the eminent poet Kamala Das. The non-fiction flows like a fiction that a person who chooses it can’t put it down. It also comprises some rare photographs of Kamala Das that add value to the book. I would strongly suggest this book to those who would love to know truth in Kamala Das' life.
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