Kamala Das


I’m that little girl again
sensing sheer happiness
is around the corner —
with the exams just over,
the holidays just begun.

I’m just a little girl with long
black hair running home
past the brothels and
the neighbours’ houses
with my schoolbag and pigtails

to the open arms of Amma.


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Kamala Das has had a profound impact on my writing. She’s one of those who taught me to write using an Asian idiom and, at the same time, by being true to what I was saying on paper. She’s also inspired so many poems here because of her all-original blend of South Indian frankness and sensationalism.