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{{Short description|Indian writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox writer
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| name = Kailash Puri
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| image = Kailash Puri-Ghana-1963 (cropped).jpg
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| native_name =
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| pseudonym = Hamraaz Maassi
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = {{birth date|1925|4|17|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Rawalpindi]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab Province]], [[British Raj]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|2017|6|9|1925|4|17|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Ealing]], [[London]], England
| resting_place =
| occupation = Writer<br>Agony aunt<br>Poet<br>Yoga teacher
| language = English<br>Punjabi
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| children = 3
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'''Kailash Puri''', popularly known as '''Humraaz Maasi''' (17 April 1925 – 9 June 2017) was an Indian writer, poet, yoga teacher, and [[advice column|agony aunt]].

As a young mother, Puri began writing articles on cookery, family planning, and marital relations, publishing them in her weekly Punjabi magazine ''Subhagvati'' (1957–1965). She later produced, distributed and edited the Punjabi and English periodical ''Roopvati'' (1968–1974). In 1975 she became [[Marks & Spencer]]'s first advisor on their range of Indian ready meals, and in the same year published her cookery book titled ''Highlights of Indian Cookery''. During her lifetime she would produce ten books on sex, coining new sexual words difficult to translate to Punjabi.

==Early life and education==
Kailash Puri was born on 17 April 1925<ref>{{cite web |title=BBC Radio 4 – Last Word |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08tglj9 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250201172453/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08tglj9 |archive-date=1 February 2025 |access-date=1 February 2025 |website=BBC}}</ref> to Sohan Singh Puri and his wife Prem, in [[Rawalpindi]], then in undivided [[British India|India]].<ref name=Chandan2005>{{cite news |last1=Chandan |first1=Amarjit |date=4 July 2017 |title=Kailash Puri obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jul/04/kailash-puri-obituary |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250201094309/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jul/04/kailash-puri-obituary |archive-date=1 February 2025 |access-date=30 January 2025 |work=The Guardian}}</ref><ref name=Nesbitt2017>{{cite web |last1=Nesbitt |first1=Eleanor |title=In Remembrance: Kailash Puri (1925–2017) |url=https://giss.org/jsps_vol_24/remembrance_of_kailash_puri.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250201095937/https://giss.org/jsps_vol_24/remembrance_of_kailash_puri.pdf |archive-date=1 February 2025 |access-date=30 January 2025}}</ref>

==Early career==
[[File:Kailash_Puri.1944.jpg|thumb|Kailash Puri in 1944]]
In 1943, at around the age of 16 years, Puri married Gopal Singh Puri, a scientist who gained a [[Research fellowships in India|Government of India research fellowship]] in London, UK.<ref name=Nesbitt2017/> Puri joined him in 1945 and they had their first child, a son, in 1947.<ref name=Nesbitt2017/> They returned to India in 1950.<ref name=Nesbitt2017/> As a young mother, Puri began writing articles on cookery, family planning, and marital relations, publishing them in her weekly [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] magazine ''Subhagvati'' (1957–1965).<ref name=Nesbitt2017/><ref name=Sahoo>{{cite book |last1=Bebber |first1=Brett |editor1-last=Sahoo |editor1-first=Ajaya K. |title=Routledge Handbook of South Asian Migrations |date=2024 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |location=Abingdon, Oxon |isbn=978-1-032-35544-3 |page=64 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m13bEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 |language=en |chapter=2. South Asians in Britain: Migration, settlement, and conflict}}</ref> Puri accompanied her husband to his various posts in [[Dehra Dun]], [[Pune]] and [[Allahabad]], and then to [[Ibadan]] and [[Kumasi]] in West Africa.<ref name=Nesbitt2017/>
[[File:Kailash_Puri.1950.jpg|left|thumb|Kailash Puri in 1950]]
In 1966, by which time Puri also had two daughters, the family moved back to England and initially settled in [[Slough]] and [[Southall]].<ref name=Nesbitt2017/> Before moving to Liverpool, where her husband was offered a post, she worked in factories and then at Harrow Land Registry, while also teaching Punjabi and cooking.<ref name=Nesbitt2017/> In Liverpool she delivered lectures on multicultural Britain, and became a founding member of the Community Relations Council.<ref name=Nesbitt2017/> There, she also produced, distributed and edited ''Roopvati'' (1968–1974), an English and Punjabi magazine that incorporated the former ''Subhagvati''.<ref name=Sahoo/><ref>''[https://archive.org/details/roopvati197208/mode/2up?view=theater&ui=embed&wrapper=false Roopvati]'' (1972)</ref> For ''Des Pardes'' she contributed to its columns.<ref name=Chandan2005/> For the monthly Punjabi magazine ''Kaumi Ekta'' she regularly published features on sexual issues.<ref name=Nesbitt2017/> During her lifetime she would produce ten books on sex, and become popularly known as Humraaz Maassi.<ref name=Nesbitt2017/> For sexual terms difficult to translate to Punjabi, she made up new ones including "madan chhatri" (Cupid's umbrella) for [[clitoris]], and "pashm" (silk) for its [[pubic hair|surrounding hair]].<ref name=Chandan2005/><ref name=Nesbitt2017/>

==Later career==
In 1975 she became [[Marks & Spencer]]'s first advisor on their range of Indian [[frozen meal|ready meals]].<ref name=Chandan2005/><ref name="M&S1975">{{cite web |title=The history of M&S prepared meals |url=https://www.marksandspencer.com/c/style-and-living/the-history-of-marks-and-spencer-food |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250201173007/https://www.marksandspencer.com/c/style-and-living/the-history-of-marks-and-spencer-food |archive-date=1 February 2025 |access-date=1 February 2025 |website=www.marksandspencer.com}}</ref> In the same year she published her cookery book titled ''Highlights of Indian Cookery''.<ref name=Nesbitt2017/>

For 21 years Puri and her husband managed a yoga centre.<ref name=Newcombe2019>{{cite news |last1=Newcombe |first1=Suzanne |title=The undocumented history of female yoga teachers in Britain |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/women/history-female-yoga-teachers-britain-india-a8968676.html |access-date=1 February 2025 |work=The Independent |date=30 June 2019}}</ref><ref name=Jewell1999>{{cite book |last1=Jewell |first1=Albert |title=Spirituality and Ageing |date=1999 |publisher=Jessica Kingsley Publishers |isbn=978-1-85302-631-7 |page=171 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8UUbhxc5SWQC&pg=PA171|language=en}}</ref>

==Awards and honours==
In 1982 Puri received the Bhai [[Mohan Singh Vaid]] literary award.<ref name=Nesbitt2017/> In 1999 Ealing's mayor awarded her with a Millennium Woman Award.<ref name=Nesbitt2017/>

==Death==
Puri died at [[Ealing Hospital]] on 9 June 2017, 22 years after her husband.<ref name=Nesbitt2017/>

==Selected publications==
*''Mysteries of Indian Cuisine Explained: Englishman's Guide to Indian Cookery'' (1975)
*{{cite book |title=The Myth of UK Integration |date=2012 |publisher=Whittles Publishing |isbn=978-184995-059-6 |url=https://www.whittlespublishing.com/The_Myth_of_UK_Integration |language=en}} (Co-authored with Bob Whittington)
*{{cite book|title=Pool of Life: The Autobiography of a Punjabi Agony Aunt |date=2014 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-1-78284-067-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4V6VEAAAQBAJ|language=en}} (Co-authored with [[Eleanor Nesbitt]])

==See also==
*[[Jasvir Kang]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book |last1=Puri |first1=Kailash |last2=Nesbitt |first2=Eleanor |title=Pool of Life: The Autobiography of a Punjabi Agony Aunt |date=2013 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-1-78284-067-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4V6VEAAAQBAJ |language=en}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Puri|first=Kailash|title=From Across the Shores: Punjabi Short Stories by Asians in Britain |date=2002 |publisher=Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd |isbn=978-969-494-124-0 |page=16 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-CK1N-oN0DwC&pg=PA1|chapter=1. Behind open doors|language=en}}

{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puri, Kailash}}
[[Category:1925 births]]
[[Category:2017 deaths]]
[[Category:British Asian writers]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to England]]
[[Category:Indian women columnists]]
[[Category:Indian women novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:Indian yoga teachers]]
[[Category:People from Rawalpindi]]
[[Category:Punjabi-language writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Punjab, Pakistan]]
[[Category:Relationships and sexuality writers]]
[[Category:Indian cookbook writers]]
[[Category:Marks & Spencer people]]

Kailash Puri - Revision history

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