The Hindu : New Delhi News : An ode to Dom Moraes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 23, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

An ode to Dom Moraes

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JUNE 22. The relaxed nature, deep insightful writing and the uncanny ability of Dom Moraes to discover people worth discovering was fondly remembered by his friends and leading lights from the world of art, literature and diplomacy at a memorial meeting held at India International Centre here today.

Almost all those who spoke about the famed poet recited a few lines from his poems to bring out the quality of his works. Noted actor Roshan Seth said though Dom did not speak much and almost mumbled, making it difficult for others to understand what he was trying to say, "his work is now beginning to be recognised".

Pointing out that often the works of great artists and writers are only acknowledged when they are no more, the actor, who made a mark for himself in the role of Nehru in Richard Attenborough's "Gandhi", said so is the case with Dom's works as people can now often be heard saying: "Oh, that was good".

The Ambassador of Ireland in India, Philip McDonagh, read out extracts from two of Dom's poems . Averring that the poet was seldom able to express himself completely, he said Dom's poems reflected on his deep understanding of his surroundings. "Every word that I wrote was true - this way or that... " he read out from a text.

The meet also delved on some personal experiences of people who interacted closely with the renowned poet. The Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Sudeep Banerjee, recalled how during his first meeting with Dom in Mumbai - when the poet was working with Sunday Express - he had casually asked him to write on Madhya Pradesh, where he was posted, and was grossly surprised at the poet's quick acceptance of the offer.

In subsequent years, he said, Dom did visit and write on the State. Though he was bored by the glitterati of Bhopal, he said, Dom was enchanted by numerous simple people and ended up writing volumes on them. These included an artefact collector of Raipur, a rice scientist and a Begum of Bhopal.

But the most intriguing was Dom's interface with Lachchi, a teenaged dacoit of the dreaded Malkan Singh gang, for whom the writer travelled 300 km to arrange for lawyers. Finally through the good offices of then Chief Minister, Arjun Singh, he managed to get Lachchi into the mainstream. But though the boy later went on to secure a government job in Bhopal, Mr. Banerjee laughed at the fact that he also ended up being a Hindu fundamentalist much against Dom's wishes.

The Director of India International Centre, P.C. Sen, said though to begin with he found some of Dom's works "wildly inaccurate", he found his descriptions to be mesmeric. Of the view that every writer should have the freedom to express his views, he buttressed the argument by reading a line: "There was a world beyond my window".

Having read Dom's works from the age of 18, despite the poet being just eight years older to him, the Director of British Council, Edmund Marsden, said he and Dom also had a common friend who helped the poet with his drinking habits. But then, he said during his subsequent meetings with Dom in India he found him to be a very discerning poet.

Television personality Sunit Tandon, The Poetry Society of India general secretary, H.K. Kaul, and other speakers also threw some light on the persona that was Dom Moraes by reciting extracts from his deeply touching and highly descriptive poems.

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