The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Verses to bridge the North-South divide

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Monday, Jun 12, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Verses to bridge the North-South divide

Special Correspondent

This Tamilian has carved out a niche for himself in the world of Hindi poetry

R. Muthuswamy — Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

BANGALORE: The man considered the best Hindi poet of Chhattisgarh is a Tamilian who was brought up in Bhilai where his father worked at the famous steel plant.

R. Muthuswamy is a writer who has bridged linguistic barriers with ease and is, perhaps, the first contemporary Hindi poet whose mother tongue is Tamil.

This resident of Bhilai had his schooling in Tamil Nadu in Tamil medium and then moved to Madhya Pradesh with his father. He first wrote poems in Tamil but then started writing in Hindi. He has written over a hundred poems in the national language with the "aim of sending a positive message to society with each of these poems" as he says.

Mr. Muthuswamy decided to write in Hindi because he wanted to bridge the cultural and literary gap that existed between North India and South India. Some of the milestones in his career as a poet include an invitation to recite his poems at the International Buddhist Convention in Bodh Gaya in 2000. His works have been acknowledged by the president of the Bhilai Thiruvalluvar Tamil Padaslai and the cultural group of the Bhilai Steel Plant.

He has been named the "best poet in Chhattisgarh" and has also been awarded a place in the "Kavi Sammelan" held there periodically.

He is known in the literary circles in the North as "the South Indian poet."

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