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Magazine
IN PASSING
Play of words
SUCHITRA BEHAL
Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
Gulzar is a contented man; happy with the play of words that engulf his very being. The recent translation of his poems in English is a unique experience for him and he is more than willing to let the translator find his way about . “In totality poetry is about everyday life. Growing up, baking on slow fire; you have to keep catching the embers sorting out and then its essence is felt,” said the poet-lyricist of his work. “In the thick of my writing I keep tracing back to verify that the words I use distil the meaning as I felt it and unconsciously I tend to marry words that usually don’t meet,” said Gulzar describing his work. Elaborating on the way words work he said that each one “wore its own fragrance” and had its own definitive characteristic. “Once a poem is put together I am happy to see how others react to it. That is why when I was asked to select the poems to be translated I refused. I wanted to see which poems grabbed the attention of the translator,” said he. And though he does write for films he finds them limiting. “They have situations and characters and other things to take care off, I’d rather work on scripts that come naturally to me otherwise I’m happy doing what I do.”
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