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Poet prolific

the veteran A still from the documentary ‘Venal Mazha’ (Summer Rain) that essayed the poetic career of K. Satchidanandan

There is nothing like poetry to fire your imagination and help you visualise a wingless angel at the back of a train singing ‘Aawara hoon….’ Or say, old women trembling like waves in queues at the government hospitals, or a cat re counting how she was frightened by a mouse once. All it takes is a reading of these poems on subjects like angels, mad old women, cats, snails and more by K. Satchidanandan, a poet whose lyrical expression quite effortlessly transcends the language barriers of Malayalam, English and Hindi.

The noted poet from Kerala states about his diversity of subjects, “If you have that urge, anything can evoke you to write. There are no poetic subjects as such.” A winner of as many as 20 awards, Satchidanandan, who is also a translator, lyricist and scriptwriter, has himself been translated into many languages. Considering awards as professional hazards, the humble poet states, “I don’t write any better or worse because of the awards. One must have the self confidence to ignore and the humility to accept them.”

Talking of the changing trends in Indian literature, Satchidanandan, who occupied the bureaucratic seat of Secretary of the Sahitya Akademi and is credited with giving it a contemporary touch, explains, “In the last 20 years, women’s writings has come up as a strong genre. They did exist before but now the expression is more independent and frank, reflecting the battle against patriarchy.

“Then there is the Dalit poetry that has grown as a parallel language altogether. They have a poetic language of their own that not only highlights the culture but also the concerns of the underprivileged.

“In addition to all this, one cannot ignore the strong poetry coming from the North-Eastern region of the country. The freshness of Bodo, Mizo and Garo poetry is emerging and being translated as well. There are educated tribals who write in English and have won acclaim.”

Talking about South American poetry he says he loves the works of Pablo Neruda, and believes that all it takes to be a poet is a combination of instinct, the urge from inside and training in the craft. But surely, “One can best express in the mother language,” he underlines. Coming to the point of translation, he states, “There are two kinds of poems — one, based on images that translate better, and the language is easily replaced, and the other that depends on word music, the local feel, that is most likely to fade away with translation.” How true!

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