A few years back,one sunny winter morning I had met Mr Keki N. Daruwalla. For the uninitiated, he is one of the most celebrated Indian poets writing in English. I was a saucy young girl then having read none of his work and thinking the world of mine!But fortunately enough through a Sahitya Akademy Competition i had the good fortune of being with him.It was at Jaipur on the auspices of the Rajasthan University.
I sized him up in a few glances,an old man wearing a checked winter suit,the kind that were in fashion thirty year's back but still continues to be the perennial favourite of my father's generation!And heartwarmingly an accompanying warm smile!The story i had entered was a love story, one of those boy-meets-girl,happy-ending sorts. But me being me,I had thought the world about it. By the way, it was titled '' Love on the Rajdhani Express'' because at that juncture of life,i was destined to travel by it considering flight rates weren't yet slashed.Anyway,Keki Sir asked me to read his ''Love across the salt desert'' because i apparently had a taste for love stories.In fact,I still think ''Love'' makes the world go round.But ahem!in very weird rotation circles!
This morning I had chanced upon Sir's review of one of his fellow-poets Kercy Katrak in the Literary Review of 'The Hindu'. I normally pass over remembrances but these few lines inevitably caught my attention...
'' To mimic the simplicity of stone
And find a metaphor for sky and star
To salvage coherence from the sea
I must seek the hard interior of my bone
But i am young and cannot find the words
That are my own...''
How hard!How impossibly difficult it is to write!To give shape to what u have concieved...To find words...To EXPRESS!
This is dedicated to all those who write inspite of its impossiblities!
I sized him up in a few glances,an old man wearing a checked winter suit,the kind that were in fashion thirty year's back but still continues to be the perennial favourite of my father's generation!And heartwarmingly an accompanying warm smile!The story i had entered was a love story, one of those boy-meets-girl,happy-ending sorts. But me being me,I had thought the world about it. By the way, it was titled '' Love on the Rajdhani Express'' because at that juncture of life,i was destined to travel by it considering flight rates weren't yet slashed.Anyway,Keki Sir asked me to read his ''Love across the salt desert'' because i apparently had a taste for love stories.In fact,I still think ''Love'' makes the world go round.But ahem!in very weird rotation circles!
This morning I had chanced upon Sir's review of one of his fellow-poets Kercy Katrak in the Literary Review of 'The Hindu'. I normally pass over remembrances but these few lines inevitably caught my attention...
'' To mimic the simplicity of stone
And find a metaphor for sky and star
To salvage coherence from the sea
I must seek the hard interior of my bone
But i am young and cannot find the words
That are my own...''
How hard!How impossibly difficult it is to write!To give shape to what u have concieved...To find words...To EXPRESS!
This is dedicated to all those who write inspite of its impossiblities!
