Keeping up with their annual tradition of acknowledging the contribution of a renowned Indian poet, Tata Literature Live! will be honouring Keki Nasserwanji Daruwalla with the Poet Laureate Award this year. The 80-year-old writer has 18 books to his credit, including collections of poetry, short stories and a novel. He was given the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1984 for his poetry collection, The Keeper of the Dead . In 1987, he was conferred the Commonwealth Poetry Award (Asia) and the Padma Shri in 2014.
“I have been writing for close to half a century now,” informs the Delhi-based poet, over a phone conversation. Looking back, the poet notices that his work has evolved over the years, as is inevitable with any artist. “I was writing all the time but my first book came out because P. Lal offered to publish my first book,” he recalls. With a youthful drive, Daruwalla dedicated a year to create a volume of poetry which reflected his consciousness at the time. His first book of poetry Under Orion (1970) received positive reviews, notably from Nissim Ezekiel, which encouraged Daruwalla to follow the literary path. “So now, you know, one is almost in a way winding up and my poetry is much more relaxed,” shares the writer. He observes that earlier it took longer for him to finish a piece, and his ideas were elaborate. “Now I want to shorten things and not always looking for effect,” he explains.
With years, Daruwalla’s subjects of interest have also changed, particularly with an inclusion of ecological themes. Although he quickly adds that he has an entire manuscript of political poems ready, a subject he often explored. “I may publish that once I have chiselled the poems a little,” he informs. But for now, he is looking forward to a volume he hopes will be out before the end of this year: Naishapur to Babylon . “The title looks a little sonorous or even presumptuous but it is based on the well-known lines of Omar Khayyam,” he adds. Daruwalla quickly proceeds to recite the lines of the Persian poet: ‘whether at Naishapur or Babylon, whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run, The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop, The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one.’ “It’s an image of old age and it would be my next volume and maybe penultimate, if I may say so,” he ponders.
Poetry to prose
Daruwalla graduated in English Literature from Punjab University in 1958. “I came from a small town and from, well, not a very reputed college,” he shares. He later joined the Indian Police Service. But he didn’t write poems until a decade later. “One was too busy with one’s work and possibly a little self-conscious,” he recalls. But Daruwalla was always surrounded by literature since his father was an English professor. In that environment, Daruwalla also desired to write short stories. “ Par bilkul nahi likhi jati thi (I could never write it),” he sighs.
Daruwalla persevered and published a few collections of short stories, including the popular book, Love Across the Salt Desert(2011). Although he took to novels much later in his life as a writer, with For Pepper and Christ (2009) and then Ancestral Affairs (2015),
Daruwalla’s writing has consistently reflected the socio-political changes in the Indian society. Drawing from his days as an IPS officer, his works were punctuated with anger and contempt and often reflected violence around him. In 2015, he returned the Sahitya Akademi Award as a mark of protest against rising intolerance in the country. He says he is still vocal about the issues that plague the country. “I talk about the partiality against one or two communities in our country and the mindset of the fringe on the right,” he asserts.
Beyond realism
For Daruwalla, mythology, religion and poetry in India have an intimate connection, which has also seeped into his poetry. “I recently answered questions on a site, where they would find my archetype. The answer was, ‘You are a mythologist’. I thought they defined me rather correctly for once,” he laughs. Being an agnostic, the poet is even more amused at the result. “I don’t believe in God or Goddesses, yet I write about them,” he reflects.
The poet enjoys the stories surrounding mythological figures – from Aphrodite to Ishtar. “Most of what we think is history is actually myth,” he observes. So as a poet, does he does he have a muse too? Daruwalla laughs and says, “I am not the one with the actress, so I’m afraid to disappoint you.” The poet informs us that his wife died in 2000. “I was looking forward to the millennium and then an accident happened”, he shares. “But these things happen in life.”
As our conversation comes to a close, Daruwalla shares his excitement to receive the Poet Laureate Award on the inaugural day of the Tata Literature Live! . “The award means quite a lot to me. It shows that people still care for poetry especially in this country where we don’t find the distinction between the horse, the mule and the ass,” he laughs. For the poet, that’s what his life has been all about: to find the beauty in nuance.
Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest will be held from November 16 to 19 at NCPA and Prithvi Theatre
