How does one review a book of love? Reverence, adulation and nostalgia from the world over, overflow for the doyen who made Writers Workshop the crest of Indian English publishing, for almost a century. Heard elsewhere of a cottage industry that made possible thousands of first books belonging only to dreams? A Gandhi-mind was at work here, giving freedom to aspiring Indian writers to pursue their dreams of writing in English. If Gandhi had the Charka, P. Lal had the treadle press. Would English poetry in India have endured, had it not been for P. Lal? The 3,500 odd titles from 1958, each handmade, is a world apart.
To P. Lal, “English” was an Indian Language. Perhaps, more than any other, he helped make it one. The Economist , London, writes that the books P. Lal published “were like no others in the world”. We who first published with him know this is true. Lal's conviction that Indian writing in English would be rated among the world's best became reality through writers he himself published.
P. Lal the publisher was an incredible package. His writing hut donned immaculate calligraphy, Indian sari cloth, coloured parrots, vintage India stamps…. He made any drifting jewelweed feel safe in a world of bizarre rejections.
WW was largely a one-man affair. The odds were heavy. To establishment, he was a vanity publisher. P. Lal ignored such prejudices. He only said “I respect and value Indian writing in English and Indo Anglian poetry, and have committed myself to its sustained growth and development. It does not matter even if they abuse or vilify me. My mission was to provide opportunities for writers when opportunities were not there, and aspiring writers could not find a publisher”. Indelible, his credo has now moved into the Stonehenge of time.
P. Lal, tall and impressive, never smoked or drank. He remained responsible and painstaking until the end. He read through every submission, wrote every acceptance letter himself, intuitively diving into talent. He gave lexicon, the word “Transcreation”. Kewlian Sio lovingly called him “Profsky”.
The tributes are priceless. We see the “The Dream-Catcher”, “Purush Uttam”, “Faith-Giver to Indo Anglia”, “The Man who Saw Everything”, “Father of the Indo-Anglian Revolution”, “Prince of Poets, Professors, and Publishers”, “A Giant among Men”, “The Calligrapher of Calcutta”, “Eternal Evergreen Parrot”, and “The Acharya”, from the magic house, 162/92, Calcutta.
How interesting, to hear Sashi Deshpande “I believe in P. Lal. He will understand…”. A pointer to a publisher-author relationship now no more. P. Lal was “Personal Lal”, a father figure who urged you to open your eyes and jump. In the words of Kamala Das “If not for P. Lal encouraging me, I would possibly never have become a serious writer in English.”
P. Lal was a poet, professor, publisher, talent spotter, Sanskrit master, world traveler, eloquent calligrapher, refined artiste, collector of beauty, stamp enthusiast, literary advisor, disciplined Indian, culture specialist, lover of the Gita , classic transcreator, visionary, a publishing Macaulay for India, Padmashree holder, lover of children, and as Srimati tells us, he was also a photographer with a knowledge of advanced lenses of children. The Professor was a prism.
In one of his poems, P. Lal calls Srimati “Child of my heart, Srimati”. “Flowers”, with rare photographs of her illustrious father, Sri's own outpourings, and her calligraphic sketches — a bloodline gift from father to daughter — bring truth to P. Lal's words “a daughter is always special”.
Srimati Lal must continue P. Lal's dream. For P. Lal, WW is forever. For us, WW is the lotus feet of our literature in English. The rules for WW remain simple. As Sashi tells us, “WW is good Karma.”
Good karma must go on.
Flowers for my father,compiled by Srimathi Devi; Writers Workshop 2011.
gopikottoor@gmail.com Blog:www.gopikottoor.blogspot.com
