I was reading off and on a number of Indian poets writing in English and a few of them had become my close friends over the years. Besides Dom Moraes, I got to know rather well Kamala Das, the poetess who writes poetry in English and stories in Malayalam and R.Parthasarathy during his stint with…
Category: Literature
Betjeman’s Oxford brings alive my days too!
Just now I was reading through the A Verse Autobiography, by John Betjeman “Summoned by Bells”, published when I was in Oxford in 1960. At that time I didn’t notice it though there was much debate about its literary quality. Now in a new edition and reissued now and available in India, this verse autobiography…
World poetry scene
Back in India, I chose for what seemed heroic and thus tried my hand in several projects, some landed me in trouble and drove me into obscurity, some, daring and untried also lifted me above the ordinary and mundane and had given me the “spirits of the air”, to quote Shelley. If I can quote…
No poetry for 40 years
No poetry till now, to the year 2003! After this long gap of nearly 40 years I suddenly found myself gripped with the poetical muse! I can’t explain the reasons. Perhaps, I reasoned with in myself that writing my autobiography in Tamil and after the many drafts of my prose autobiography circulated among my friends…
My Oxford years
Shortly before I left for England I put my poems into a slim volume of poetry with the help of my friends in Coimbatore. It was brought out only when I was in UK. The first edition didn’t bring me to anyone’s notice except it was printed in a book form! So poor was the…
My Chennai years
When I went to Madras, now Chennai, for my college studies, Pachayappa’s College kindled my literary instincts and they found many outlets. I was surrounded by Tamil scholars and writers of repute and the college itself was a breeding ground of first rate scholars and politicians, all bred in the then prevailing environment of Dravidian…
My first poem
Now for my poetry. My first poem in Tamil was written in my 9th class in the high school in the year 1949-50. It was immediately published in the then well-known literary magazine “Vasantham” published from Coimbatore. The magazine enjoyed the patronage of the then influential industrialist and a leading public figure, Sir Shanmugham Chetty….
Tamil literature in the new century?
Thoughts on Tamil literature and reflections on my poems and tunes. One former Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee flaunts his poetical skills! Another former Prime Minister V.P.Singh had his poetry reading session listened to by four other former Prime Ministers! All these happenings had lifted Indian poetry to Olympian heights?