tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10404411.post5838201393386247998..comments2023-11-05T04:39:42.422-05:00Comments on KaviSpeak कवि-उवाच: Rendezvous with Prof. P. Lal, the Bhisham Pitamah of Publishing Indian Writing in EnglishVivek Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00794419464988884719noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10404411.post-60767419786380209632009-07-20T03:01:18.848-04:002009-07-20T03:01:18.848-04:00Comments from desicritics.org
#1
Amitabh Mitra
UR...Comments from desicritics.org<br /><br />#1<br />Amitabh Mitra<br />URL<br />July 19, 2009<br />06:06 AM<br /><br />I met Professor Lal in 1988 when I had gone to buy books of Kamala Das and later again in 2000. I told him about the tapes that needs to be converted to Compact Discs. I needed a specific cassette of Mukul Sharma. I had reviewed many a Writers Workshop poetry books since then.<br />He is the only poet other than Pritish Nandy who received the Padmashree for translating the Mahabarata.<br /><br /><br />#2<br />Aaman<br />URL<br />July 19, 2009<br />07:07 AM<br /><br />Good article, Vivek, thanks for writing it<br /><br />#3<br />temporal<br />URL<br />July 19, 2009<br />01:05 PM<br /><br />vivek:<br /><br />absorbing and riveting narration of the meeting...best wishes for the book<br /><br />just a minor digression:<br /><br />a writer overcomes obstacles staring them in the face...breaking them down if needed... giving a wide berth if it calls for...(the context is your discussion on 'irony')<br /><br />#4<br />Vivek Sharma<br />URL<br />July 20, 2009<br />12:19 AM<br /><br />Writing involves choices. These choices are made in context of traditions prevailing both the social and literary culture of a nation. In pursuit of being current with English tradition, writers have leapfrogged and started to write like their Western counterparts: yet we must have a body of literature that first presents society as it is. Perhaps that exists in regional languages more than it exists in English. Reading Maila Anchal or Gunahon ka Devta makes you see why Moor's Last Sign, Glass House and Suitable Boy presents a different class of Indians, who perhaps represent only a miniscule fraction of society (the upper classes only).<br /><br />Yet, a writer must write as he sees things, and break every rule of writing that hampers his delivery. I just read Naipaul's Letters between a Father and Son, and I see how from an early age, Naipaul had that peculiar bitter humor and astute observation that characterizes his writing. In his example, we find that he manages to create novel after novel from colonies that others never saw like he did.<br /><br />Thanks for the comments Temporal, Aaman and Amitabh. The interview was quite special for me, and even though my book is delayed by another month, I wanted to travel and see Prof. Lal for myself. There is a sense of timelessness in his voice and presence, and I felt that the chair I occupied that day, is the one, where hundreds of writers have spend minutes engaged in similar discussions.Vivek Sharmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00794419464988884719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10404411.post-39968788646726209722009-07-19T14:06:09.017-04:002009-07-19T14:06:09.017-04:00Great post Vivek.
I m glad to know that you are w...Great post Vivek. <br />I m glad to know that you are working on your book. Loved those stories about mahabharat in the blogNitin Bhathttp://nitintbhat.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10404411.post-47155903392944583692009-07-19T09:47:41.611-04:002009-07-19T09:47:41.611-04:00Thanks Proma,
I am copying the comment from faceb...Thanks Proma,<br /><br />I am copying the comment from facebook as well:<br /><br />Proma:<br />Thanks for sharing Vivek. Sanskrit words with multiple meanings makes us wonder how the multiple meanings originated. We see that in Indian regional languages as well,<br />expectedly, since many are derivatives of Sanskrit.<br />I also like his saying that we are only one part of the spi'ritual' and that Indians are 'pastoral'.<br /><br />I am not totally convinced by whether we have simpler ideals, that is contradictory to the richness of our history, and various influences over the centuries.... Read More<br /><br />I always used to say that western 'classical music' is more descriptive, whereas Indian classical is more about feeling the essence. That might be true for writing as well. However there is no reason why it should not evolve into something else, which we cannot predict. Influences are wonderful, they change the world and its only natural that it would change the writer and the writing.<br /><br />Vivek:<br />I am copying this to the blog response as well...<br />Influences have been key to the richness of both Eastern and Western literature: will write about this in some detail soon.Vivek Sharmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00794419464988884719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10404411.post-79408662182434383622009-07-19T08:34:22.038-04:002009-07-19T08:34:22.038-04:00Quite wonderfully written Vivek. Thanks for sharin...Quite wonderfully written Vivek. Thanks for sharing, its a treasure..Promahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17542920539791806373noreply@blogger.com