Lit activities in the year that was

There was much to learn from all of them, even in occasional encounters; as a young journalist when I interviewed Mulk Raj Anand for an article on book publishing, for instance, I was struck by his thoroughness and attention to detail. To ensure that he was not misquoted in the article, he insisted on dictating his answers to me, right down to the last comma!

Towards the end of 2004, just when I had thought the year could hold no more tragedies, there had been further sad news. One day, I was reading Shama Futehally's reviews of four new books of poetry in that excellent not-so-little The Little Magazine; the next day, there was an obit in a leading newspaper by her good friend the author Githa Hariharan. Shama Futehally was active till the end; apparently, even through a long illness, she had been working on a novel reconstructing a cinema hall tragedy in New Delhi. Though she had put a great deal of work into it, it had remained only half done, according to her sister Zia Whitaker, quoted in another newspaper article. Her last complete work, the same article said, was a yet-to-be-published translation of 16 Urdu poets.

Then, on December 12, a leading Marathi poet in Mumbai, Niranjan Uzgare, left us as well. Niranjan, who was barely 56, had a zest for life that touched everyone he knew. He had big plans, and the enthusiasm and energy to carry them out. "I have done my time doing other things for a living," this mechanical engineer and unassuming winner of 12 literary awards once told me." "Now it is time to concentrate on poetry."

Uzgare had six poetry books of his own, a novel ('Giant Wheel'), and 13 books of translated works, among them a major publication, Kavyaparv, with Marathi translations of work by Indian writers in 21 languages.

Now, a fitting tribute would be to translate his own Marathi poetry into English and bring it to wider audiences.

Hopefully, 2005 will be a better year for Indian writers. As the legacies get richer, a new generation is making its presence felt; more spaces for contemporary writing are opening up and through the clutter of mass media and sound bytes, young writers are increasingly being heard.

A welcome development as the year came to a close was Mapin Publishing's new imprint, MapinLit. This Ahmedabad-based company has made a name for itself with books on Indian art and culture. Now, as Bipin Shah, partner, explains, MapinLit will be looking at fiction, poetry and biographies, among other things.

MapinLit's first venture is Black Wind and Other Poems, by the multi-faceted Deepti Naval. The book had a high-profile launch on December 20, at the hands of writer-director Gulzar, who praised its honesty, and actor Naseeruddin Shah read some of the poems that evening, along with Deepti. The function was hosted by Mapin in association with The Corner Bookstore.

Deepti made her movie debut with Ek Baar Phir in 1980 and has gone on to act in 70 films. She is also a painter and photographer of some repute, and brought out a selection of poems, Lamha-Lamha, in Hindi in 1983. Now, in Black Wind and Other Poems, Deepti explores the world of the mentally disturbed. Working on a film script, Deepti had actually lived in the women's ward of a mental hospital, and it is from this experience that the poems emerge. The book is divided into two sections, 'Black Wind', about life in general, and 'The Silent Scream', about her experience with the women in the mental hospital.

The rise of glitzy new bookstores in Mumbai is opening up new spaces for creative writers. The Oxford Bookstore at Churchgate in south Mumbai, for example, offers a space for literary activities; it organizes regular readings and other events, and most recently, has tied up with Gopi Kottoor's Poetry Chain. Kottoor organizes informal poetry sessions at the bookstore once a month; anyone can get up and read, and the poems are then thrown open for discussion.

Gopi, who works with The Reserve Bank of India, started Poetry Chain in Kerala in 1997, conducting poetry meets and interactive poetry workshops once every quarter. Poetry Chain also publishes a quarterly poetry journal devoted to both established and new poetry enthusiasts, and there's a website, www.gopikottoor.com, which contains details on past Poetry Chain issues with pop ups of selections. If you have a poem to send, check it out; in a world where few people are looking out for poetry, he actually welcomes contributions.

The other piece of good news is that even ancient institutions are beginning to change with the times. The Asiatic Society of Bombay, which goes back to 1804, is often perceived, perhaps unfairly - as a place elderly people visit for afternoon naps. Folks have complained that membership is not easily available, and in fact, it never has been. If you check out their website, you will discover that when the venerable Asiatic Society began in the Raj era, it restricted membership to Europeans elected by a system of 'blackballing', an interesting practice where a committee member voted against a proposed member's candidature by dropping a black ball into the election box. Apparently, this system was discontinued only a few years ago, though in 1840, Sir Maneckji Cursetji had the privilege of becoming the first non-European member, and membership was then thrown open to Indians.

Members value their privilege dearly; ask Mrs Feroza Seervai, a familiar face at literary gatherings in Mumbai. She recently celebrated her golden jubilee year as a member, and in a film made by the Society recently, she says her father presented her with a membership when she was 18, and it has proved more valuable than gold. In the 200 years since its inception, several illustrious personalities have been associated with the Asiatic Society. Viscount Valentina, whose journals of travels in the East published in 1809, was at the first meeting (it is a collector's item today), and several educationists and philanthropists like Sir Cowasji Jehangir and Bhau Daji Lad and Premchand Roychand have contributed to it in different ways.

Now, under its president, B G Deshmukh, the Asiatic Society is actively wooing a new generation. Between November 19 and 23, 2004, it celebrated its bicentenary with the Utsav Asiatika, comprising a whole smorgasbord of events: heritage walks, multimedia presentations, theatre workshops, plays, films. The imposing staircase of the Town Hall in which the Society is housed became an extra-special public venue in an otherwise commercial district. Here, events like Trisanga, an intermingling of poetry, music and drama in English, Urdu and Hindi was held, and on another day, a concert by Shubha Mudgal, with songs from Sufi-Bhakti traditions.

"We want to make this a space that people use more frequently," said Kamala Ganesh, convenor, Asiatika Committee, to me, on the day that the Society organized the Living Poetry session, with readings from the works of the three Indian English poets who had died in 2004:

Nissim Ezekiel, Arun Kolatkar and Dom Moraes. Ms Ganesh, and others like Vimal Shah, Savia Viegas and Usha Thakkar were among the members of the Asiatika Committee that had put together the Utsav.

"The Asiatic Society has not only been a library for scholars but also a public space for ordinary citizens for interaction and discussion on the great issues of the day," a brochure brought out by the Society said. "Utsav Asiatika seeks to recapture some part of this historic spirit, through modes reinvented for the times."

Let's hope the spirit continues into 2005 and beyond; in an increasingly disorienting world, our literary spaces have much to offer to a generation that does not always have time to listen.

Menka Shivdasani is an Indian English poet based in Mumbai. Her two books of poems are Nirvana at Ten Rupees (1990), and Stet (2003).