I don’t know what the Bombay poet means. I have no patience for this,” said poet Ranjit Hoskote on the various tags given to artists. Hoskote, who is in Jaipur for this year’s Jaipur Literature Festival, has been named the winner of the 7th Mahakavi Kanhaiyalal Sethia Poetry Award 2022. In an interview, he talks about his influences and the role of poetry in the modern world: Excerpt:
Was the pandemic a creatively satisfying period for you?
To be honest, yes. It’s hard to say because the pandemic was a brutal time for the vulnerable. So, in that context it is very self-indulgent to say that it was a productive time. But in the context of my practice of writing, the imposition of that claustrophobia was really productive, despite the concerns of the time, the knowledge that millions of people were suffering.
Many people went to study again… did you resort to the same thing?
very much so. read and reread. It also meant going back to the thinkers who were very important to me. I went back to texts that had a variety of emotional meanings. It could have been the wind in the Willows Which is a childhood classic that I’ve always loved that I re-read. But it also meant revisiting some of Ambedkar’s writings, which are critically important at the moment. This meant going back to Susan Sontag. Sometimes you want to go back to these functions and see if they mean the same thing or if they mean something else.
It is interesting that you mention Ambedkar. The writings of the leaders of the freedom movement are finding a place in the modern world…
He was a true thinker. Of course, he was involved in politics but he was a true thinker. He had real ideals that had bigger objectives. And the prose is beautiful. In every case it is powerful. Ambedkar’s prose has a strong character, a hint of criticism, exceptional writing in the way he presents his arguments with evidence. As is Nehru’s for various reasons. There is elegance in his writing, passion in prose, thought provoking. Gandhiji is relentless in his willingness to succumb to conflicts and crises. Tagore is once again very important to me. So yes, in the Indian context these were the figures I went back to.
What do you understand by the term Bombay Poets?
I don’t know what the Bombay poet means. I don’t have the patience for this. It’s the same when people talk about progressive artists. It is convenient as a general description. I don’t see myself as a Bombay poet. I don’t see myself as the poet of the city. My work has little to do with it. They are not working about the urban experience.
You mentioned in an interview that the public’s response to the poem is ambiguous. In a country like India, which has such a rich tradition of poetry, why do you think so?
Within the urban type, or better term, for lack of educated context, which has to do with the devaluation of the arts and humanities. So there is a general suspicion of anything that is not immediately useful. All this debate is pointless. You need science as much as you need arts and humanities. Unfortunately we are forced to make choices by our pathetic education system. The bigger problem may be that you are looking at a conflict between the world of print and the world of demonstrative literature.
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