T.S. Chandra Mouli: Namaskar! Thanks for permitting us to interview you, Sir.

C.L. Khatri: It’s nice that we are going to converse about poetry, society and life.

TSCM: How and when did you start writing poetry?

CLK: I started late. It was during my Post graduation that I wrote poems in English and was patted by my teacher, Prof. B.K. Tripathy who was my first reader at that time. I was inspired by my teacher Prof. Ravindra Rajhans who is a renowned Hindi poet and a Padmashree Awardee. But I would say I was made a poet in print by the contemporary poets like Dr. I H. Rizvi (He published my poem “ Rags-picker” for the first time in Canopy), R. K Singh (He went through the manuscript of Kargil and gave me valuable guidance), Prof. O.P. Bhatnagar, Prof. Niranjan Mohanty, Dr Krishna Srinivasa, Dr. D.C. Chambial, Krishna Khullar, P.K. Majumder and others by inspiring and encouraging me in this field. 

TSCM: Please tell us something about your childhood and studies, pl.

CLK: I have a very humble beginning. I was born and brought up at a village called Lakhawar in Jehanabad (Bihar), historically the place of Jarasandh and Jehanara.So the spirit of resistance is very much in its soil and you can find it in my poetry, too.

I had my higher education in Patna. I did my M.A (English) and Ph.D. from Patna University, Patna. There I came in close contact with Prof. Ram Chandra Prasad who was a prolific writer and well known for his magnum opus translation of Ramacharitamanasa. In fact, I learnt the art of writing from him. 

TSCM: What are your concerns as a poet, sir?

CLK: Poetry is my means of protest; means to give voice to surging cyclone within and it has a cathartic purpose for me. Essentially I am concerned with my place, people and milieu and my quest to find meaning in life in the given perspective. 

TSCM: What perceptible influences are there on your poetry?

CLK: There is no conscious effort to imitate anyone. However, I am influenced by Nagarjuna, Seamus Heaney and Romantic poets in general; and in structured verse I was inspired by Dr H. Tulsi and her campaign for the revival of structured verse.

TSCM: Do you feel social consciousness or ideological approach are necessary for a poet? Could you elaborate?

CLK: You see. There is no rule as such. Suppose you are writing for children or writing fantasy or it is intensely personal or elegiac, you don’t think about an ideology or are necessarily guided by social consciousness. However, it is a fact that your sensibility is shaped by the society you live in. But lyric is a response to a moment in life that shakes you from within and makes you write; it can be a social issue or anything else. 

TSCM: How do you employ images and symbols in your poetry?

CLK: It is something like demand and supply. Several factors work in it. Sometimes they come naturally associated with the ideas, emotions, experiences or sudden revelation I come through. Sometimes I look for them; at others a whole poem creates an image. Overall, it is the job of a critic to work upon them.

TSCM: What are the recurring themes and images, sir? Could you give a few examples?

CLK: The challenges before human beings which are Kargils of common man, the seamy side of life- poverty, squalor, corruption, flood, decaying value system, breaking bonds of our community life, violence, war, etc. The sense of loss looms large over my poetry. But it is not pessimistic. It does not seek external help or invoke God for help for I have faith in the divinity within a man. Both God and Satan are in us; we need to explore the divine in us. The images are drawn from Hindu mythology, rural life and contemporary life. The study of imagery is the jurisdiction of a critic. 

TSCM: Do you feel poetry festivals or meets promote poetic creativity? Are they relevant at all?

CLK: Of course. There should be workshops on poetry writing, Poets- in- Residence in the universities and more awards and felicitations for poets. What we are lacking is the honest feedback from the readers and due recognition of the work.

TSCM: As a poet what is your view of the prevailing scenario?

CLK: Indian English Poetry today is witnessing a dichotomy of opulence and penury. On the one hand there is virtual explosion of poetry—vanity publication, little magazines, local and foreign publications, indiscriminate outpourings from ‘Writers Workshops, ‘A Home of Letters’ and from such other publication houses, poetry readings and poetry festivals organized by several poetry groups operating from different parts of India and on the other hands critics like Bruce King and M.K. Naik and celebrated poets in their anthologies hardly find a new name to be considered as the representative poet of the age. However. in this mutiny of Muse and unmanageable piles of production many a bud has failed to bloom and died unseen and unsung and poetry lovers seem to whisper like Kabir “Jal bich meen piyashi” (A fish thirsty in an ocean).

TSCM: What are the trends you could notice in post-Independence Indian English Poetry?

CLK: Indian English Poetry is passing through a phase of transition in which the vanguards of New Poetry: Nissim Ezekiel, P. Lal, Kamala Das, Shiv K. Kumar, Jayant Mahapatra and others have virtually left the scene for the next generation poets to carry forward the tradition. These poets were/ are rooted in India, lived and worked in India. Hence, they could relate themselves to the age old tradition of Kavya, myth, legend, ‘proud peasantry’, as well as the traumatic experiences of an emerging nation and made it their credo to assiduously evolve a body of literature in conformity with their manifesto. Towards the end of the 20th Century we find a major shift taking place. People from affluent class went abroad for education and for greener pasture and settled over there in greater number. This in turn created a dominant body of Diaspora literature as they were better placed academically and commercially in comparison to native poets or writers and they had something exotic to offer to Indian readers in terms of the theme of rootlessness, alienation, nostalgia, cultural clash.

Indian English Poetry is not dead after Mahapatra, Shiv K Kumar and Daruwalla, rather thriving, expanding in ambit and exploring new avenues and experiences in the fast-changing world.

TSCM: Which trends have gained ground? What is conspicuous now?

CLK: Indian English poetry has gained a solid ground and mushrooming growth over the years. It has grains and chaff, fire and smoke; and it is a universal fact that the best or even the good of them remain the few. English poetry in India has never been so wide spread, so expressive of the age, so divergent in trends and techniques, so free from the British hegemony or from the common trend of India shining or India bashing and yet so representative of India- be it Diaspora, cosmopolitan or rural.

Poets are using latest technology to reach out the wider audience. Consequently, several online journals and publications have come up and they are regularly published in India and abroad. There are different streams of poetry running effulgent or subdued. We witness the conscious effort to revive the old structured verse forms in H. Tulsi and her ilk’s, unconventional haiku being practiced by R. K. Singh and others, philosophical, spiritual or what is called Romantic Indian poetry being practiced by Charusheel Singh in lyrical and narrative modes or strong regional voice in Bibhu Padi, Niranjan Mohanty, Esther Syiem, Saba Mahmood Bashir or seer’s poetry in Sumirasko, prose poetry in Ranu Uniyal besides the continuity of the legacy of modern poetry in scores of poets making it collectively a post-modern experience in which the centre is lost and several centres have emerged or are emerging.

TSCM: Could you sum up your views on your poetry, please?

CLK: It is basically native voice, voice of rural and semi-urban sensibility. My world is limited; experiences are intensive and not extensive. They are shaped by the social, political, cultural, educational, economic, linguistic milieu I have lived in. 

TSCM: What is your prognosis of Indian English poetry?

CLK: I am hopeful of its bright future though it is said to be the age of fiction. But I don’t want to compare the two. Poetry is essentially swantahsukhaya while fiction is being written with a fixed target readers in mind. It has become market oriented. Poets can also do that if they pursue nerves catching narrative poetry and readers/ market-oriented lyrics.

TSCM: How far the trends or movements abroad have influenced Indian English poetry, sir? Kindly elaborate.

CLK: I think aping is very much there in the nature of the people of colonial and feudal state.

First, we imitated the British poets and then turned to the American poets like e. e. cummings and others. Presently the diverse forces like regional poetry, folk poetry, Diaspora, Black poetry, popular culture and the scientific spirit of the age besides the earlier ones are acting upon the creative process.  

TSCM: How far these have had an impact on your thought or craft, Pl?

 CLK: Very little as far as the trends abroad are concerned. 

TSCM: Thanks for sharing your erudite views on poetry in general and Indian English poetry in particular. It helps us in appreciating your poetic thought better. We are honoured, Sir.

CLK: It’s my pleasure Chandra Mouli!