The idea of a poet is now more of a media construct. If one gets a collection published by a minor publishing house and then mentions being a poet a couple of times, the media is quick to accept it, with no reference to the actual quality of work, and no critical evaluation of it. Does that bother you?
The media represent the invisible few who influence and shape public opinion. However, public opinion on that scale is irrelevant to the understanding and appreciation of poetry or any other fine art at the frontiers of creative excellence. It does not bother me. My work will find its audience despite the media simply because I expect my audience to be mature, sensitive, and cultivated at their own initiative.
How alive is poetry in India's regional languages? For instance, do you foresee the publication of another anthology of Marathi poetry documenting the last decade or so?
The poetry scene in Indian languages is incredibly alive. Our unique oral traditions have nurtured poetry for several centuries, so even first generation literates from amongst tribal and 'backward' communities keep surprising us with stunning poetry, the like of which nobody had seen in print before.
Poetry has a deep connection with individual human rights. Among exciting new poets, many are women, and a few are gay or lesbian, or marginalized in other ways. Dalit poetry has opened the eyes of many tradition-bound, orthodox and academic readers of poetry to the innovativeness and sheer creative energy of the oppressed. An anthology of Marathi poetry of the last decade is already available in translation. It is titled Live Update! and has been edited and translated by Sachin Ketkar and published by Poetrywala, Mumbai. There are several anthologies, with many more to come in the next decade.
Your translation of Tukaram continues to find an audience. What makes him so powerful, more than three centuries later?
Says Tuka was published first in the Penguin Classics Series in 1991. I have since rescinded my contract with them and another edition was brought out in hardcover as well as paperback a few years ago. It nearly sold out without any hype. My translations are already included in an anthology of world poetry published in the US, and a German translation by Lothar Lutze was published by A1-Verlag. Mexican poet-translator Elsa Cross translated Tukaram into Spanish using my English versions as her source. All this is due to the classic appeal of Tukaram -- the inherent greatness of his poetry.
Image: The German translation of Chitre's poems, Worte des Tukaram; an Indian stamp featuring the seventeenth-century poet.
Also see: Indians who feel disowned by India
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