Dear Readers,
I do remember having got a positive reaction from my friends when I talked of putting some of my poems and prose-pieces on the internet. In an interview, my mentor Nissim Ezekiel said that the moment you write a poem or a critical piece, you look for outlets. I think it is absolutely true. On this specific level, I will also say that if it is tough enough writing, it is even tougher to get a suitable audience. Though I am not clear about my influences on people, the idea of reaching out to others interested me to develop my own exclusive site. I hope the site will capture viewers and they on their part might give a stamp of approval, or unfavourable comments; reconsidering how the perimeters could work, I am absorbed in my writing more than before.
The final outcome of the present, only the future can show. It is one thing to ‘think’ of some things and it is another thing to just go and do them! To quote my late mentor again, the poet in his exact words at an interview in 1986 stated: to crave for it is self-defeating and I can’t stand self-defeating attitudes, from others or myself. I feel I must take the responsibility and say that I did my best in my circumstances.
My dear friends, that’s what I am trying to do through my site.
Geeta Chhabra
Glossary.
Nissim Ezekiel Considered as the father of post-independence Indian verse in English, Nissim Ezekiel played centre-stage in inaugurating the Modernist revolution in Indian poetry in English. As a poet, critic, editor, teacher, political commentator, he has had a lasting influence on Indian literature in English. He passed away on 9th January 2004, at the age of 79.
