An interview for Kolimi, an Art and Literary Magazine in Telugu

I, Rajeev Moothedath  gave this interview in English  to shri Srinivas Vasudev, poet, critic and a friend who kindly translated and published the same in the December 2021 issue of Kolimi an art and literary magazine in Telugu. You can read the Telugu version here: 

1) What inspired you to write?  

That is a tough question to answer really. I wrote my first poem when in class V. The teacher came around, saw it and took it away. She then returned it to me later with corrections, I felt disappointed as it did not feel like my poem anymore. So you see, initially I just felt like writing and I wrote. Was it the little poems we learnt in school that was the inspiration? Who knows? In any case, in the CBSE syllabus, we had some beautiful poems in the higher classes like “Elegy written in a country churchyard”, “Home they brought her warrior dead”, “The beggar maid”  “Ode to the West wind” etc to study at school.

2) What genre of literature is your favourite and why?    

I trust your question pertains to favourite genre in respect of both reading and writing. As a reader I loved all kinds of literature- the Enid Blyton books as a child that included  the ‘Five find outers’, ‘Famous five’ and ‘Secret Seven’ series. I borrowed from the public library, books on various subjects such as humour (P.G.Wodehouse), crime (Agatha Christie, James Hadley Chase, Perry Mason series), R.K. Narayan ‘s and other Indian authors’ books giving glimpses of the Indian scene. Growing older it was Harold Robbins and finally as a working adult, management books  (One minute manager) and books on spirituality by writers like Deepak Chopra (The seven spiritual laws) started to interest me.

When it comes to writing, although I immensely enjoy reading poetry on nature and romance, I prefer to write on what happens in the society around me or on something that gives insights into living a more enhanced life. Therefore My approach to a love poem may not be the typical romantic poem but on how ‘Shades of love’ have changed over the years to the extent that a lover can pour acid on his ‘beloved’s’ face. In respect of prose, I write quite a bit on management experiences as I am basically an HR executive from the corporate. I also write occasional short stories.

3)   What is the immediate purpose of poetry?

Personally, to my mind it is not for us to determine the purpose of writing. It can vary from person to person. A person may simply write because it makes him/her happy while another may find it impossible to be in his elements without engaging in writing while yet another may think social change can be achieved by writing poetry.

The fact is that it can be all of these or one of them or many more reasons depending on the person writing. It has been said that the “Pen is mightier than the sword”. Yes that is true; while you can kill a few with the sword thousands may be influenced to go to war by the emotional appeal of a powerful write. But then the pen is powerful in so many more ways. It can get people to laugh, to introspect and to heal. Therefore poetry’s purpose cannot be pegged down to a small canvas- It can have such far reaching purposes and consequences.

Thank you for this interaction. It was such a pleasure talking to you!