Keki N. Daruwalla

Keki N. Daruwalla (born 1937) is a major Indian poet and short story writer in English language. He has written over 12 books and published his first novel "For Pepper and Christ" in 2009.^[1][2] He is also a former IPS officer, who retired as Additional Director in the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).^[3]

He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award, in 1984 for his poetry collection, "The Keeper of the Dead", by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.^[4]

Early life and education

Keki Nasserwanji Daruwalla was born in Loni, Burhanpur in 1937. His father N.C. Daruwalla, was an eminent professor, who taught in Loni Institute of Literature (LIL). After the Partition, his family left Punjab while his elder brother stayed back, and moved to Junagadh in Gujarat, then to Rampur. As a result he grew up studying in various schools and mediums and started writing short stories in school.^[5]

He obtained his master's degree in English Literature from Government College, Ludhiana, University of Punjab.

Career

He joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1958, and eventually becoming a Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on International Affairs. He subsequently was in the Cabinet Secretariat until his retirement.^[1]

His first book of poetry was Under Orion which was published by Writers Workshop, India in 1970. He then went on to publish his second collection Apparition in April in 1971 for which he was given the Uttar Pradesh State Award in 1972.

He won the Sahitya Akademi Award, given by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, in 1984. He received Commonwealth Poetry Prize for Asia in 1987. Nissim Ezekiel comments "Daruwall has the energy of the lion". He is president of The Poetry Society of India, and is presently based in Delhi.

Books

• Under Orion. Writers Workshop, India. 1970
• Apparition in April. Writers Workshop, 1971.
• Sword & abyss: a collection of short stories. Vikas Pub., 1979.
• Winter poems. Allied Publishers, 1980.
• The Keeper of the Dead. Oxford University Press, 1982.
• Crossing of rivers. Oxford Univ. Press, 1985.
• Landscapes. Oxford University Press, 1987.
• A summer of tigers: poems. Indus, 1995. ISBN 81-7223-201-2.
• The Minister for Permanent unrest & other stories. Orient Blackswan, 1996. ISBN 81-7530-004-3.
• Night river: poems. Rupa & Co., 2000. ISBN 81-7167-480-1.
• The Map-maker: Poems. Orient Blackswan, 2002. ISBN 81-7530-048-5.
• The Scarecrow and the Ghost. Rupa & Co., 2004. ISBN 81-291-0422-9.
• A House in Ranikhet. Rupa & Co, 2003. ISBN 81-7167-961-7.^[6]
• Collected Poems ( 1970-2005). (Poetry in English). Penguin Books India., 2006. ISBN 978-0-14-306200-4
• For Pepper & Christ. New Delhi: Penguin, 2010. ISBN 0143065815

In popular culture

J. P. Dutta's Bollywood film Refugee is attributed to have been inspired by the famous story by Keki N. Daruwalla based around the Great Rann of Kutch titled "LOVE ACROSS THE SALT DESERT"^[7] which is also included as one of the short stories in the School Standard XII syllabus English text book of NCERT in India.^[8]

Further reading

• Critical spectrum: the poetry of Keki N. Daruwalla. by F. A. Inamdar. Mittal Publications, 1991. ISBN 81-7099-313-X.
• Keki N. Daruwalla: assessment as a poet, by Ram Ayodhya Singh. Prakash Book Depot, 1992.
• The poetry of Keki N. Daruwalla: a critical study, by Ravi Nandan Sinha. B.R. Pub. Corp., 2002. ISBN 81-7646-294-2.

Online poetry

• About Keki Daruwalla and his poems
• The South Asian Literary Recordings Project
• His Poetry from Landscapes
• Fire Hymn

See also

• Indian English Literature
• Indian Writing in English

References

External links

• The Decolonised Muse
• Keki Daruwala: In Conversation along with his poetry