Hi all,

I agree with Rasik in that it would be nice to have a much broader focus mainly because I think genres can be at most poorly defined and even if defined can be better understood by looking at their "external" influences. And then there are many writers who have been influenced or at least taken in by India and the Indian Diaspora, Octavio Paz and Dereck Wallcot being two who come to mind that it would be more fun if we talk about them as well. And what about P.G. Wodehouse? I bet a lot of Indian humor, at least the kind that gets written in English, derives some energy from that master!

Thank you Poorvi , for clearing up that terminology bit on "fundaes". And since I have tried my hand at translating Faiz, I suppose we could get started on "Poetry in translation" as a sub topic here with Faiz as the starting point. What do you think? I also wonder why Faiz seems to be the butt of so many translations ranging from very good (Agha Shahid Ali) to very bad (my own)?

Maureen also brought up a relevant point when she said that music be included into the agenda. Ghalib, Faiz and more personally Gulzar (a lyricist, filmmaker, poet etc) have been sung and celebrated. So onwards with that I say.

Having finished reading a novel Deep River by Shusaku Endo, staying up all night, I would recommend it to the list. It's relevant to the list because this novel is set in India with the river referring to Ganges. And for those given to God and such, it was an interesting exploration of those matters.

Hope everyone had a joyful 4th in the US and a good weekend elsewhere.

Joy! Sashi

Hi ya'll,

Since everyone seems to be in the intro mode, I would also like to add to the general hullabaloo. I read quite a bit, atleast as much as that curly marsh of delta and sigmas(Ref: Golden Gate - V.Seth) that waxes and wanes(my engineering PhD) allows me to.

Currently I am reading (mostly) non fiction(Ian Buruma's Bad Elements, Wendell Berry's Art of Commonplace) and poetry( Yehuda Amichai's collected poems). I also write poetry and hobnob with a poet(Thomas Lux) getting critical appriasal and resisting his suggestions to attend a writer's workshop. So I would be intrested adding my two bits, if the occasion arises, to discussions on poetry and getting to hear from the lit pros.

Also since the topic: "the writing process" has been mentioned, I was wondering if that would include scrutiny to the end result or exposition of general "fundaes" on how to write?

Joy! Sashi

Thanks to Poorvi's notes on Faiz, after a long time I was able to in some way do "poetry'. I haven't been able to find the devnagri version of the poem online. However I went ahead and did a "reworking" of it by taking ample liberties with the the versions at hand. So here is the 'crudity':

Down the dusk's ladder night descends scattering astonished stars. From the west, breeze brings echoes of erased love song. In the prison courtyard the exiled trees stand, threading into the sky their intent silhouettes. On the rooftop moon pours heaven's wine: stardust into light -- in these verdant corners blue bodied shadows writhe and leap to my separation's ache.

And my heart sings: How sweet it seems, to live tonight! The petty tyrants who break into wedding chambers just as brides unveil and smash the lamps, can never but mask this luminous moon!

onwards... Sashi