ALSphere Foundation
Kumar Vikram is an independent researcher with special interest in post-colonial and feminist studies. He is an essayist, translator, bilingual poet, book diplomat and a publishing editor with nearly 25 years of experience.
A post-graduate in English Literature from Kirorimal College, University of Delhi, he is author of Short Essays (2002), and co-author (with Prof. Arun Kumar Sinha) of T S Eliot: An Intensive Study of Selected Poems (Spectrum Books, New Delhi).
Currently, a Senior Editor with National Book Trust, India, he has delivered talks, and participated in conferences on publishing, translations and literature in India and at various cities and international book fairs of the world like Frankfurt, Beijing, London, Seoul, Warsaw, Moscow, Guadalajara, Abu Dhabi, Paris etc.
He was awarded the prestigious SAKHA Awards “for his individual contribution for the documentation ofthe Rights Catalogue of Books on Indian Cinema (Point of View) published by National Book Trust, India to promote translations of books on Indian cinema and for bringing together the book culture and mass media culture.”
Here’s a tete-a-tete with the author:
Vandana Bhasin: Mr. Vikram, you have been associated with the literary field for more than two decades in some way or the other. How would you describe your journey as an author?
Kumar Vikram: It so happened that I started out my professional career in the editorial division of a publishing house, and as destiny would have it, I was asked to do a critical book on the poetry of T S Eliot. It was a big break for an editor-writer who was hardly 23 years old! Then I went on to write another book of ‘Short Essays’ for the same publishing house-Spectrum Books. However, I have not trained myself, rather deliberately, to churn out books as a matter of habit. My third book of essays has just been launched. I have been writing poetry, both in Hindi and English and have been published in all major magazines and journals. Though I have enough poems to publish two collections each of both Hindi and English poetry, yet my first collections are still in the making! That way, I may not be the best encouraging example for potential writers. However, I can only say that as a writer one has to strike a balance between the restlessness to write, and the patience to get published so that your output is received with dignity that is due to you.
Vandana Bhasin: Sir, you have articulated your words in the form of essays, as well as poetry in Hindi and English. Which genre/ language do you enjoy writing the most- the one that comes naturally to you?
Kumar Vikram: This is a complicated question. Essays and poetry have their own narrative structure, so it is not a question of preference but a matter of what kind of treatment you are looking for. If you wish to have some kind of research and opinion-based treatment of a given issue or topic, you go for the genre of essay, but in poetry you are expressing some intense emotions in a regulated and precise manner. In fact, to share with you, I wrote a long essay on Taj Mahal, which is included in my recent book ‘Men’s Lib and Other Literary, Cultural and Personal Essays’, and I covered a part of it in poetic form also where the wives of Shahjahan, other than Mumtaj Mahal, speak to him, and I was myself surprised with the effect.
Vandana Bhasin: Every writer, especially a poet, seeks a muse for his/ her pen. What is your inspiration for writing?
Kumar Vikram: The biggest inspiration is always to locate yourself in times that you live in and find an objective correlative of your own thoughts and emotions through poetry or other kind of writing. A writer or a poet at first addresses himself/herself only, and in the process finds an audience who are willing to share or partake his/her thoughts/ideas/emotions/visions.
Vandana Bhasin: In the digital age, the demand for physical content is diminishing day by day. The content published online has a wider and faster reach than the traditional way of printed books. How do you think a conservational writer who believes in printed words can compete with a contemporary writer who has a far greater reach on digital platforms?
Kumar Vikram: To tell you frankly, the shelf life as well as the dignity of the writer is still decided by the print medium. Despite all the digital space and platforms available, you are taken seriously as a writer or, so to say, a serious player in the playground of writing, only when you get published as an author of a printed book. So we need not be worried about it. In fact, the publishing industry, due to issues related to copyright and piracy, is not quite ready to take the kind of plunge it was expected to take in the realm of digital publishing. And that situation, despite all the hype created for digital content, is likely not going to change for quite a good period of time.
Vandana Bhasin: Some people believe that poetry is alive only among the literary fraternity. Do you agree with this? What can be done to ensure that poetry reaches the masses and is appreciated and embraced by the youth of the country?
Kumar Vikram: See, if we look at it dispassionately, serious literary poetry has always been created and appreciated within a select group of poets, writers, critics and other connoisseurs only, whether in the West or in our part of the world. Theatre, and later novels and short stories, have been more popular genres since they could create diction and stories that were more relatable to the wider masses. One can say that Premchand was always more popular and relatable to the masses than say, Nirala, because of the specific genre which they chose to write in. But poetry is perhaps the most ancient and most original form of literary expression, hence it has remained with human societies almost as a second skin. That is why, despite its seemingly invisible lack of acceptance/popularity, it is a genre that gets sustained by human societies rather unconsciously and we need not be worried about it.
