Poetry does it in the Capital
5 Jan 2013 3:55 AM IST
Poetry doesn’t really have too many takers these days. But the Capital saw an exception to this when an IIT graduate released his book of poetry on New Year. Anil Verma, an IIT Delhi graduate and a senior technologist by profession, recently released his collection of poetry, Ek Mukt Jwar at the Hindi Bhawan.
Verma is a poet and playwright by passion and ‘sees magic and music in both mathematics and poetry’.
His book, Ek Mukt Jwar, chronicles his sensitivities between 1970 and 2010, reflecting the impressions and tribulations in the life of an empathetic engineer from India living in Sydney, Australia. Flowing between the two banks of physical and metaphysical, from the literal to the literate, this bilingual collection of poems and songs celebrates life and explores the layers of human emotions and relationships.
Born in Jaijore, a small village in Bihar, Verma completed his primary education, moved to Chapra where he topped the university in the intermediate science examination. He graduated in electrical engineering from IIT Delhi and completed his postgraduate in educational heuristics at the University of Wollongong in Australia.
‘The poems and songs celebrate life in its various moods and seasons. They reflect my journey from Jaijore, a small village in the state of Bihar to IIT Delhi, to spending 20 years in Sydney. Full of new experiences and learning, technology remained my vocation and poetry my avocation. I have often felt mathematics and poetry emanate from the same source. They both deal with the truth, seek patterns, symmetry, waves and symphony; and they both pulsate with intrinsic beauty and discipline,’ said Verma.
Why a bilingual format though? ‘Agreeing to translate poems and songs from one language to another is like walking a tightrope, trying to balance meaning, form, colour, tradition, rhythm. I took up this challenge heeding to requests of friends in the international audience who wanted to relate more with these poems.’
Verma is a poet and playwright by passion and ‘sees magic and music in both mathematics and poetry’.
His book, Ek Mukt Jwar, chronicles his sensitivities between 1970 and 2010, reflecting the impressions and tribulations in the life of an empathetic engineer from India living in Sydney, Australia. Flowing between the two banks of physical and metaphysical, from the literal to the literate, this bilingual collection of poems and songs celebrates life and explores the layers of human emotions and relationships.
Born in Jaijore, a small village in Bihar, Verma completed his primary education, moved to Chapra where he topped the university in the intermediate science examination. He graduated in electrical engineering from IIT Delhi and completed his postgraduate in educational heuristics at the University of Wollongong in Australia.
‘The poems and songs celebrate life in its various moods and seasons. They reflect my journey from Jaijore, a small village in the state of Bihar to IIT Delhi, to spending 20 years in Sydney. Full of new experiences and learning, technology remained my vocation and poetry my avocation. I have often felt mathematics and poetry emanate from the same source. They both deal with the truth, seek patterns, symmetry, waves and symphony; and they both pulsate with intrinsic beauty and discipline,’ said Verma.
Why a bilingual format though? ‘Agreeing to translate poems and songs from one language to another is like walking a tightrope, trying to balance meaning, form, colour, tradition, rhythm. I took up this challenge heeding to requests of friends in the international audience who wanted to relate more with these poems.’
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