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| Sohail Hashmi, Amit Ranjan, Sonya Gupta and myself releasing Jasmine City in Delhi. |
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| Invitation card for the book release. |
- Brian Mendonca
13 years after we left Delhi, we returned today to release my book of poems on the city. This was a project that was biding its time, and when COVID came I used the time to pull the book through.
This is my third self-published book of poems. Right from the request for the ISBN to the art work, the editing, the printing, and finally bringing the book to Delhi, it was a labour of love. Kallol Majumder, the illustrator for the book, designed a beautiful invitation card.
We booked our tickets to come here in May, during the summer vacation, despite the heat.
My friend Shobhan Saxena suggested we invite heritage activist Sohail Hashmi to release the book. I was reading Halla Bol at that time on the death and life of his brother Safdar Hashmi.
Sohail delivered a riveting presentation on the poetic heritage of Delhi from the time it was sacked by Nadir Shah 1739, with special reference to contemporary poetry on Delhi in English. He dwelt on the contexts of Urdu poets like Mir, Ghalib, Zauf and Basheer Badr. He read my poem '1321' and explained the history of Tughlakabad fort.
Ms. Sonya Gupta, academic and translator, was present for the launch of my second book A Peace of India: Poems in Transit (2011) in Dilli Haat, opposite AIIMS on 17 April 2011. On the 19th we flew to Goa with our little bundle of joy, all of 3 months.
Sonya spoke about how the poems include the often marginalized sections of society. She loved the love poems in the collection and asked me to read 'Call Me. '
I had met Amit Ranjan at GALF 2023. Browsing among the books, we struck an instant rapport. I had asked him to write the foreword to my book which despite his father's illness, he did. It was poet Rochelle Potkar who brought us together.
Amit was uneasy with the romanticization of Delhi, because conditions in Delhi - like the extreme weather and the traffic - are harsh. With a book on Dara Shikoh on the anvil he appreciated the poem in which I alluded to Dara titled 'On the Wye. ' Amit read a poem on me called 'Brine in your Eye' written during his stay in Goa and his rambles in Colva.
Meeting with all my friends after all these years was a great joy. Rajan Barrett travelled to Delhi from Vadodra specially for the launch. Anjali Albuquerque, my cousin from Mumbai, was delighted to be present enroute to Meerut.
Robinson Raju, who hosted me at St. Stephen's college, Delhi decades ago, compered the evening with elan. My friend Shilpa Chowdhary proposed the vote of thanks. Each of the speakers was presented with a potted plant selected by Queenie from the nursery at the army cantonment at Saket Vihar.
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Pic taken at the conference room, YMCA tourist hostel building, 1 Jai Singh road, Near Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on 20 May 2024. Updated 17/10/24.
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