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| Ranu Uniyal reading her poem. |
- Brian Mendonca
Spent a languid afternoon today laced with poetry. The reason for this mehfil was that Ranu Uniyal, bilingual poet, and my friend, from Lucknow was in town.
Twenty years ago in 2004 we had shared the pages of volume 221 of Indian Literature - the literary journal of the Sahitya Akademi. I had also visited Lucknow and tapped at her door, saying I had read her poems.
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| The book that brought us together. |
And now she was in Goa. I gave Leonard a tinkle last night and he agreed to host her today at 3 p.m. Dogears - his charming book store in Margao. Just like that. He had an F. N. Souza launch lined up at 5 but he still managed to slip it in.
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| Leonard presents the Kunbi weave. |
I hadn't had much time to peruse Ranu's poems - she was going to be in conversation with me - but I was banking on my white Lucknowi Chikankari cotton kurta to see me through.
Leonard introduced us at 3.05. He presented each of us a gorgeous red sash of the exclusive Goan Kunbi weave as a memento.
Saturday at 3 p.m. seemed so right. Ranu was so at home for the interactive session. She was in her element as she read her poems. She opened with Saeeda kay Ghar (2021) which is an account of a friendship ripped apart by communal violence. This is a recent poem when there were riots in Nathdwara. Ranu wrote it when she was away in Hull, UK. A poet must respond to these things, she said, and create a culture of kindness.
When asked how she transits between being a poet and a professor, she said they complement each other. You don't do poetry for a living, but you live poetry. Poetry helps me retain my sanity, she said. About poetry being her favorite genre, she countered, 'Does one have a choice?
She stepped up the pace with her poem 'Sadak' delivering the lines with felicity and movement - like a pavement.
She regaled us to terse 3-liners in Hindi and Urdu called Shanikaye. She gladly provided the meaning for some of the lines.
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| Ranu, Leonard, and myself. |
She also read her poem on Goa in Hindi, trying to capture the allure of Goa on her. She finds Goa 'surreal' with the sound of the sea, its warmth, its cleanliness, and its good roads. She visits Goa often, and was here in Jan this year for the Purple Fest.
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| Poetry lovers. |
She dedicated her poem 'Kamala Das to Judith Wright' to all women on Mother's Day tomorrow. She also read from her collection The Day We Went Strawberry Picking in Scarborough (2018, translated into Spanish 2020).
Ranu edits Rhetorica - a literary journal with students of Lucknow University. It helps to keep them busy, as there are so many distractions these days, she says.
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| Ranu with a copy of 'Knife' by Salman Rushdie. |
In the Q&A session she encouraged all to write. A mother wanted advice to put together a book of poems written for her son. Ranu applauded the gesture. One person wanted to know how it was possible to write with such equanimity on personal topics like in poems titled 'Hard to Find' and 'Travelling with Papa'. Ranu said one has to be honest about life. It recalled Krishnamurthi's tenet, 'To be vulnerable is to live, to withdraw is to die. '
She ended with her poem 'Kindness is All'. 'Kindness is an urn,' she wrote, drawing inspiration from Keats' 'Ode to a Grecian Urn.' We have little time on earth. Let's use it to spread goodness.
When asked how she sees the future, she replied disarmingly, 'I am nothing. I live in the moment. I owe everything to God.' No one knows when it may all end, she said, picking up her phone and dropping it down on the table with a clatter.
Ranu was accompanied by her husband Dr. Naval Pant, and son Mukund who were riveted to the reading.
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Photos and video by Queenie Mendonca. Poetey lovers pic and Kunbi weave pic by Dogears. Last photo by Mr. Uniyal. Location courtesy Dogears bookshop, Margao, Goa. Updated 12/5/24.
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