Keki N. Daruwalla
Encyclopedia
Keki N. Daruwalla is a major India
n poet
and short story writer in English language. He has written over 12 books and published his first novel "For Pepper and Christ" in 2009. He is also a former IPS
officer, who retired as Additional Director in the Research and Analysis Wing
(RAW).
He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award
, in 1984 for his poetry collection, "The Keeper of the Dead", by the Sahitya Akademi
, India's National Academy of Letters.
, his family left Punjab while his elder brother stayed back, and moved to Junagadh
in Gujarat, then to Rampur
. As a result he grew up studying in various schools and mediums and started writing short stories in school.
He obtained his master's degree in English Literature
from Government College, Ludhiana, University of Punjab.
He joined the Indian Police Service
(IPS) in 1958, and eventually becoming a Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on International Affairs. He subsequently was in the Cabinet Secretariat until his retirement.
His first book of poetry was Under Orion which was published by Writers Workshop
, India in 1970. He then went on to publish his second collection Apparition in April in 1971 for which he was given the Uttar Pradesh
State Award in 1972.
He won the Sahitya Akademi Award
, given by the Sahitya Akademi
, India's National Academy of Letters, in 1984. He received Commonwealth Poetry Prize for Asia
in 1987. Nissim Ezekiel
comments "Daruwall has the energy of the lion". He is president of The Poetry Society of India, and is presently based in Delhi
.
's Bollywood
film Refugee
is attributed to have been inspired by the famous story by Keki N. Daruwalla based around the Great Rann of Kutch titled "LOVE ACROSS THE SALT DESERT" which is also included as one of the short stories in the School Standard XII syllabus English text book of NCERT in India.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and short story writer in English language. He has written over 12 books and published his first novel "For Pepper and Christ" in 2009. He is also a former IPS
Indian Police Service
The Indian Police Service , simply known as Indian Police or IPS, is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India...
officer, who retired as Additional Director in the Research and Analysis Wing
Research and Analysis Wing
The Research and Analysis Wing is India's external intelligence agency. It was formed in September 1968 after the poor performance of the Intelligence Bureau in the Sino-Indian war of 1962 and the India-Pakistani war of 1965 convinced the then government of India that a specialized, independent...
(RAW).
He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...
, in 1984 for his poetry collection, "The Keeper of the Dead", by the Sahitya Akademi
Sahitya Akademi
The Sahitya Akademi ', India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India...
, India's National Academy of Letters.
Early life and education
Keki Nasserwanji Daruwalla was born in loni,burhanpur (now in loni, burhanpur), in 1937. His father N.C. Daruwalla, was an eminent professor, who taught in loni institute of literature (LIL). After the PartitionPartition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
, his family left Punjab while his elder brother stayed back, and moved to Junagadh
Junagadh
Junagadh is the headquarters of Junagadh district in the Indian state of Gujarat. The city is the 7th largest in Gujarat. The city is located at the foot of the Girnar hills, 355 km south west of state capital Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad. The city is in western India. Literally translated,...
in Gujarat, then to Rampur
Rampur
The name Rampur, together with the variations Ramapur, Ramapura and Ramapuram, may refer to:-Bangladesh:* Rampur Boalia, a medieval region near the present city of Rajshahi, in northwestern Bangladesh west of bangladesjh-India:...
. As a result he grew up studying in various schools and mediums and started writing short stories in school.
He obtained his master's degree in English Literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
from Government College, Ludhiana, University of Punjab.
Career
He joined the Indian Police Service
Indian Police Service
The Indian Police Service , simply known as Indian Police or IPS, is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India...
(IPS) in 1958, and eventually becoming a Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on International Affairs. He subsequently was in the Cabinet Secretariat until his retirement.
His first book of poetry was Under Orion which was published by Writers Workshop
Writers Workshop
Writers Workshop is a Calcutta-based literary publisher founded by the poet-professor P. Lal in 1958. Over the next few decades it published many new authors in urban literature of the post-independence period. These authors later became big names.-History:...
, India in 1970. He then went on to publish his second collection Apparition in April in 1971 for which he was given the Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
State Award in 1972.
He won the Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...
, given by the Sahitya Akademi
Sahitya Akademi
The Sahitya Akademi ', India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India...
, India's National Academy of Letters, in 1984. He received Commonwealth Poetry Prize for Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
in 1987. Nissim Ezekiel
Nissim Ezekiel
' was an Indian Jewish poet, playwright, editor and art-critic. He was a foundational figure in postcolonial India's literary history, specifically for Indian writing in English....
comments "Daruwall has the energy of the lion". He is president of The Poetry Society of India, and is presently based in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
.
Books
- Under Orion. Writers WorkshopWriters WorkshopWriters Workshop is a Calcutta-based literary publisher founded by the poet-professor P. Lal in 1958. Over the next few decades it published many new authors in urban literature of the post-independence period. These authors later became big names.-History:...
, India. 1970 - Apparition in April. Writers WorkshopWriters WorkshopWriters Workshop is a Calcutta-based literary publisher founded by the poet-professor P. Lal in 1958. Over the next few decades it published many new authors in urban literature of the post-independence period. These authors later became big names.-History:...
, 1971. - Sword & abyss: a collection of short stories. Vikas Pub., 1979.
- Winter poems. Allied PublishersAllied PublishersAllied Publishers is a India-based academic and literary publishing house, established in 1934 by M. Graham Brash, the Company was acquired by the late Mr. R.N.Sachdev, founder Chairman of Allied Publishers in 1947. A wholly Indian management publishing company which operates from Mumbai and New...
, 1980. - The Keeper of the Dead. Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 1982. - Crossing of rivers. Oxford Univ. Press, 1985.
- Landscapes. Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 1987. - A summer of tigers: poems. Indus, 1995. ISBN 8172232012.
- The Minister for Permanent unrest & other stories. Orient Blackswan, 1996. ISBN 8175300043.
- Night river: poems. Rupa & Co., 2000. ISBN 8171674801.
- The Map-maker: Poems. Orient Blackswan, 2002. ISBN 8175300485.
- The Scarecrow and the Ghost. Rupa & Co., 2004. ISBN 8129104229.
- A House in Ranikhet. Rupa & Co, 2003. ISBN 8171679617.
- Collected Poems ( 1970-2005). (Poetry in English). Penguin BooksPenguin BooksPenguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
India., 2006. ISBN 9780143062004
In popular culture
J. P. DuttaJ. P. Dutta
Jyoti Prakash Dutta is an Indian Bollywood film producer and director. Mr. Dutta produces his films under the banner of JP Films. He is known for directing many patriotic war films and films in the action genre...
's Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
film Refugee
Refugee (film)
Refugee is a Bollywood film directed by J. P. Dutta, released on 30 June 2000. The film marked the debut of Abhishek Bachchan, son of legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan, and Kareena Kapoor, the sister of actress Karisma Kapoor and part of the famous Kapoor family. Jackie Shroff, Sunil Shetty and...
is attributed to have been inspired by the famous story by Keki N. Daruwalla based around the Great Rann of Kutch titled "LOVE ACROSS THE SALT DESERT" which is also included as one of the short stories in the School Standard XII syllabus English text book of NCERT in India.
Further reading
- Critical spectrum: the poetry of Keki N. Daruwalla. by F. A. Inamdar. Mittal Publications, 1991. ISBN 817099313X.
- Keki N. Daruwalla: assessment as a poet, by Ram Ayodhya Singh. Prakash Book Depot, 1992.
- The poetry of Keki N. Daruwalla: a critical study, by Ravi Nandan Sinha. B.R. Pub. Corp., 2002. ISBN 8176462942.
Online Poetry
- About Keki Daruwalla and his poems
- The South Asian Literary Recordings Project
- His Poetry from Landscapes
- Fire Hymn
External links
See also
- Indian English LiteratureIndian English literatureIndian English literature refers to the body of work by writers in India who write in the English language and whose native or co-native language could be one of the numerous languages of India. It is also associated with the works of members of the Indian diaspora, such as V.S...
- Indian Writing in English