As a poet, Vinod Kumar Shukla wishes to retain a meticulous record and also to create a body of knowledge. The subject of this activity is his, and other things', relationship to the universe, whichever bit of the universe preoccupies Shukla at that moment: a kitchen, a lane, a bus-stop, or a market. A persistent logic characterises the poetry, as well as a language that's mathematical-scientific in scope, never neglecting the benefits of using tautology ('The blurred tree was exactly like a tree') or reiterating the obvious ('Inside the prison is Nelson Mandela'). Throughout the work glimmers a liberating fact that lies outside the remit of mathematics: the universe and our place in it are unknowable. The poet arrives at no illumination; we do.

One can hardly think of a record in literature that possesses a comparable uniqueness, or of a body of knowledge that's as indispensable.

About the Author

Vinod Kumar Shukla was born in Rajnandgaon, in central India, in 1937. After doing his M.Sc. in Agricultural Extension, he taught at Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur, from where he retired in 1996. His first publication, in 1971, was a poetry chapbook Lagbhag Jai Hind (Hail India, Almost). He has since published more than a dozen books that include poetry, fiction and books for children. His first novel Naukar ki Kameez (1979, translated as The Servant's Shirt by Satti Khanna in 1999), was made into a film by Mani Kaul and won the 1999 NETPAC Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Among Shukla's many awards are the Sahitya Akademi Award and the 2023 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature.

About the Translator

Arvind Krishna Mehrotra is a novelist, poet, essayist and musician.

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