Sharjah24: Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) is the playground of literary giants and their creations, and the 43rd edition is no different in its celebration of poets, novelists and all forms of literature. An enriching hour-long discussion and poetry recital called “Kavya Sandhya (Night of Poetry): Lyrical Luminaries & Rhythms & Rhymes” by two stalwarts from Malayalam literature – Rafeeq Ahamed and PP Ramachandran – transported the audience to a state of trance and enlightenment. The discussions were interspersed with the singing or recital of their popular poems by three youngsters.
Both poets are winners of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry, while Ahamed is a prolific lyricist for Malayalam movies and has won six State awards for his lyrics. While Ahamed termed the energy derived from books equal to a hike in the Himalayas and the scent of new books akin to the smell of soil after the first rain of a season, Ramachandran – on his second visit to SIBF after a 10-year gap -- compared it to the fragrance of a bunch of flowers just plucked from a tree.
A recital of Ahamed’s poem that became a famous movie song -- “When death comes, will you please sit beside me for a while” -- made him reminisce how the poem first published in a literary magazine and went almost unnoticed became a sensation after he lent the poem to be used in the movie “Spirit”. The poet whose chosen vehicle is a cycle narrated how a close-fisted cycle shopkeeper gifted him a cycle when he learnt that he was the poet behind the song.
The poem on pouring rain, he said, was based on the death of a child he knew. While climate change and floods have changed perception of rain in Kerala in recent times, he remembered that there was a romance and beauty associated with rains in the minds of the people of Kerala.
Ramachandran, a schoolteacher by profession, remembered how a class of unruly boys went silent when he recited Ahamed’s poem on rain and had tears in their eyes. His poems have a streak of modernity and unconventionality – such as the one comparing mangoes and Frooti mango drink following a train journey with his daughter or the one on cycles after a visit to Amsterdam. A well-known poem is Folded Hands inspired by a visit to Qutub Minar in New Delhi during a poetry fest.
Both poets, who dabble with drawing along with penning poems, said they continue to write about issues that matter in contemporary India but felt that nobody reads poetry seriously now. The packed hall at SIBF gave them hope that poetry still has its fans.
The poets followed up the session -- anchored by Shabu Kilithattil of Hit FM -- with book signing of their anthology of poems.
SIBF 2024 comes to a close on November 17 after a 12-day cultural extravaganza.
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