BY ARTI DAS
Mr Ramesh Veluskar, a name synonymous with Goa’s literary world, has added another feather to his hat – his latest book of Hindi poems titled, ‘Samudramudrika’.
It will be formally released on March 29 at 5 p.m. at the Institute Menezes Braganza Art Gallery, Panaji at the hands of writer, Dr Suresh Amonkar.
Mr Veluskar believes that it is his close connection to the Hindi language that drew him to write the poems. “I find a closeness to this language and that is very important when one is writing. I find there are lots of similarities between Hindi and Marathi or even Konkani, even the script (Devnagri) is the same,” said Mr Veluskar who has proved his mettle through various books on poetry in Marathi and Konkani and his novels.
In his opinion Hindi is indeed the national language as it is easily understood by everyone. People of India may speak different languages but culturally they are the same as they all talk about the same aspects of life.
The 100-odd paged book contains around 55 poems covering various topics. “The title of my book means a stamp of ocean. There are many poems in the book dealing with the sea or ocean. Then there are other poems that make social remarks on various issues. Like in one poem that speaks about the rabbit and tortoise folk tale I have commented that these folk tales needs to be changed with the times,” explains Mr Veluskar who believes that the inspiration for these poems came to him by observing the sea itself.
Mr Veluskar’s tryst with Hindi is very old as he grew up reading Hindi books. He has recently translated selected poems by Brazilian writer, Carlos Drummond de Andrade into Hindi.
Writing comes to him naturally. To him it is a strong medium of expression and communication. Even so, Mr Veluskar felt that it was tough to make a living out of writing. Commenting that some people write for awards, he was emphatic in making his point that this was not the right way to grow as a writer. “A real writer does not go for awards. One who bothers about awards is a weak writer,” said Mr Veluskar, who won the prestigious Sahitya Academy Award for his book ‘Saul Gori’ in 1990. He opined that the work of the writer should speak for itself.
