Every connoisseur would know that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions recollected in tranquility, as Coleridge spoke of Wordsworth’s craft. I am not sure how many of its practitioners, mostly women, who gathered at the Athena Hall of Kottayam’s Aida Hotel for a poetry conclave recently were privy to it. Hope I am wrong.

‘I started writing poetry at the age of 12,’ testified Annie George of Mahatma Gandhi University, who was the soul behind the conclave in celebration of her 40 years of passion for writing. Having obtained her dancing lessons from her guru in Viswabharati, schooling in Durgapur, Masters in Kerala and teaching stint in Kuwait and Kerala, she had her classic anthology ‘De-Stressing’ brought out in 2015 by the Writers Workshop Calcutta led by the illustrious poet, editor and publisher P. Lal. This is how it is:

Elizabeth Kurian ‘Mona’ and her latest Malayalam anthology

DE-STRESSING  

‘Breaking a coconut is a fine way to de-stress
De-husking a coconut brings benefits with it
If you are seething with anger, break a coconut.
If you are not happy with the result, scrape it out,
and if you are distressed, squeeze it out.
And if you’re still burning, cool yourself out
With a tender one and oil your head to sleep’

Fr. Dr KM George, with Prof. Sebastian Brock  in Oxford; his latest anthology

However, her most important work ‘Roots and Wings’, a 360-page ‘Anthology of Indian Women Writing in English,’ she co-edited with SN Sandhya, came out in 2011.  Modelled on Oxford Anthology Women Poets, it comprises select poems of 42 women from the length and breadth of the country.

The writers Pankajam, Jacob, Maria, Wadia, Mona, Chakravarty, Agarwal, Acharya, Dasgupta, Sripada, Kaur, Banerjee, Sakhya, Nallathampy, Ray, Biswas, Tandon, Mishra, Zakeer, Dey, Naik, Saha, Sood, Grover, Sunkuru and Mehrein reinstate the anthology’s abiding pan-India colour.  

  Chief Sec Joy Vazhayil holds Roots and Wings as a mark of 40 years of devotion to writing by Annie George

To my pleasant surprise, I found a number of the Bengali poets in Roots and Wings like Sharmila Ray and Naina Dey still making rounds in Poetry Concave in Calcutta. The late TP Rajeevan also became a poster boy for one of the Conclaves. The 26th edition of the get-together in 2022 was hosted by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations on Ho Chi Min Sarani.

An English translation of a collection of poems by VR Santhosh on TK Padmini’s paintings is Annie’s latest work in the pipeline. Savithri Rajeevan has done its Foreward.

     Geetha, Jayasingh, Noushad, Fr Jacob Thekkeparapil,  Kurup, Aniamma, Binoy

Day after Vishu when Kottayam conclave was brought to order, Sarala Ramkamal’s presence had something special. A poet who runs Chakshumathi org and Bookshare initiative among others in Trivandrum, a cake was cut to celebrate her birthday.   

Elizabeth Kurian from Hyderabad, famous as the Centre of India with its myriad cultures and languages was another attraction. She writes Urdu ghazals with the pen name of Mona. Her 17th vol, an English rendering of PK Parakkadavu’s mini stories ‘Portrait of Love’ was released by the chief guest Dr, Joy Vazhayil, the chief secretary of Kerala, who is also poet by his own right. 

Filial bond: Annie and son Roshan at the conclave

Fr. Dr. KM George who is an ecologist and theologian, writer, poet and painter combined, read a few stanzas from two of his latest anthologies in Malayalam and English. Peripatetic as Socrates, he had just returned from the United Kingdom where he attended the 85th birthday of noted Syriac professor Sebastian Brock at Campion Hall, Oxford.

Fr. Dr. Jacob Thekkeparambil, Director of the Syriac research centre SEERI in Kottayam, busy with organizing the 10th International Conference on Syriac in September, sang a Syriac liturgical couplet in its mellifluous best.

 De-Stressing, Annie’s classic work by P. Lal’s Writers Workshop of Calcutta

Dr. Aniamma Joseph, rtd Prof of English, spoke of her efforts to bring together women writers and readers under the umbrella of her NGO ‘Aksharasthree’. They are into publishing also with 52 books already out.  With a PhD on Pulitzer Prize winning American novelist Willa Cather, she visited Lincoln University in Red Cloud and Nebraska in 2005 to present a paper on Cather.  

Dr. Raju Vallikunnam, G. Sreekumar, V. Geetha,  JT Jayasingh, PA Noushad, JR Kurup, PJ Benoy and Raghunath Kuncheerath also joined the conclave.

Rebecca Baby Ipe with family, her debut anthology in English

‘The Crimson & the Sepia’, the debut English anthology by Rebecca Baby Ipe was also launched recently at a packed hall of the 140 year old Kottayam Public Library.  Cine director Jayaraj who released the book said the writer’s nostalgia and childhood memories of the town and its suburbs that nurtured her have been recreated in the book as a beautiful painting.   

‘The book is partly a mural of a time past, of life in Thazhathangadi, Kottayam and the culture that flourished there. It is also a framed modern art with bold strokes modelled on changed mind sets and societal norms stained with blood.’ said Jayaraj in his Preface to the book.

Director Jayaraj launches  Rebecca’s The Crimson & Sepia

‘When I read some of the poems by Rebecca, Shanty Ma’m to me as she was called by my children who were her students, nostalgia overwhelms me and memories of long lost life experiences and unique individuals flash back like framed old photographs in sepia. This is why I long for these framed colours to remain adorning the walls of Time. Shanty Ma’m unlocks a fragrant  spice casket of heady memories, each compartment with contents of varied tints and scents.’

Release of Rebecca book at Kottayam Public Library Hall

Script writer Sanjy Cherian, a student of Rebecca, who received the first copy from Jayaraj, spoke emotionally about the bond and affection he had developed of his favourite teacher-poet. Library President Abraham Ittycheria in his felicitation invited the readers for a nostalgic tour of the unpaved roads of the past and experience the thrill of meeting some of the uncanny characters Rebecca had breathed into life.

Last but not least, it is my pleasure to introduce another debut anthology-‘Jalanagarathile Vandi’ in Malayalam by Sheeja Vivekanandan of Cherthala. It was released by novelist Francis Noronha by presenting the first copy to poet S. Joseph. Its venue was the library hall of the Chavara Cultural Centre, Ernakulam.

Francis Noronha presents Sheeja Vivekanandan’s maiden anthology to S. Joseph

‘In a lake of silence, word rises to the skies,’ says VT Jayadevan in his Foreward. ‘It touched me like the song of Vannathipullu ‘buddy I am here’ when I was away in a forlorn land faced with a crisis of unfamiliarity…A person who realises writing is her path is like a flowering tree that requires no praise or felicitation.’      

Sheeja and her dream work

Sheeja’s range is astounding-from Haiku-like Kitchen Musings to Puzha, Nadanam, Malakayattam, Patna and Biennale. 

A retired Higher Secondary teacher, Sheeja comes from a family of great literary heritage. Her father Vaikom Vivekanandan is a well known novelist, his younger brother Vaikom Madhu a journalist turned linguist and author and her own daughter Nami an accomplished Bharatnatyam artiste of Rukmini Devi Arundale’s Kalakshetra in Chennai.

 Sheeja book release at Ernakulam: a cross section of audience.