‘Cruel verses’ is how Sahitya Akademi Award winner K G Sankara Pillai described his poetry, reminiscences Santhosh Babu. A known figure through publications in weeklies like Samakalika Malayalam, this journalist-turned-poet releases his debut anthology titled Mathibhramathinte Kuthirakal (Horses of Illusion) after over two decades of practising the art. “Circumstances we go through create certain hallucinations which are very real to the person
experiencing it. Such encounters have been the trigger for me to take up this medium of poems,” Santhosh elaborates on his creative process, which reflects in the naming of his book that carries 89 pieces. As different from his journalistic writing—which addresses the society at large—the collection reflects on his personal life through a creative faculty.
Through life
Moulded as a writer by Kochi’s academic campuses like Maharaja’s College, this city-based author has won multiple accolades including the Abu Dhabi Social Centre Award for his short stories. The forty-something-year-old says that it’s his son, Siddharth Babu, who revived his art from the lethargy of a daily writing job. Siddharth sifted through his father’s poems from past five or six years and chose to divide it into three segments.
“The first section Peru Kotthia Ambu (Etched Arrow) features long compositions which needs a little brainstorming and the second Divine Comedy is a satirical commentary on society, politics and life and has a biblical touch. The last is Iruttilekkulla Vaathil (Door to Darkness) which has more anarchic elements,” says the Kendriya Vidyalaya student. Though
Santhosh does not endorse “mudravaakya kavithakal” (slogan poems), he believes that his lines encompass the woes of his generation, as seen in Ee Perumarathil which talks about the disillusioned fathers of the 1970s.
`150. Available at Blueberry Books
Details: 9061755656