Says the renowned Gujarati poet, Dileep Jhaveri, in a long discussion with GSP Rao, “Literature in particular has maintained fidelity to life unwaveringly. Both the human existence and common man have remained central to its design. While eulogizing God, religion or royalty the human focus has been constant.”

Travelogue-writer Ganesh Saili and translator Srinivas Sistla too are engaged in chats by Swapan Banerjee and GSP Rao. A tribute to Vinda Karandikar by Charanjeet Kaur and an essay on IWE by Gargi Bhattacharya complete the section.

Ashoka Sen’s ‘Scents of Marigolds’ is a captivating account of the escapades of a sweet and carefree little girl during the Second World War. 

How a young product of MIT, believer in Darwinian theories but not in God and destiny, makes a volte face is dealt with in Ashok Patwari’s ‘Retreat.’ 

Barnali Saha depicts the agonizing tale of a young widow, humiliated and brutalized, in the name of tradition, in ‘The Ill Omen.’

Read the peregrination of an artist-cum-poet who cocktails his wine, god, and woman in Paul Mohan Roy’s translation of ‘Hey! guy, you are telling me lies.’

Reviewing Sistla’s English rendering of Amuktamalyada, the noted scholar Prema Nandakumar writes, “He has indeed removed at one stroke the iron curtain that separated Telugu classics from the outside world. The very fact that he has managed to perform single-handedly the work of the translator, editor and publisher in this excellent manner deserves unqualified commendation.”

The other reviews are by Ambika Ananth, Anand Mahanand and PK Das, and Geeta Sahai.

Read Anita Satyajit’s moving lines in Colour of my Skin, among other poems-

My palm snuggles into yours / night struggling to hold the luminous moon /
Dark, I hear them whisper / dusky, I hear you say. 

HRK, Oindri Sengupta, Robert Bohm, Simran Multani, Susmita Srivastava, Tayenjam Singh, Torsa Ghosal and Vinod Narayan are the other poets featured, along with prize winners of ‘Your Space.’