ABOUT THE POEMS Central Delhi now seems merely a neatly laid out city of government abutting the old walled city. But in and around the architectural work of Lutyens one may imagine the ghosts of many governments past. In these poems by Abhay Kumar, a cavalcade of disenchanted spectres walk the streets of Delhi, and the long passage of centuries has not diminished the regret or rancour of their thoughts. Till time itself has come to an end, it appears, they will continue to broadcast their claims about legitimacy, treachery, history and fate.
Side by side, in another landscape, Russia, the souls of Nikolai Gogol and Fyodor Dostoevsky wander, one dispersed amongst his fictional creations, the other towering like a colossus over his own body of work and aflame with the drama of both life and literature.
Dara Shikoh
COMMENT