Arun Kolatkar

Widely regarded as one of the great Indian poets of the 20th century, Arun Kolatkar was born in Kolhapur, Maharashtra in 1931. Kolatkar let two lives, not just as a art director in the field of advertising but also as a poet. He also operated in both English and Marathi, a fact he ruminated upon himself in his poetry.

I have a pen in my possession

which writes in 2 languages but draws in one

My pencil is sharpened at both ends I use one to write in Marathi the other in English

what I write with one end comes out as English what I write with the other end comes out as Marathi

His first book in English, Jejuri, a sequence of 31 poems about a trip to the temple town of the same name propelled him to national consciousness. In 1969, his interest in Beatles, Bob Dylan and Blues music leads to him trying his hand at song lyrics. In 1973, with the intention of wanting to break into the international pop scene, he wrote a demo of four songs.

Further Reading:

• Collected Poems in English Edited By Arvind Krishna Mehrotra