Sense of fear appears to have gripped the society : poet

Jayanta Mohapatra, the first Indian to win the Sahitya Akademi for English poetry, has said that a sense of fear appears to have gripped the society as the situation has undergone change in recent times.

What sounded illogical (earlier) has become logical today. I dont like it, he said on Sunday referring obliquely to the current situation in the country which is often marked by protests by students and others and face-offs with the police.

The situation is not what it was a few years ago. The sense of freedom which I used to experience personally has disappeared. A sense of fear appears to have gripped the society, Mohapatra said at a Face to Face programme of a literary festival of the SOA deemed university here.

He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2009 but had returned it in 2015 to protest against the rising intolerance in India. He had won the Sahitya Akademi award in 1981.

The 91-year-old poet walked down the memory lane and expressed his love for nature, specially sunshine.

I always wait for sunshine to light up my life, he said adding he did not like the idea of an overcast sky.

Asked about his daily routine, the poet said he spends his time learning new words, something that he did as a youngster too.

Recalling his foray into creative writing, Mohapatra, who taught physics for long years, said he began writing short stories at the age of 22 but the editors to whom he forwarded his stories for publication had returned them. Finally The Illustrated Weekly of India under the editorship of late Khuswant Singh gave him a break by choosing to publish his writings.

I never ever wanted to be a poet, but perhaps my experience of an unhappy childhood made me a poet, Mohapatra said adding he didnt write for himself but for others.

If my works have touched ten people, I am happy, he added.