'Many Indian writers could have walked away with Nobel'

Malayalam poet K Satchidanandan, whose name is doing the rounds for year’s Nobel Prize for literature, said on Tuesday he is happy his name has been considered for the world’s biggest literary prize.

“What I rate as the biggest honour is the fact that my name has been included in a list that contains the greatest writers of our times. It is a recognition for Indian literature,” the 65-year-old poet told DNA from Kochi where he is leading a poetry camp organised by the Sahitya Academy.  The prize will be announced on October 6.

However, he said he could not vouch for the veracity of the list that named him as probable for the Nobel. “What I understand is that the Nobel Prize committee would never reveal the names of the writers being considered for the honour. Some of my friends sent me URLs of news reports regarding this year’s nominations published by some broking firms,” he said.

Besides Satchidanandan, Rajasthani short story writer Vijaydan Detha, Swedish poet Tomas Transtroemer, Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, Kenya's Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Korean poet Ko Un and China’s Bei Dao are being named as  other probables.

Satchidanandan said Bei Dao, Transtroemer and Thiongo are his friends and he has translated some of their works. “It is a great feeling being told that I am also one of the probables. It is sad that no Indian has been honoured with the Prize after Rabindranath Tagore. There were many writers in Indian languages who could have just walked away with the Nobel Prize,” he said.

More than a poet, Satchidanandan is at home as an academician. “He is not a popular poet and his poems are meant only for the elite. Well, he represents the group of ultra modern poets for whom poetry is some kind of profession. One may not find sweetness, sincerity or soul in such poems. Still, it is good that an Indian writer is being considered for the Nobel,” said PK Sreenivasan, literary critic .

Sreenivasan could not be faulted. For, Satchidanandan is not a poet in the conventional mould. He wears jeans and T Shirts, drives around swanky cars and spends evenings as a tennis player.

What makes him unique is his contribution in bringing world literature to Malayalam. More than his poems, Satchidanandan will be remembered for his translations and travelogues. In a career spanning four decades, Satchidanandan has authored 30 books on poetry (which include The First Lesson, My Poems, Geets and Gazals), a full-length play on Gandhi and more than 20 books on criticism.

VK Rajasekharan, a new generation critic, feels Satchidanandan deserves the honour. “If the winners of the last 10 years are any yardstick, Satchidanandan stands taller than them in all respects.

It was he who took the initiative in convincing the western lobby that there are much better English writers in India than in other English speaking countries. I will not be surprised if he wins the award,” he said.