Civil services was my profession through these years, but poetry remained my passion - Sitakant Mahapatra

[Stories and Poetry from the Room of IAS Officers]

'Poetry comes from the soul and it can be written in your mother tongue'

Sitakant Mahapatra (born 17 September 1937) is an eminent Indian poet and literary critic in Odia as well as English. He was in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) since 1961 until retiring in 1995, and has held ex officio posts such as the Chairman of National Book Trust, New Delhi since then. He has published over 15 poetry collection, 5 essay collections, a travelogue, over 30 contemplative works, apart from numerous translations. His poetry collection has been published in several Indian languages. His notable works are, Sabdar Akash (1971) (The Sky of Words), Samudra (1977) and Anek Sharat (1981). He was awarded the 1974 Sahitya Akademi Award in Odia for his poetry collection, Sabdara Akasha (The Sky of Words). He was awarded the Jnanpith Award in 1993 "for outstanding contribution to Indian literature" and in its citation the Bharatiya Jnanpith noted, "Deeply steeped in western literature his pen has the rare rapturous fragrance of native soil"; he was also awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2002 and Padma Vibhushan in 2011 for literature apart from winning the Soviet Land Nehru Award, Kabeer Samman and several other prestigious awards.

Awards

Orissa Sahitya Academy Award - 1971 and 1984
Sahitya Akademi Award - 1974
Sarala Award - 1985
Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary honour - 1993
Padma Bhushan (the third highest civilian award of India)- 2003
Padma Vibhushan (the second highest civilian award of India) - 2010
Sahitya Akademi Fellow - 2013
SAARC Literary Award - 2015
Tagore Peace Award - 2017

Back when he was pursuing his Master’s in Political Science from Allahabad University, this Cuttack-born poet made a bold promise — to write poetry only in Odia, a promise which still holds true. We call it bold because back in the day, that would have limited his readership. But as they say, there is no limiting the greats. He went on to win a slew of awards and honours, including the Sahitya Akademi Award, Padma Bhushan and the most recent, Padma Vibhushan, which led to a more widespread translation of his works. Particularly, in all Indian languages and several foreign languages too, including Hebrew, Japanese, Danish and many others. Though he has written travelogues (“though I am very well-travelled, I won’t call myself a globetrotter. I have been to every continent except South America,” he quips) and critical essays in English and Hindi, his heart still beats for Odia.

After teaching at Utkal University, he joined the IAS and has held many prestigious positions, both in Odisha government and the Government of India. Some of which are Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, where he chaired the committee of linguistic experts in 2003 to advise the government on including more languages as official ones and many others. Probably, he guessed by our expression that we were going to ask about what happened to his poetry during those years because the next thing he said was, “Civil Services was my profession through these years, but poetry remained my passion.” He continued to acquire a number of books. His eyes lit up like a child as he spoke about how he purchased French novelist André Malraux’s autobiography Anti-Memoirs for six shillings back in the day. “Can you believe it, just six shillings!,” he exclaims with the same excitement he must have shown back then. Perhaps why he declares that books, the physical kind, which one can hold, smell and feel, will always hold a special place in his heart. This is a rare statement in this age of the Kindle and ebooks. Which is why, though he loves watching television, he makes it a point to give more time to his first love, books.

[THE COCKFIGHT - Sitakant Mahapatra]

Armed from head to toe,

the two warriors are arraigned against each other.

Some anger enlarges

the dimensions of their narrow necks.

Battle drums announce

a face-to-face contest.

Hunting for insects has ceased.

Seeking refuge from hungry cats and hungrier men

has also ceased.

As battle cries rend the air

and carnage is due to commence,

the villagers leave behind their long history of cowardice,

and gather here.

The warriors do not know

what this war is about,

or who is whose enemy.

They do not comprehend

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