Hindi poet Anamika on why feminism has changed in India today
Updated On: 23 April, 2023 10:51 AM IST | Mumbai | Nascimento Pinto
In an exclusive chat with Mid-day Online, the poet, who is also a novelist and translator delves into why she chose to write in Hindi, the role of translated works, reading in different languages and working on feminist literature
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2022 Sahitya Akademi awardee Hindi poet Anamika was at the Jaipur Literature Festival in January 2023. Photo Courtesy: Jaipur Literature Festival 2023
Indian poet Anamika absolutely loves the essence of the Hindi language. It is also the reason why she chose to write in the language that she calls the ‘language of the streets’ instead of English. Hailing from Bihar, the beauty of the language, for her, is reflected in daily life, and one that is hard to ignore, especially around the country. “I chose to write in Hindi because the milieu I belong to, the people I have grown up with, the environment I come from, the characters I draw from, are all people who walk on the streets - and English is not their mother tongue,” the writer reminds.
The author, who is also a teacher of English literature at a college associated with Delhi University, adds, “You know my characters, the idiomatic vigour of their speech - it all depends on what kind of environment you are from and what kind of people you feel like having a dialogue with.”
The love for these very stories has been evident in her work that has spanned decades and for which she was befittingly rewarded in 2020. The Indian writer became the first female poet to win the Sahitya Akademi award for her work, ‘Tokri Mein Digant’, and it wasn’t something that people or she herself had expected, Anamika reveals, but definitely loved it. Some of her other works include poems such as ‘Khurduri Hatheliyan’ and ‘Doob-Dhan’.
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