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Fancy
For Words
I
don't think I could be called a poet," insists Feroze Varun Gandhi
with a shy smile, "But yes, this collection expresses my feelings
about life." And in more words than you can possibly imagine. Feroze's
poetic debut, The Otherness of Self, at Delhi's India International
Centre last week had a guest list almost as impressive as the high sounding
words in his verse. Politicians, media barons, socialites, artists all
turned up to encourage the budding poet. But this 20-year-old, who is
also an aspiring lawyer, was candid enough to admit that being Maneka
Gandhi's son has helped his poetic cause. "Let's face it, I doubt
other writers my age would get this publicity," he said, adding quickly,
"Ultimately, the book will sell only if it's good." What could
help are the illustrations by famous artists Anjolie Ela Menon, Manjit
Bawa, Manu Parekh and M.F. Husain.
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| Feroze
with his book |
But Feroze's
high-flown verse (like the line in Darkness: "We must not
be tactophobic") didn't deter people from flocking to the Rupa &
Co desk to buy copies. Apparently, friend-of-the-family and hotelier Lalit
Suri picked up 10 copies, while mediahead Rathikant Basu had the author
autograph his own. "He's a charming young boy," said TV host
Karan Thapar to Maneka Gandhi while mediaman and other family-friend Pritish
Nandy, affectionately pinched Feroze's cheeks. Politicians cutting across
party lines turned up to cheer Maneka's boy. Like Sitaram Kesri, Sushma
Swaraj and Amar Singh who were accompanied by TV personalities Rajat Sharma
and Nalini Singh, ex-policeman K.P.S Gill and artists Bulbul Sharma and
Arpana Caur. Also present were L.M. Singhvi, Kapil Sibal, Satish and Kiran
Gujral and businessman-socialite Mohit Burman. Feroze jokingly told his
guests: "I insist all my friends and family buy five copies each."
Now, if every poet had that line...
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Relics
of old empires exist everywhere. Why can't the Mani Shankar Aiyars of
India let them be? asks INDIA TODAY Senior Editor Ravi Shankar in
