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 Honours come their way in recognition of one's works. But, receiving the prestigious Sahitya Academy award is a remarkable recognition that any poet would crave for. 'Kavikko' Dr. Abdul Rahman received the coveted award on February 22nd at a function held in New Delhi for his book 'Aalabanai', a collection of poems in Tamil. It is an honour bestowed upon a Tamil poet after 30 years. The Sahitya Academy award is given to literateurs every year for their outstanding literary works in Indian languages. Novels, collection of short stories, poems and rarely some critical literary analysis are recommended for this award.
Aalabanai with 42 poems written in a Tamil weekly - Bhagya, by the poet, was released in a book form in 1995. "The poems mostly depict the positive aspects of human life," says Dr.Rahman. Written in the form of Pudhukavithai - a form that does not follow a rigid grammar pertaining to foot and meter and mostly prosaic but excelling in symbols and imageries - the poems are really a treat to those who love modern Tamil poetry. There are beautiful illustrations by Maniam Selavan. Mr. Rahman is a renowned poet who has a big fan following, who read his poems for the sheer beauty of their imageries.
 Born in
Madurai, Mr.Rahman joined as a Tamil lecturer in The Islamia College
Vaniyambadi. For 20 years he had been the Professor and HOD of the Tamil department, before he opted for voluntary retirement to devote his time totally to literature. Besides writing poems in many popular magazines, he had also served as the editor of dailies like 'Tamil
Nadu' and 'Tamizhan' from Chennai and a literary magazine from
Sivagangai. He has also translated the works of the Urudu poet Iqbal in Tamil. Mr.Rahman took his doctorate for ‘ Use of Symbols in Pudhukavithai’
(Pudhukavithaiyil Kuriyeedu). He had also done experiments in ‘surrealism’ which was hitherto not experimented in this form and released a collection of poems -
'Paal Veedhi' which was very well received.
A number of poets have inspired Mr.Rahman and they include, Tamil poets Kambadasan and Surada, besides Rabindranath Tagore, Iqbal, Khalil Gibran, and some Spanish poets, namely, Pablo Neruda, Lorca, Actavio Paz and the Persian poet Jalaluddin. "There are quite a number of people who write good poems these days," says Mr.Rahman. Many Tamil magazines encourage these young poets. While the standard of their work is generally good, there is scope for improvement in some cases, opines the poet. " Currently I am looking more into the Vedas and the Bible for style, ideas and symbols." After the new form - Pudhukavithai, yet another form of very short poems - Haiku - has emerged in the literary scene. The adaptation of a Japanese poetic form has a good response and about 70 books have been published so far. Mr.Rahman has written several articles about Haiku in a popular Tamil weekly and has played a major role in popularising it.
Mr.Rahman has written and introduced Ghazals in Tamil and they can be set to music too. This is a new form of poetry in Tamil but it is very popular in North India where written in Urdu, Ghazals are known for their melody and beauty of expression. Can the same beauty of a Ghazal be brought into Tamil poetry, we asked. " Though bringing the same form is not possible, contents can be easily conveyed in the same way, in Tamil too. Ghazal is very suitable to convey love, sorrow and some of the deeper thoughts pertaining to human life. There is ample scope for communicating effectively. There is the freedom of using symbols and images as in good verse," explains Mr.Rahman. Tamil poetry has undergone several changes since the Sangam Age and has evolved to be what it is today. So, can there be more changes in the future? "It depends upon the poets and the atmosphere. There are chances that the poets may experiment in new directions with deeper insight," concludes Mr.
Rahman.
R.Bharathi
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