Honour in India

A very good poetry friend of mine Dr Amitabh Mitra was Indian by birth and now lives in South Africa. He is well known in both South African and Indian literary circles. Returning to his homeland this Christmas and New Year he was invited to be the Guest of Honor at the Sahitya Akademi, Delhi. The Akademi is an extremely important place in Indian Literary Circles and it was reported that there was a very large turn-out to hear Dr Mitra speak and to read his poetry.

Another Indian friend, who heard from Dr Mitra just after his presentation passed on this extract of their conversation to me.

"I just received a call from Dr Mitra and he says the read meet was a huge success. There was huge gathering and it was widely covered by the press. He spoke of poetry before and after apartheid. About the difference between performance poetry and the written form among other things. He also read out from his work and presented copies of Hudson View.

We must also thank Mr. A. J. Thomas, Editor of the Indian Literature Journal, Sahitya Akademi, who organized this program on such a grand scale.

The 'plum on the cake' as the good doctor puts it and which I term as 'the devil in him' was that he finished up with saying that the meeting would not be complete without Hermoine Petterpuck. This seems to have gone down extremely well with the audience who said it was the best of the lot. So he also told them about Philip."

[Hermione Petterpuck is a comic verse created by Philip G. Bell]

I am truly honoured by Dr Mitra, introducing myself at such a worthy literary event.

http://www.sahitya-akademi.org for infromation on the akademi

Congratulations!

Sonja

Thank you Sonja, For me it was honour enough to have a poem that Dr Mitra enjoyed, he is a remarkable poet in his own right. To have him introduce my work at such a convention was such a surprise, especially as he was the guest of honour.

Philip

Ola Philip

Must be an honour for sure. I do congratulate you.


Sofia

I was both surprised and delighted. Thank you Sofia.

Congratulations for your sucess Mr. Bell
Keep up the good work
Love, light and Sound

Maria

Thank you so much, No one is more surprised than me at the following I have in India. I have never been there, but would very much like to do so.

Philip