Awkwardness Glorified!

I had wondered once in a while, why are there so few videos of Surendra Sharma reciting poems on YouTube? But then I realized that I know the most probable answer. He does not like being ‘recorded’ as evidenced from his ‘strong’ words (which resulted in a thunderous applause) to someone in the audience recording the event: “मेरी meri कविता kavita सुनने sunne का ka हक hak उन्ही unhi लोगों logon को ko है, hai, जो jo यहाँ yahaan पर par अपनी apni रात raat खराब kharab कर kar के ke बैठे baithe हैं! hain!” (Only those people, who are wasting their night by sitting here, have the right to listen to my poems!) After that, the camera was lowered but recording continued. After a minute or so, He (visibly irritated) pointed at the camera and said, “मैं Main पागल paagal हूँ, hun, बेवकूफ bewkoof नहीं! nahin!” (I am ‘crazy’ but not stupid!) and a roar of laughter erupted that led to the camera being turned off (as far as I know!).

I had also thought once in a while that it would be nice if there were some interviews of him as I do not recall ever seeing one on TV during my younger years. Though, I did miss one such opportunity at IITKGP in my 5^th year. There was supposed to be a ‘live panel discussion’ with 2-3 poets, including Surendra Sharma (of course!) but it was delayed by more than 3 hours. I did stand around the venue for more than an hour but lost my patience when the event kept getting postponed half-an-hour by half-an-hour by half-an-hour…

So, I was quite elated when I found one interview of him on YouTube today! Here are the two parts:

Interview with Surendra Sharma–Part 1

Interview with Surendra Sharma–Part 2

Now, I think I know why there are not many interviews of him. Apart from the usual reasons, He is like Dirac regarding this aspect – the aspect of giving & evading interviews!

Let us now talk about this particular interview itself. First of all, they should spell the name of the poet right. Second of all, it seemed to me that the host(ess) was too overwhelmed by his presence, was over-prepared & under-prepared simultaneously (like I’m when talking to WS) and did not ‘practice’ her Hindi beforehand. Third of all, some of the answers were just out of the blue for her and instead of ‘adjusting’ to that ‘blow’, kept on asking (pre-prepared) questions that had more or less been already answered! Fourth of all, why the hell am I ranting about all this here on my blog?

Anyway, ignoring the ‘embarrassing’ aspects of this interview, I got to hear Surendra Sharma after quite a long time and am indeed happy about that.

I’ll leave you with this video of Surendra Sharma reciting his much-talked about (in the interview above and in general) ever-green, ever-popular, ever-four lines:

चार लाईनाँ