An inexhaustible and illuminating book about an essential Indian poet of international significance. Wonderfully enjoyable! – DALJIT NAGRA MBE, FRSL, CHAIR OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE, PROFESSOR OF CREATIVE WRITING, BRUNEL UNIVERSITY, LONDON
How does one write about a father who is an iconic figure in Indian poetry, a mentor to the next generation, and a person who showered love on a daughter he had named ‘Kavita’– the epitome of poetry? Kavita Ezekiel Mendonca treads this complex ground with wisdom and sophistication as she creates a commemorative volume for Nissim Ezekiel’s hundredth birth anniversary in 2024. Blending her personal narrative with the public fame of her father, Kavita presents a collection of memoirs, tributes, interviews, and poetry– interspersed with photographs – that brilliantly offers archival material as well as a deeply moving story of genius and vulnerability. The recollections of poets such as Adil Jussawala, Gieve Patel and Sujatha Mathai carry the history of Indian poetry. And, when Nissim and Kavita Ezekiel’s poems become interwoven as a fabric of togetherness, the colours are redolent with grace. – PROF. MALASHRI LAL (RETD, UNIVERSITY OF DELHI), CONVENER, ENGLISH ADVISORY BOARD, SAHITYA AKADEMI (INDIA’S ACADEMY OF LITERATURE)
With every word soaked in the daughter’s love for her father, Kavita Ezekiel Mendonca’s commemorative volume could have dwindled into a sentimental bogie trudging under the weight of soggy narration, loaded with hyperbole. But, instead, the restraint and the matter-of-fact style create a heartwarming intensity in this personal memoir of a father who came to be known as the doyen of Indian poetry in English. Kavita’s deep connection with him unfolds itself in her poems as a rich poetic legacy left by Nissim Ezekiel. Yet, they are both beautifully ‘alone together’ in the book” – Sukrita Paul Kumar, poet & Editor of Indian Literature, the official journal of the Sahitya Akademi, India’s national academy of literature
“Full of warm memories and thoughtful insights, this is a book to dip into and to mull over, one in which you catch glimpses of Nissim Ezekiel in many roles: the father, the mentor, the teacher and always, inescapably, the poet” – Dr. Anna Kurian, Professor, University of Hyderabad, India
A tribute to Nissim Ezekiel on his birth centenary year is: https://thefederal.com/category/features/nissim-ezekiel-at-100-the-mugging-jew-the-poet-clown-the-patron-saint-of-verse-161959
Prabhu Guptara –
Here is the very first discussion of the book outside the Pippa Rann Books website: https://thepunchmagazine.com/the-byword/non-fiction/vintage-father-a-doorway-to-his-heart-amp-mdash-kavita-ezekiel-mendonca-on-nissim-ezekiel
Prabhu Guptara –
The following is from *Shabnam Mirchandani*, mosaic artist and literary critic, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA:
“Sometimes loss renders us semantically mute, and then over time haloes of reverberation start to arise from the substrate of memory as we revisit the past, and the things that vividly haunt us deep within.
Kavita Ezekiel Mendonca has done the coming generations of poets a great service by providing this multi-layered insight into Nissim the dad, the poet, the mentor, the enigma. Her reminiscences provide a psychic wholeness to the pointillist details that constellate around Nissim Ezekiel.
I am greatly moved by the thoughts shared by many included in this book regarding the impact and legacy of this seminal poet. I knew him as a personable presence at Theosophy Hall in the early 90’s – always ready to listen to young aspiring poets and offer his well rounded critique. He had an endearing habit of sending a personal postcard inviting you back if he missed a visit! My contemporaries at the Bombay Poetry Circle included Ranjit, Jerry, Arundhathi, Gayatri, and Vivek, among others, and we were all touched in an indelible way by Nissim. Chai and poetry was the flavor of those years, and I will never forget them. He published the first review I ever wrote in “The Indian P.E.N.”. I fondly remember his visits to the Elphinstone for workshops, and that feeling of excited anticipation and mild dread at reading my poems out at those sessions.
The tapestry of words that hold Nissim’s memory will forever be full of color and texture, for he was indeed a pioneering spirit in the quietest and gentlest of ways. His poems seem starkly piercing in the silence after he has left us, but they remain an invitation to ruminate, and share our humanity – an enduring legacy.”