Neeli Bayaaz

Adnan Kafeel Darwish is a poet born and raised in the new India, who finds himself standing on the battlefield rather than in the land of Makkah. In the increasingly toxic political and cultural environment around him, poetry is his weapon and armor. He is a courageous, melancholic, and visionary poet of his time in Hindi. As the loves and hatreds, inequalities, and restlessness of this new India increase their encroachmenta recognition of which is the destiny of every true creatorthe echoes of the old India in his voice also grow louder. This is the voice of our subcontinents historical secular-humanist conscience, in contrast to the new cultural barbarism, moral emptiness, and communal fascism. His voice alternately conveys a native and a refugee voice. He is both in his homeland and in exile, which is the hallmark of every good poet. Adnan insists on freedom and independence in his poetic language. In his use of language and diction, he transgresses Hindi-oriented linguistic and cultural taboos, both written and unwritten codes. The sources of his creativity are not limited to the separatist and arbitrarily defined poetic tradition of modern Hindi, but lie in the interaction between the regional traditions of North India and the rich and mature Indo-Persian tradition spanning centuries. His poetry possesses a unique sympathetic tone, rhythm, musicality, and challenging voice. Like a nomadic singer, he carries his music with him. Asad Zaidi