POST SCRIPTUM English__ Feb 2021

All For Peace, Peace For All
Guntur is not the largest (about 750 thousand
inhabitants), but one of the most densely
populated cities in the world, located in the
central-eastern part of India, only 40 km from the Bay
of Bengal, almost 1,800 km by rail from New Delhi,
a journey which takes at least 33 hours (I have not
tried).
Here in Guntur the International Poetry Festival
is organized (last September for the 13th time),
traditionally in the buildings of JKC College, which
for the occasion is always decorated with fresh
flowers, petals and twigs. Outside there are tuk-tuks,
scooters, and cars speeding in various directions,
seemingly without any order or plan. Noise and chaos.
And inside, behind the door – several hundred people
enjoying poetry. Unreal...
The latest festival, for obvious reasons, took place
online, but I want to bring back memories about
the 12th edition of the festival, which happened
in September 2019, as it is worth to mention.
Our polish group was invited To India by Dr.
Lanka Siva Rama Prasad – an extraordinary man:
an Indian poet, translator, publisher, editor,
philanthropist and a respected doctor of cardiac
surgery. This was a group of Polish poets: Alicja
Kuberska (Inowrocław), Agnieszka Jarzębowska
(Sieradz), Izabela Zubko with her husband Rafał
and daughter Agnieszka (Warsaw), Ryszard Grajek
(Czechowice-Dziedzice), Anna Czachorowska (Warsaw),
Bożena Helena Nowak-Mazur (UK) and Renata Cygan
(UK).
I met Prasad in Poland, during the Slavic Poetry
Festival in Czechowice-Dziedzice in 2018, where I had
the role to be his personal translator (from the English
language of course). Prasad is an open man, very easy
going, kind, and full of good, positive energy, so he
quickly made friends with Polish poets. And during
one nice evening (full of poetry, food, and liquors of
all kinds) he decided to invite us to India. If anyone
took this announcement seriously, it certainly wasn’t
me. But Prasad had kept his promise. In September
2019, very excited, we found ourselves (with the group
mentioned above) at a poetry festival in the heart
of Asia.
Poetry festivals; what are they for? – someone
would ask. For poets who for a moment want to feel
appreciated? For organizers or city authorities who
want to fulfill some missions, or just settle their political
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responsibilities? Or maybe (warmer, warmer) – for
ordinary people – lovers of words, random listeners,
and most of all, for students – young people for
whom meeting with live poets and their work is
contact with another, maybe a bit strange and
surprising, world? I assure you – at each such meeting
there is at least one young mind that will “click” and
listen with understanding and appreciation. And even
for this only one soul, it is worth visiting these poetic
festival places and sharing our poetry. In India, there
were many such interesting young souls. You can see
in them some unusual eagerness for knowledge, for
learning, some hunger for exploring new paths.
This is what struck me most at the festival in Guntur:
selfless involvement of the students, willingness
to help – incognito, without complaint, with
a smile on the face, and great respect for the guest.
For us – accustomed to western directness – it was
even slightly embarrassing at times. Indian people
are: polite, well behaved, they have respect for
visitors, they are extremely hospitable and proud of
their traditions. In such an atmosphere of mutual
respect and curiosity, our group of Polish poets,
for the first time in history, took part in the 12th
International Poetry Festival – Guntur 2019, under the
slogan: All For Peace, Peace For All.
The hosts of the festivals in Guntur are two
lecturers at JKC College – Nagasuseela Panchumarthi
and Gopichand Paruchuri. With their hard work –
their own and the young volunteers’ – they have
achieved real success. During the 12 years of these
events, several thousand (I am not exaggerating,
I have checked this) poets, writers, publishers, artists,
literature professors, and all sorts of enthusiasts
of the written word passed through college
buildings. Among them – our Polish representation.
Numerically modest, but undoubtedly treated
like VIPs. The organizers provided us with an
accommodation, food, transport and tourist
attractions.
For the occasion of the festival, an Anthology
The Vase was published, containing poems from
around the world (in English), including ours.
Someone will ask about the spoken language
(quite important in case of poetry). Well, in this
part of India, the native language is Telugu (spoken
by over 80 million people!). Of course, there is also
the national language – Hindi. But the festival was
conducted in English, which they learn from early