“Perhaps I’m happier being on the sidelines”: An interview with Adil Jussawalla

Abstract

In this joint interview with Adil Jussawalla (b. 1940), conducted between 2014 and 2016, the poet reflects on his complicated yet affectionate relation with the older poet Nissim Ezekiel, and on the literary cultures of Bombay. Jussawalla also discusses the political and cultural ferment of the 1960s and 1970s and the ways in which Bombay echoed the ideological struggles and turmoil that were also happening elsewhere. He evokes the leftist student group, the Progressive Youth Movement (PROYOM), at St Xavier’s College where he taught English, and the difficult Emergency years when some of his colleagues were jailed. He also recalls his years at the magazine Debonair, his editorial work behind the landmark 1974 Penguin anthology of New Writing in India, and his experience in starting the Clearing House collective that is seen today as one of the eminent publishing experiments of the period.

Keywords:

• Nissim Ezekiel
• Indian Poetry in English
• Bombay/Mumbai
• Debonair
• Clearing House
• the Emergency
• St Xavier’s College

Acknowledgement

The photograph of Adil Jussawalla is reproduced with permission from Madhu Kapparath.

Notes

1. “Tour of India” said somewhat ironically.

2. Ashokmitran (Jagadisa Thyagarajan, b. 1931) is a renowned Tamil writer and editor and a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi award in 1996.

3. M.T. Vasudevan Nair (b. 1933) is a widely admired Malayalam screenplay writer and author. He was awarded the highest Indian literary award, the Jnanpith Award, in 1995 and the National Civilian Award of Padma Bhushan in 2005.

4. There are several undated notes in the Clearing House letters compiled by Jerry Pinto, some of which are published in this special issue of the Journal of Postcolonial Writing.

5. This is a letter to Udayan Patel, dated May 12, 1976. It is part of the larger Clearing House letters archive, compiled by Jerry Pinto.

6. Vijaya Chitre, wife of Dilip Chitre and partner in his literary efforts. She is the custodian of his works today.

7. These books were Jayanta Mahapatra’s (1980) The False Start and Dilip Chitre’s (1980) Travelling in a Cage.

8. See the discussion on place and belonging in Zecchini (2016). This article was based on frequent conversations with Adil Jussawalla.