THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Imagine someone, half a world away, getting hold of your poems, translating them into Russian, and sending them as a gift to you. That’s what happened in 2013 to K K Srivastava, poet and the current Principal Accountant General (Accounts and Entitlements), Kerala.The stranger who did the ‘mischief’ with Srivastava’s collection of English poems ‘Shadows of the Real’ was Adolf P Shvedchikov, a Russian poet who divides his time between Moscow and Los Angeles. Two years ago, the Russian Cultural Centre in Thiruvananthapuram agreed to publish the translations - entitled ‘Tyeni Realnovo’ - and on Tuesday, the collection will have a formal release in the state capital.
“It came as a total surprise then. I was posted in Madhya Pradesh. But I didn’t know what to do with the translations. But when I was posted to Kerala in 2014, I got to know there was a Russian Cultural Centre here and approached them,” Srivastava told Express on Monday. ‘Shadows of the Real’ was Srivastava’s third collection of poems in English, and contains 60 poems. All 60 were translated by Shvedchikov, whom Srivastava is yet to meet in person, although both men are members of the same poetry society.
“It was a rare gesture. He is 75 or 76 years old,” he said. ‘Shadows of the Real’ (Rupa Publications) was Srivastava’s third collection. Published in 2012, it followed ‘Ineluctible Stillness’ (2005) and ‘An Armless Hand Writes’ which came out in 2008. A poet fascinated by the real and unreal world, the concepts of darkness and unexplored areas of human existence, Kuldeep Kumar Srivastava began writing English poems in literary journals and magazines at a young age.
Born in Gorakhpur in 1960, his civil services career began in the early 1980s, joining the Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS). For the Russian Cultural Centre, it was a big step as a contemporary Indian writer’s work was getting published in Russian, centre director and Russia’s honorary consul Ratheesh C Nair said. “We have been publishing works of Russian writers into Malayalam. Anna Akhmatova’s poetry has already been translated and Chekhov’s works will soon follow,” Ratheesh said.Actor Madhu will formally release the volume on Tuesday by handing over a copy to ADGP B Sandhya.Srivastava is married to Astha and they have two sons.