KOZHIKODE: “Shabeer Ali’s ‘Poypoya Edavazhikal’ is a one-of-its-kind poem. This poem is all enough to mark him as a creatively blessed writer,” writes poet Alankod Leelakrishnan in his foreword to the compilation of poems- ‘Nervazhi’.
The book of Shabeer Ali K, a 35-year-old auto driver at Perinthalmanna, is soon going to be published by the State Social Justice Department. Shabeer Ali has a tumultuous past to narrate his metamorphosis as a poet. For, he was a convict and spent four years in four jails at various intervals. A dropout from Class VII, he was ushered into the world of letters and books by the jails in which he underwent imprisonment. “I was in jail for the first time at the age of 24. I was in Perinthalmanna Sub-jail and was soon shifted to Kannur Central jail. It was in Kannur I fell for the power of letters and decided to continue education.
I passed SSLC and Plus II through open university stream. Along with that I started reading. Gradually I used to pen poems and stories,” he told Express. When he came out of jail after completing his sentence, Shabeer Ali enrolled to BA Journalism under distance education. But before the course commenced, he got visa and went to Saudi Arabia, an escape from the poor economic condition he was suffering for long. But he didn’t lose touch with the letters he had fallen in love. More than 100 poems were written over the years and selected 60 have now been compiled in ‘Nervazhi.’