KOCHI: The pathos and chaos of life, along with a bunch of shocking experiences awoke the poet in him. And the man who until then held a baton chose poetry as his world of expression.
You might think it is a paradox but only until you meet R Jeyasanil, sub inspector with the Ernakulam North Police.
Jeyasanil says it was the social realities around him that made him a poet.
“When I was serving as an SI at Palod I came across a case of incest. It was a beginning. As a police officer I confronted similar incidents every day. And I began associating myself with these disturbing images,” recollects Jeyasanil.
Son of the late Ramachandran and Gomathi of Maveli Panmana, Kollam, Jeyasanil says when he first prepared an inquest of the body of an aged woman she reminded him of his own mother who was of the same age. “As a police official I was having too many experiences and I had to find a way to express myself,’’ says Jeyasanil whose poems criticise society. His first poetry collection ‘Paagal ka rodan’ (Cry of a lunatic) in Hindi won him accolades at the national level.
The poetry collection, published in 2002, was among the top 10 books considered by the Ministry of Human Resources for the national award. ‘Bapu ka rodan’ was one of the noted poems in that collection. Former President A P J Abdul Kalam sent his wishes to Jeyasanil after reading the poems.
Jeyasanil, who began his career as a constable at the Armed Police Camp in Thiruvananthapuram in 1998, has post graduate degrees in three subjects - Hindi, journalism and history. Interestingly he gained all three after joining the police force.
In 2008 Penguin Books published his poems in Malayalam, ‘Pukakkuzhalukal’, memoirs of his village life. The book was well received by readers. Currently he has undertaken a bilingual study on the police force. Jeyasanil has written an untitled English novel and discussions are on with a British publisher.
He is working on the translation of ‘Ranthalvilakku’ by IG B Sandhya to Hindi.
Deepa, his wife, and their two children, Pratheeksha and Prathyasha, are his greatest support as he takes on more literary endeavours
kochi@epmltd.com
