Arun Balkrishna Kolatkar (November 1, 1932 – September 25, 2004) was a famous poet from Maharashtra, India. He wrote in both Marathi and English, and his poetries were a comment on everyday matters. His first book of English poetry, Jejuri, is a collection of 31 poems pertaining to a visit of his to a religious place with the same name Jejuri in Maharashtra. The book won him the prestigious Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 1977. His Marathi verse collection Bhijki Vahi earned him a Sahitya Akademi Award in 2005. In fact, his collected Poems in English, edited by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, was published in Britain by Bloodaxe Books in 2010. He also won the Kusumagraj Puraskar by the Marathwada Sahitya Parishad in 1991 and Bahinabai Puraskar presented by Bahinabai Prathistan in 1995.
Kolatkar was born in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, where his father Tatya Kolatkar was an officer in the Education department. He lived in a traditional patriarchal Hindu joint family. in fact, he has described their nine-room house as "a house of cards five in a row on the ground, topped by three on the first, and one on the second floor."
He attended Rajaram High School in Kolhapur, a Marathi medium school. After graduation in 1949, much against his father's wishes, he joined the J J School of Art, where his childhood friend Baburao Sadwelkar had enrolled himself. In 1953, he tied the knot with Darshan Chhabda (sister of renowned painter Bal Chhabda). The marriage was opposed by both families.
His early years in Mumbai were poor, especially his life as an artist. Around this time, he also translated Tukaram into English. After many years of hard work, he started work as an art director and graphic designer in advertising agencies like Lintas. By mid-60s he was an established graphic artist, and joined Mass Communication and Marketing. Here he was pushed to bring out Jejuri. Kolatkar was a ‘visualizer’; and soon became one of Mumbai’s successful art directors. He also won the prestigious CAG award for advertising six times.
By 1966, his marriage with Darshan hit troubled waters, and Kolatkar became a heavy drinker. Later he married his second wife, Soonu.
His style
In Marathi, his poetry is considered modernist. His early Marathi poetry was radically experimental and displayed the influence of European trends like surrealism and expressionism. These poems are part oblique, part whimsical and part sinister, but exceedingly funny. His early Marathi poems are far more radical, dark and humorous than his English poems. However, his later Marathi works are more accessible and less radical. Bilingual poet and anthologist Vilas Sarang points to Chirimiri in particular and states: "a work that must give inspiration and direction to all future Marathi poets".
Kolatkar was unsure about bringing out his English verse, but his very first book, Jejuri, had a huge impact among fellow poets and littérateurs like Nissim Ezekiel and Salman Rushdie. Brought out from a small press, it was reprinted twice in quick succession. In fact, for some years, some of his poems were also included in school texts.
Jejuri evokes a series of images to highlight the ambiguities in modern-day life. Although situated in a religious setting, they are not religious. Before Jejuri happened, Kolatkar had also published other poems, including The Boatride, which appeared in his the little magazine. A few of his early poems in English also appeared in friend and fellow poet Dilip Chitre's Anthology of Marathi poetry 1945-1965 (1967). Interestingly, though some of these poems claim to be 'English version by poet', "their Marathi originals were never committed to paper."
Later work
Kolatkar was a reclusive figure all his life; he lived without a telephone. It was only after he was diagnosed with cancer that two volumes were brought out by close friends – the English poetry volumes Kala Ghoda Poems and Sarpasatra.
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