RED RIVER, in association with Gallerie Publishers, Indian Novels Collective,
Chandrabhaga Poetry Festival and Institute for Knowledge Society
Paperback; Pages 292; INR 499 | USD 9.99

‘Scent of Rain’ is about remembering Jayanta Mahapatra, and his long-lived ‘relationship’ with the world of poetry. It is a mesmeric parable of remembrance, a lushly sensual and spiritual journey between memory and remains of memory. ‘Scent of Rain’, lurching between absence and presence, is a brooding, melodic mix of yearning for a rain of rites and a summer poem. The beauty of ‘Scent of Rain’ lies in its anonymity, fragility and vulnerability to Amor Mundi (love of the world), a defining motif in Jayanta Mahapatra’s life and poetry. And it speaks in the sacred language(s) of the earth. No wonder, it smells like human body, and god’s flesh too.

This anthology is a fitting tribute to Jayanta Mahapatra, one of the most significant Indian poets of our time in the variety and abundance of his output as well as his unquestionable honesty and competence. —K Satchidanandan

For Jayanta Mahapatra, the poets’ poet who stood tall and firm as a rock to support poetry by the young and old with utmost generosity. — Sukrita Paul Kumar

In homage, the ‘Scent of Rain’ floats over an unforgettable landscape touching cities, gardens, the banks of rivers and quiet roads and doorways. — Mamang Dai

Poet, political scientist and professor at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Mumbai), Ashwani Kumar is the co-founder of Indian Novels Collective. Widely anthologized and translated into many languages, his major anthologies are ‘My Grandfather’s Imaginary Typewriter’, ‘Banaras and the Other’ and ‘Architecture of Alphabets’ in Hungarian. He has recently edited ‘Rivers Going Home’, a major anthology of Indian poetry. He is also the author of ‘Community Warriors’, besides being one of the chief editors of ‘Global Civil Society’ at London School of Economics.