What according to you is the essence of poetry?
Its power comes from the unadorned nature of the utterance. It is speech at its cleanest, which is why the best way to experience a poem is to have it read to you.

Poets you are inspired by?
As a young writer I was interested in the way the poets I knew conducted themselves in the world. I didn’t know how to do it, how to think seriously about poetry and live in a city like Bombay. Not to put too much of a gloss on it. There’s nothing romantic about the writing of poetry: “We poets in our youth begin in gladness, / whereof in the end comes despondency and madness”. 
 
How does one go about getting published?
Keep in mind that there are senior poets among us who are finding it difficult to place their new manuscripts. You publish poems in journals and on websites.

Then, when you have enough for a collection you send it to publishers and hope for the best.

Do you sit and think through every word of every stanza or do you just write freely, allowing the words to flow?
First drafts are usually fairly free but then comes the rewrite, at which point, I do examine every word and punctuation mark.

When did you first start writing, what made you take up writing as a career?
I was 13 when I made my first translation from French to English: a poem by Baudelaire. As with most people I started by writing imitations of the poets I admired. There was no question at that point of a career. And there was no question of doing anything else.

Do you ever get writer’s block? How can one get over it?
If you work every day there’s no prospect of writer’s block. I think writer’s block is hugely overrated as an excuse for not working.

Any advice on how to deal with failure in this profession?
Take Samuel Beckett’s advice: try, fail, try again, fail better.

What are the basics you need to establish yourself as a poet? What worked for you?
Doggedness. Cussedness. Bloody-mindedness. And of course: silence and cunning.

Do you need a particular setting to write in?
If you need a particular setting to write in you might as well get another job. It’s a question of vocation, when you are in, when a poem lets you in, it doesn’t matter where you are.

Do you think it’s fashionable to be a poet today?
If it is fashionable it may be because poetry is the least marketable of skills and there’s always someone crazy enough to try it. This is why we revere poets, we know their value systems are different.

How do you choose topics? Is it best to write from personal experiences or topics that are popular? Any tips for beginners?
Forget topic, aim for form.

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