Celebrating Birth Centenary of Octavio Paz

Celebrating Birth Centenary of Octavio Paz

“Man is the only being who knows he is alone. Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition” Octavio Paz.

Octavio Paz was a Mexican poet-diplomat and writer. He was awarded several awards including the Nobel Prize in Literature in the year 1990.

India International Centre celebrated Octavio’s birth centenary on 1st of December with a session entirely dedicated to his work in the field of literature. An esteemed panel, which included Shri Krishen Khanna, well known artist, Shri Prayag Shukla, poet and fiction writer, Prof. S.P. Ganguly, former professor at Centre of Spanish at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Prof. Minni Sawhney, Professor of Hispanic Studies University of Delhi, discussed his nuances of his life and his work.

Krishen Khanna while talking about his friendship with Paz

Prof. Ganguly pointed out that Octavio Paz had a lack of care of detailing about a linguistic sign and that could be an unconscious expression of classical orientation. He recited a few lines of his poems about the city of Mathura named ‘Mutra’. The poem was his first interaction with India.

Prof. Ganguly points out that “India has that civilizational history that lies inconveniently, that passes off as disturbed and nobody in India is bothered to discover what lies beneath the city”. But Octavio writes a poem about that city. The poem was his reaction to India. The poem goes like this:

Professor Ganguly with his interactions with Paz

The city arrived noiselessly
And in each of us has taken its place like a king
A month full of small insects uttering one and the same syllable
Day and night, day and night, day and night….

Krishen Khanna then took over the mic and verbalised his take on Octavio Paz. He said, “He was inimical to me because, I had an English education. And I didn’t conform, possibly, to his idea of what an Indian native should be”. He also added “With me his friendship began with a normal exchange of courtesies. I first addressed him as Doctor Paz and he directly said “I am no doctor”. And that served as a platform for our friendship and it gradually grew. But it was very long lasting”. He was a big fan of portraits and Indian paintings. His liking of Indian paintings was very general and he didn’t had any agenda as to what Indian painting should be or shouldn’t be. He was very good friends with Jagdish Swaminathan. He ended with the recital of Octavio’s tribute to his good friend Jagdish Swaminathan.

Professor Minni Sawhney reading Paz’s work

With a rag and a knife
Against the idée fix
The bull of fear
Against the canvas and the void
The uprising spring
Blue flame of cobalt
Burnt amber
Green Fresh from sea…..