Renowned Poet Keki N. Daruwala Dies at the Age of 87

A former IPS officer and renowned poet Keki N. Daruwala who left lasting impressions for a long time and inspiration for most young writers dies at the age of 87 in New Delhi. He is also the Sahitya Akademi Award winner.

Personal life

• Born in Lahore in 1937.
• Studied at Government college in Ludhiana.
• Later joined the police force in 1958, rose the ranks and became special assistant on international affairs to former Prime Minister Charan Singh in 1979.
• Afterwards he eventually joined the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) where he retired as chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee in 1995.

Literary work

• Daruwalla published his first volume of poetry in 1970, titled Under Orion,
• Apparition in April (1971), Crossing of Rivers (1976),
• The Keeper of the Dead (1982) for which he won the Sahitya Akademi award in 1984
• The Scarecrow and the Ghost (2004)
• Apart from poems, Daruwalla was also a short story writer and a novelist and Love Across the Salt Desert, a collection of short stories published in 2006, is one of his notable works, along with his novel Pepper and the Christ (2009).

A Down to earth men and mentor

• Every writer looked at him as their personal friend.
• He never made anyone feel like he was a literary giant.
• Keki had a perspective which wasn’t just global, it was civilisational.
• His kindness, his integrity, and his larger philosophical vision are aspects of him.

Returned the Sahitya Akademi Award

• In 2015, after writer MM Kalburgi was killed, Daruwalla – like several other writers – returned his Sahitya Akademi award.

Sahitya Akademi remarks on his demise

• His poetry was like a mirror.
• He lifted that mirror to our faces whenever one visited his poems.
• He leaves behind an impressive body of work that will remain with us forever.