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Vihang A. Naik

Vishal Joshi ( Ahmedabad )

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Indian poet and author, Vihang A. Naik remembers his childhood as one marked by constant moving since his early days. He was born into a Gujarati language-speaking family in Surat, Gujarat.

From Surat, he moved to Baroda, Ahmadabad and other cities out of Gujarat. His travels gave him unique insight into life and humanity and in “City Times and Other Poems” besides his other poetry collections he shares these observations in the brilliant medium of poetry. He is educated from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. He took teaching as a profession serving in colleges since 1996 in Gujarat,India where he lives.

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FICTION & LITERATURE

City Times and Other Poems

BY Vihang A. Naik • POSTED ON March 7, 2014

Meditations on love and wisdom in a slim poetry collection from Naik (English/Shree Ambaji Arts Coll.; Poetry Manifesto, 2010, etc.).

The collection opens promisingly, with tender minimalist lines appropriate for the romantic feelings that words can only partially convey: “I’d then begun / to hear wings // in empty spaces. / A song // in the desert / of my heart.” Love becomes lost, however, which seems to change the speaker and alter the city. Featuring a spider, a crab, and a chameleon, the section entitled “Mirrored Men” briefly muses on the problem of deceit. The penultimate section, “At the Shore,” brings a breath of fresh air, as reflection turns outward. There’s at least a metaphorical shoreline to look at, and though the second poem is titled “Illusion,” subsequent images revive genuine desire in all its startling unseemliness: “the octopus / of desire / stirs / arteries and veins // tears flesh apart / feeding upon fire / swallowing air.” Finally, the city comes into focus, darkly. The ghost of T.S. Eliot walks here, in the “unreal” city, and there’s a sense of a skeletal grid beneath the live, human flow. Even the “vicious maps / snaking streets / and crossroads” echo the opening of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” though Naik’s home in Gujarat, India, has a notably different pace and aspect. The English syntax here could benefit from occasional smoothing. “Self Portrait,” for instance, opens with just six words: “I / wake up / to see my / Self,” followed by five utterly blank pages, finished by the closing line, “discovered beyond thought.” This abyss-making is playful but empty; if the poet “cannot afford // to look at himself,” why should we?

Aiming toward philosophical, even existential concerns, these light-fingered lyrics leave too much unsaid.

Pub Date: March 7, 2014

ISBN: 978-1491897133

Page count: 80pp

Publisher: AuthorHouse

Review Posted Online: April 30, 2015

City Times and Other Poems by Vihang A. Naik

Awards, Press & Interests

Day job

Teaching

Favorite word

Poetry

Hometown

Gujarat, India

Passion in life

Walking

Unexpected skill or talent

Poetry writing in English , Gujarati, and translating Gujarati poetry into English language

City Times and Other Poems: Readers’ Favorite Honorable Mention Award , 2015

City Times and Other Poems: Limca Book of Records, 2016

City Times and Other Poems: IndieReader Discovery Award, 2016

City Times and Other Poems: Michael Madhusudan Prize, 1998

City Times and Other Poems: Beverly Hills Book Awards , 2016

Indian Poet, Vihang A. Naik, Book of Poetry 'City Times and Other Poems' Again on Sale, 2016

ADDITIONAL WORKS AVAILABLE

Jeevangeet

Jeevangeet is a collection of Gujarati poems written by Vihang Naik after his English collection of poems in City Times and Other Poems, only published in 2001 in AiD for Gujarat Earthquake victims of 26th January, 2001 and dedicated to thousands of men, women and children who lost their lives and homes in Earthquake… All the poems follow experimental tendencies in parallel with his first collection of poems in English City Times & Other Poems. *Note: Jeegangeet ( Gujarati Poems ) by Vihang Naik was first published by Navbharat Sahitya Mandir, Ahmedabad-1 & Mumbai-2 India. ( 2001 ) in ( Paperback )
Published: March 9, 2001
ISBN: 9789384604349

Making A Poem

Making A Poem is a powerful affecting collection of poetry that sheds a fascinating light upon the writing process and poet’s personal aesthetics. These are eloquent pieces where the poet displays a confident command of the poetic form to bring his ideas and observations to life. The pieces that ponder the reality of poetic expression are perhaps most fascinating. Their reflexivity results in a most engaging collection of poems. Making A Poem is a intuitive, thoughtful and creative pieces that work together as a cohesive collection. * Note : Making A Poem by Vihang A. Naik was first published by Allied Publishers' Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai , India in 2004 with ISBN : 81-7764-584-6 ( Hardbound )
Published: March 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-9387281295

Poetry Manifesto ( New and Selected Poems )

The poems in this collection are vintage, Vihang A. Naik’s poems are intuitive, thoughtful, philosophical and creative pieces, where the poet displays a confident command, mature, with a fine balance of emotional intensity, irony, ranging across themes and places with experimentation.
Published: April 21, 2010
ISBN: 8184430337
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