‘My role is to make readers aware of our literature, promote interactions’

His latest book is the result of a belief that the national mainstream and cultural mainstream, about which we have been talking for decades, cannot be framed until there is a regular interaction between various languages of India and their regions, he added.

“A dialogue and interaction is paramount, and we in our own language, can talk about other writers across the country, their work, language, style of writing and contributions,” explained Dr. Naresh. With this point of view, the author has introduced selected writers from Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi and Tamil to the readers of Hindi and also highlighted the contribution of these languages, particularly Urdu.

Dr. Naresh has recorded his own evaluation of writers who have enriched respective literatures through their writings, including Subramania Bharti, Dr. Iqbal, Bhai Vir Singh, Naresh Mehta, Nagrjun and Shamsher.

India, he said, has an abundant wealth of literature but it remains confined to a particular region because of lack of translation initiatives.

“For long I have been urging the Indian government to establish a national translation cell, which should select the best publication of a year from different Indian languages and get them translated into Hindi, Urdu and English the next year.

This will help readers of one region to understand and appreciate literature being produced throughout the country,” adds the author. This book, says Dr. Naresh, is a result of years of research, and studying the works of these renowned personalities, and bringing to the Hindi readers, in an absorbing manner, the varied facets and philosophy of their writings.

He feels we need to relook at our lingual policy and not disintegrate on the basis of language, or else we will lose our languages.

“As a writer, my role is to make the reader aware of our literature and promote interactions. I do not believe in art for art’s sake and poetry for poetry’s sake. Literature must give a message for betterment of human society,” summed up Dr. Naresh.