Words & Verse

When author Vikram Seth turned up at India Habitat Centre on Friday evening to launch his new book,Rivered Earth,there was a hushed silence in the packed hall,as the audience listened to him jumping from poetry to music,to even calligraphy,while talking about the book. Seth insisted that the book,consisting of four libretti,is written to go with the solo violin by Alec Roth. The music was played to prove his point and Seth even sang a poem about the seven elements from his book,which was called Fire. Seth is trained in Hindustani classical music and confessed to being pulled to writing whenever he did riyaaz. “I can’t think of any musician who is a good poet,” he said,while pondering whether music had entered his writings,and finally deciding against it. Personal anecdotes and humorous exchange of dialogue between Seth and art critic Aveek Sen,who was the moderator for the evening,had the eager audience throwing questions as well. The event was part of Penguin’s Spring Fever. While answering a question about his saleability as a celebrity now as compared to the time he had started off,Seth even toyed with the word ‘celebrity’,which he mistook for ‘celibacy’. “Celebrity is more dangerous than celibacy,” he quipped.