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In city to take part in a three-day programme under the aegis of the Hindi-Urdu Sahitya Award Committee,he met patrons of literature/poetry at the Universal Booksellers on Friday afternoon.

If anyone asked why present-day songs had lost their magic,he would retort with “have the present-day films regained it?”

“But don’t dismiss the new crop of filmmakers,lyricists and composers for their irreverent and experimental style,” said the doyen,adding,”rather,match step with them and appreciate what they are doing. Look at how they have joined the mainstream and given Indian cinematic art a place under the sun. Every year,Indian films are in the reckoning for the highest international awards and are raking in more money they could ever.”

The title of the book is from a line in one of the poems in the compilation in which the poet addresses a ‘julaha’ (weaver) admiring the way he spins a yarn with not a knot surfacing on the cloth and compares it with his own failed attempt to weave the fabric of a relationship which was replete with knots. The poet passed on all credit for the book to Yatindra Mishra,the poet who compiled it.

“It’s been a learning experience for me,seeing my poems from a different point of view. I am still learning and still a part of the life process…expect not from me any message of life or magic mantra,” he signed off saying.