Grace’s poetry collection to be launched today

The invite poster to Tuesday’s event comes emblazoned with the sketch of a brooding Manik Godghate,better known as Grace. But in his VIP room on the eighth floor of Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital,where he is undergoing treatment for liver cancer,the respected poet spends his days in surprisingly good spirits. The room wall is adorned with photographs of his,and any visitor is offered a helping of tea and sweets that can’t be refused. “This is my territory and you have to do as I say,” he declares,only half-jokingly. The 70-year-old Grace was recently honoured with the Sahitya Akademi award for his essay collection,Varyane Halate Raan. Today,the hospital will host the launch of his poetry collection,titled Olya Valuchi Basri,by Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar. The event will be held at the hospital’s auditorium on the same floor on which Grace’s room is,and has been organised in collaboration with Popular Prakashan.

Though the Sahitya Akademi award has brought renewed attention to Grace’s much-acclaimed work,he says,“There has been no special effect on my daily life because of it. It’s not my achievement at all. I belong to Grace,to his few tissues and bones. Writing is a compulsive gift that has been given by my mother and my master,” he says,pointing to the sky. “It (the award) has come very late. It is unfair,not on the part of the government,but on the part of the system. The system has taken so long.”

Grace has been in and out of hospital over the past five months,but his prognosis is quite positive. “I feel it is divine promotion,” he says of his relapse after recovering from throat cancer two years ago. “He is testing me,but my time hasn’t come.”