Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or Mahatma Gandhi called the ‘Father of the Nation’ was assassinated on 30 January 1948 at New Delhi. He was 78. The assassin fired three bullets into Gandhiji’s chest. 30 January is also observed as Martyrs Day to honour his martyrdom as well that of all martyrs who laid down their lives for the cause of country’s independence and national unity. Today, 30 January 2023, is the 75th anniversary of the Martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi. In the aftermath of his assassination, tributes poured in from world over mourning the violent death of the apostle of peace and non-violence. Some of the important messages were compiled and published by Publications Division in a book form titled ‘Homage to Mahatma’ in 1948. In this episode, I read out some of the obituaries received from global leaders. The book has been structured as messages received from different continents; and I follow almost similar structure with some minor variations in sequence to read, remember and reflect on the impact left by the Great Gandhiji.

Today I bring to you readings from a very special and significant study titled ‘Indian English Women Poets’ compiled and edited and with an introduction by Prof Anisur Rahman and Prof Ameena Kazi Ansari; and published in 2009 by Creative Books, New Delhi. This study has 625 pages or so and has, besides the introduction, critical essays, interviews, readers’ response, poetspeak, and a selection of 20 poems each of six poets, namely, Kamla Das, Lakshmi Kannan, Debjani Chatterjee, Rukmini Bhaya Nair, Shanta Acharya, and Smita Agarwal. It also has a comprehensive bibliography on Indian English Women Poets from 1876-2006 compiled by Shyamala A Narayan. —- This episode has three segments In the first segment, I read the Preface, in the second segment, some excerpts from the Introduction are read, and in the last segment one poem each of the poets mentioned above as included in this volume are brought to you.

नमस्कार! Random Readings With Kumar Vikram के हिंदी पाठों की शृंखला का आज शुभारंभ करते हुए मुझे बड़ी ख़ुशी हो रही है। मैं हूँ आपका होस्ट-कुमार विक्रम। — आज इस एपिसोड में मैं पटना निवासी बाबू महेश नारायण (1858-1907) द्वारा रचित हिंदी खड़ी बोली की प्रथम लंबी कविता “स्वप्न” का पाठ प्रस्तुत कर रहा हूँ। इस कविता का पाठ साहित्य अकादमी द्वारा प्रकाशित पुस्तक “खड़ी बोली का पद्य (पहला और दूसरा भाग)-संकलियता मुज़फ़्फ़रपुर निवासी अयोध्या प्रसाद खत्री व संपादक रामनिरंजन परिमलेन्दु से किया जा रहा है।

Who does not know Albert Einstein (1879-1955), the Nobel Laureate, not only one of the greatest scientists of human kind, but one of the greatest human minds! As we are about to leave behind 2022, and enter the new year 2023, let us leave our past and get into future with the most sobering thoughts of Einstein as expressed in some of his lesser known speeches and writings on humanitarian issues of world peace, human equality, the need for social commitment of intellectuals and leaders, among other issues. Most of these essays and speeches were recorded before, during and after the World War II and take up issues of disarmament and world peace quite prominently. I read excerpts from some of these writings collected in the book ‘Selected Writings of Albert Einstein’ edited by Jim Green and published by LeftWord publications in association with Ocean Press in 2004. This episode has four segments.

Learn what happens when Santa Claus gets kidnapped by the Demons jealous of him on Christmas Eve! Did kids get their gifts, and what moral do we learn out of this brilliant timeless story for kids published in 1904!! The author L Frank Baum (1856-1919) was a distinguished author known for his famous serial books ‘The Wonderful World of Oz’.

Special Christmas episode coming soon! A reading of a classic Christmas story for children!

This is a special episode having three segments. In the first segment, I read out and discuss poets like Sarah Wardle who have been poets-in-residence of football clubs. In the second segment, we discuss works of football players who have published poetry or literature works including the great one like Albert Camus, who was a footballer before becoming a pioneering writer. In the third segment we bring to you information about books on football, and end with reading of excerpts from Diego Maradona’s autobiography!!

This is going to be a confluence of football and books with lot of interesting readings and information!!

This episode brings to you readings from a classic book ‘One Hundred Poems of Kabir’ translated into English by the Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore and published in 1915. The collection has an introduction by Evelyn Underhill. Kabir was a 15th century Indian poet-saint, a mystic as well as a social realist. The episode has three parts: In the first part, introduction to Kabir, Tagore and Evelyn Underhill is given by the narrator as well as the book is introduced. Then it is followed by two segments having readings of excerpts from the introduction to the book by Evelyn Underhill, and of some immortal original Hindi poems of Kabir alongwith their English translations by Tagore. I really find the inter-cultural and inter-textual communication and engagement that this classic book carries within a slim volume: poetry of a 15th century poet originally written in Old Hindi, getting interpreted and translated by a major Bangla poet of early 20th century in British colonial India with the assistance and collaboration of an English lady scholar with the book being published in 1915 by a major British publisher, Macmillan And Co., London.

The next episode will be a reading from classic book ‘One Hundred Poems of Kabir’ translated into English by the Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore and published in 1915. The collection has an introduction by Evelyn Underhill. Kabir was a 15th century Indian poet-saint, a mystic as well as a social realist.

The critical analysis, written by Dr S N Prasad, has been taken from his book ‘The Poetry of Philip Larkin: A Study in Long Perspectives’ (2022) published by RoseDog Books, USA. Dr Prasad was a retired Professor in English, B R A Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, India. He also taught for nearly 15 years at the Sana University and Hodeida University, Republic of Yemen. This episode is being uploaded on 2nd December 2022 on the occasion of death anniversary of Philip Larkin falling today.

Reading of Philip Larkin’s poem ‘Church Going’ and excerpts from its critical analysis by Dr S N Prasad from his book ‘The Poetry of Philip Larkin: A Study in Long Perspectives’

The episode 5 is being released on 30th November, 2022, which is also the birth anniversary of one of the greatest novelists, Mark Twain (1835-1910). This episode brings to you readings from a critical introduction written by Prof Arun Kumar Sinha (1940-2011) to the classic novel ‘Huckleberry Finn’. Prof. Sinha was an ex-Professor of English and Principal, Langat Singh College, B R A Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, India. He taught English literature for nearly four decades (1961-2000) to graduate and post-graduate students. He worked on the poetry of Dylan Thomas. He was co-author of ‘T S Eliot: An Intensive Study of Selected Poems’, and translated a biography of eminent Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, besides contributing critical essays on Shakespeare, D H Lawrence, I A Richards etc. He also wrote a novel in English (under publication). The cover picture of this episode has been taken from the classic illustrator, Donald McKay, of Junior Illustrated Library Edition of ‘Huckleberry Finn’ published by Grosset & Dunlop, New York( 1948), courtesy: twain.lib.virginia.edu

On the occasion of the birth anniversary of the great American novelist, Mark Twain (1835-1910), falling on 30 November, this episode will bring to you reading of excerpts from a critical book on this classic novel authored by Prof Arun Kumar Sinha (1940-2011), former Professor of English, Langat Singh College, B R A Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, India. The reading will be from the chapter ‘Jim as a Possible Hero’. The Critical Introduction with the text of the novel was published by Spectrum Books, New Delhi under its Litscan Series with Kalpana Rajaram as the General Editor. The book is available on Amazon India.

In this episode I bring to you excerpts from the book Myself Surprised: Autobiographies by Prof Murari Madhusudan Thakur, M M Thakur (1932-2022), in short, an eminent Professor of English, Translator, and Critic. The episode has 4 segments 1. Prologue 2. An excerpt from his childhood 3. His boyhood recollections of attending a meeting addressed by Gandhiji at Patna in 1946-47 4. And the last segment relates to his encounters with the eminent freedom fighter and Socialist leader, Jaya Prakash Narayan, popularly called JP.

It is a trailer of the forthcoming episode focussed on reading from the autobiography of an eminent Professor, critic and translator Prof M M Thakur (1932-2022) of Bihar, India, titled ‘Myself Surprised: Autobiographies’ (2021). To know more about the book and the author, do tune in to the full episode coming soon!! Subscribe and receive notifications as new episodes get uploaded!

This is a historic speech given by the first Prime Minister of India, Mr Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), at the special midnight session of Constituent Assembly of India during 14-15 August 1947 on the occasion of India attaining independence from British Colonialism. Today, 14th November, is the birth anniversary of Mr Nehru.

In this episode I read excerpts from Dr Prasad's book wherein he analyses the poem 'The Building' by Philip Larkin, one of the most distinguished poets of the contemporary period. The poem dwells on the idea of death, disease, and the overall moral and physical deterioration in human society with modern hospitals standing as symbol of the same.

I read from the last 8 paras of ‘Prologue’ which detail the gradual recovery of Nash from Schizophrenia and how the news of him getting Nobel was broken to him by his mathematician friend Kuhn.