Vrudshtak

“He lived in absence, present and absent at the same time. Sometimes, his absence became so overwhelming that one began to wonder whether he had ever existed at all.”

This collection of hundred poems by Kamal Vora, titled Vruddhashatak, has been translated into Marathi by Varjesh Solanki. An accomplished poet with an independent creative sensibility, Solanki has undertaken a significant task through this translation. His own distinctive poetic language is perceptible throughout the translated work. As a result, the poems do not feel like works originally written in Gujarati and subsequently translated into Marathi; instead, they seem as though they were written in Marathi from the very beginning. This is the true achievement of a successful translation.

Solanki has succeeded in bringing the subtlety and delicacy of the original poems into Marathi. The profound and boundless empathy that resonates throughout these poems is a defining feature of the collection.

This book makes a valuable contribution to the body of translated poetry available in Marathi.

— Vasant Abaji Dahake