AN ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN HINDI POETRYEdited By K. Vajpeyi, Rupa, Rs 395 This anthology of modern Hindi poetry translated into English contains selections from the works of 38 different poets. It is a mixed fare and can rarely elicit a single, decided response in a reader. An endeavour of this sort inevitably has inherent limitations and strengths. An arbitrariness and randomness is bound to creep in despite an anthologist's best efforts, resulting in uneven acoustics and a non-uniform quality running throughout the book. The anthology begins with six poems by Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', one of the most important voices in Hindi poetry, and the poet who is considered to be the propounder of the Nayi Kavita movement in the beginning of the twentieth century. This was the time when poets were veering away from the chayavaad and the pragativaad modes and were trying to find a new, realist voice. Before this, Hindi poetry was limited to the dialects, Avadhi and Braj Bhasha, with recurrent themes of love, religion and devotion. After Nirala, there follow other gems by some very significant poets like Kunwar Narain, Muktibodh, Anamika, Kedarnath Singh, and some other strong, vibrant voices that do not fail to evoke a powerful response. In the introduction, Kailash Vajpeyi, the anthologist, and also one of the contributing poets, apologizes for the inadequate representation of women poets and promises to amend this in future editions if more women poets are brought to his notice. Surprising omissions are Amrita Bharati, Jyotsna Milan, Shakunta Mathur and Kirti Chaudhari, all of whom have distinctive voices with feminist overtones. Also, the space allotted to some of the poets has not been used well enough. For instance, most of the poems included in this anthology by Gagan Gill are about her anguished response to the violent separatist years in Punjab, although she has also written powerfully about other themes, other emotions. The cover is indifferently designed, which is sad when a book is as steeply priced as this, and it also subtracts from the excitement and the music of the poetry contained within. The biographical notes on the poets are extremely dissatisfying. They mention only the year of birth and the awards that a poet has received, and even then, mostly those that are bestowed by the state, as if that is the only introduction that a poet needs. These notes do not mention the poet's origins, his history, his times, the formative influences on his poetry, the context he was writing in and so on. It can be argued that such a thing is unnecessary while dealing with poetry, that good poetry is free because it can rise above all boundaries and limits and can be interpreted by each individual differently. But in this case, one has to consider a few more things. An exercise like this is meant for a certain sort of reader - one who does not have access to Hindi but wishes not only to read Hindi poetry but also to trace its path through the course of the twentieth century. If good biographical notes were available, a coherent picture could have emerged of a society and the events that evoked some of the responses in these poems. Despite this, the collection is worth going through for a poetry lover, especially for someone who does not have access to this poetry in the original language. Not all the poems are good, and many have lost some music during translation, but despite those dull stretches, there are some gems you might stumble over. If nothing else, the anthology is a celebration of some very good poetry, which in its original language is fast being relegated to the world of academics and to railway station bookstalls.