The BigBridge Book of Contemporary Indian Poetry

<p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>Indian poets writing in English have earned their space on the global stage forging new paths and moulding the language to suit the Indian landscape concerns and themes. When Nissim Ezekiel crossed new frontiers with his '</span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>A Time to Change'</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(34 34 34 1)> in 1952 it was recognised as one of the first significant books of postcolonial poetry in English; decades later however sceptics continued to ask why Indians insisted on writing in English and not in their mother tongues. An exasperated Saleem Peeradina said to me in an interview soon after his debut poetry collection </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>First Offence</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(34 34 34 1)> appeared in 1980 This question should be outlawed! Mercifully though such discussions may still linger in some academic circles the issue no longer merits attention at least among poets. </span></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>