Yudhisthar & Draupadi

In the forest in the stillness of the morning Yudhishtar custodian of morality oblivious to scale or balance unthinking made love to this woman his wife Draupadi. A long poem in rhymed sonnets Yudhishtar and Draupadi is an imaginative retelling of the encounter between the Pandavas and the Yaksha of the pool which finds Yudhishtar the eldest Pandava answering fundamental philosophical questions about existence as the lives of his brothers hang in the balance. Unknown to him also at stake is his relationship with Draupadi who is still furious with him for having wagered her at the game of dice with the Kauravas. About the Author Pavan K. Varma studied history at St. Stephen's College Delhi and took a degree in law from Delhi University. A member of the Indian Foreign Service he has served in Moscow in New York at the Indian Mission to the United Nations in London where he was Director of the Nehru Centre and as India's High Commissioner in Cyprus. He is at present India's Ambassador in Bhutan. Apart from his own books he has also translated Gulzar (selected poems) Kaifi Azmi (selected poems) and Atal Bihari Vajpayee (21 poems) into English for Penguin.Gulzar started out as a poet with the Progressive Writer's Association. He turned lyricist with Bimal Roy’s Bandini (1963). While working as Roy’s full-time assistant he wrote scripts dialogues and lyrics for several filmmakers before directing his first feature film Mere Apne in 1971. Over the next decade and a half he made some of the enduring classics of Hindi cinema and continues to be one of the most popular lyricists in mainstream Hindi cinema with several chartbusters to his credit in recent years. Gulzar has published a number of poetry anthologies collections of short stories and a biography of Mirza Ghalib . He is regarded as one of India’s finest writers for children with several books for children to his credit. Apart from the many Filmfare and National Awards for his films and lyrics Gulzar has also received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2002 and the Padma Bhushan in 2004. He lives and works in Mumbai.