Rustic charm attracted this AIR artiste & made him poet

For more than three decades, his voice thrilled the audience and entertained them with an assumed name of 'Govardhan'. As a compere and announcer in All India Radio, the continuous tours to the villages attracted him to its rustic charm so much so that Kailash Gautam penned most of his memorable pieces based on the simplicity of ruralfolk.

For more than three decades, his voice thrilled the audience and entertained them with an assumed name of 'Govardhan'. As a compere and announcer in All India Radio, the continuous tours to the villages attracted him to its rustic charm so much so that Kailash Gautam penned most of his memorable pieces based on the simplicity of ruralfolk.

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This eminent litterateur who is president of the Hindustani Akademi at present is looking ahead to bring in tremendous changes in the mundane functioning of the institution.

"As president of the Akademi, I have chalked out several plans to promote the literary activities in the city. Discussions are underway to increase the amount of literary award conferred by the Akademi. An award in the memory of Akbar Allahabadi will be started soon. Special editions of the tri-monthly Hindustani magazine will be published and in the new year the edition will be dedicated to Lakshmi Narayan Mishra while the next edition will be dedicated to Urdu litterateurs," said Gautam.

"Conference based on a regional language titled 'Lokayatan' will be held quarterly. It will be interactive wherein question and answer sessions will form a prominent part. An event dedicated to one prominent litterateur will be held every month," he added.

Kailash Gautam, a BHU alumnus, had started his career as a correspondent in a renowned Hindi daily where he was supported by the then known journalists. After joining AIR in 1967, there was no looking back for him and he gained much acclaim as a playwright for his plays such as 'Teka guru', 'Kahu kahna' and 'Patnawali'. "To be a successful writer you need to be an ardent reader and perhaps this helped me in strengthening my roots as an author," he said.

He visited numerous villages for coverage and no doubt this led his creations to be based on rural themes and folk culture.

Kailash Gautam has written nine books till now. His recently published book was 'Kavita laut padi' in which there are poems revolving around the themes of social issues. His book based on satirical essays titled 'Chinta naye joote ki' will be published soon. Another book is based on Sanskar geet in Awadhi and Bhojpuri titled 'Dampatya ki sugandh' which too is in the pipeline. 'Bina kam ka admi' is the collection of Dohas.

"Besides, I am also writing two novels 'Tambuon ka shaher' and 'Jai jai siya ram'. The latter is based on the situation prevailing in the country after independence.

It is unfortunate that none of the writers are ready to touch such subjects at present," he lamented.

Being a litterateur he feels that it is very necessary to communicate well with the readers else it should be counted as a failure on the part of the writer.

Gautam has received several awards such as Lok Bhushan, Rahul Sanskritayan Samman, Mahadevi Verma Samman, etc.

Quite content with the literary works of the younger generation, Kailash Gautam feels that they are much responsible and honest citizens and have tremendous scope of creativity.

"I want to continue with my journey as a writer who still identifies himself with the rustic charm and simplicity," added Gautam.