1. LP: Please tell me about your academics?

PCK: The early period was full of struggles and difficulties. Ancestral comforts were no longer available. After matriculating from St. Paul’s’ High School, Palampur, HP, I did odd jobs for a few years while in the college. I post-graduated in English Literature from Punjab University, Chandigarh. Then I served as a lecturer in English in different colleges before shifting to civil services.

2. LP: Who/what influenced you the most?

PCK: Influences work at different levels- experiential and inspirational. Any incident, word or image or echo of a moment inspires and the itch to pen down is irresistible. At that very second, something baffles, and I realize a restrained break in language and inspiration. Here memories indistinctly concretize whatever is collected. This process is not only difficult but painful. And then people and environment around urge me to delve deep into the mystery of human life. I think everyone wants to share thoughts and emotions, while participation in life imparts meaning. If one cancels this constituent of partaking, life is reduced to an animal existence. Life is a great creation and in it are inherent other creations. One can see it in totality or in little parts; the choice is left to a creative artist.

3. LP: Why did you come all the way from Himachal Pradesh to Study M.A. English Lit.? At Punjab University?

PCK: At that time, it was the only alternative available. More so at that time, I was also doing a clerical job in the University and continued as such before joining the college so that money-wise there is no trouble.

4. LP: A writer in P C K Prem (P. C. Katoch) and A bureaucrat in P C K Prem. Two different personalities altogether, anything to share with readers?

PCK: Man works at many levels –psychologically- provided he is cautious. Human mind functions in different directions at the same time with a degree of difference but this phenomenon is only known to the internal man. If a man thinks and does a job at a specific moment, he also implicitly deliberates on matters near to mind and heart. To work at two diametrically opposed patterns creates genuine problems but a creative artist has to synthesize. It appears difficult but with practice and concentration I could accomplish creative work at different levels quite satisfactorily. And simultaneously, official functions provided added energy and advantage. Sharing is of utmost significance to a creative writer. It is a voluntary sharing of feelings and thoughts. Writing is exclusive as an art and perhaps yes, it is a compulsion at times and so an impulse must not be a burden but a spontaneous act of creative charity.

5. LP: A writer is generally known to be sensitive and responsive to the society. How did P C K Prem respond to society as a bureaucrat?

PCK: Creativity is a science of thoughts, emotions and sensitivity and it creates something within which is purely personal and it reflects deeply on man and society. Writing makes you a real man; and perhaps it has certain moments of highly charged emotions that take you to the zenith of a glorious man. It also makes you feel better with tensions when articulation poses a threat. I don’t adhere to any specific craft, art and style. Feelings and thoughts often determine the pattern and genre of my creative writing. Disturbing trends in contemporary life hit hard cultural and ethical system, style of living with an overwhelming feeling to live independently; and these brush-aside societal obstructions. Life gives so much to man. It has meaning, beauty and inherent eternal feeling that man never dies perhaps. This constitutes material for any creative stuff. I would say creativity is an experience in emotions, thoughts, situational analysis and impressions struggling for expression. The extent, to which an author is able to give words to these truths and facts, depends upon how conscious and careful he is. At such junctures, a creative artist encounters genuine difficulties. If a writer and a bureaucrat combine the opposing thought-streams, possibly enunciation is easy. A mere nomenclature if changes the contour and shape of a man, probably it will create chaotic situations. If a man tries to capture the essence of man in various conditions and places and scrutinizes faithfully, he can transcend routine of life and reach some conclusions. At this time, questions of relations with man and society arise. I do not talk as a preacher. I have given expression to various issues facing man from different point of views. Poetry and other creative writing can be examined from various angles and aspects in entirety and even in fragments it will make many riddles transparent. Probably to reach a conclusion, I take short, at times long, and then different routes which can be justified if looked into from this perspective.

6. LP: Being a bureaucrat, how could you find time to sing the glories of literature?

PCK: To run away from the anarchic but meaningful rut of files and pleasant futility to a world of books always appeared exotic and a bit romantic. One ought to know the meaning of daily work even it is without purpose. Even abuses and fierce words at times offer meaning. If one works honestly, there is satisfaction and after that one just feels fulfilled. It provides peace and harmony and no tension. A man engaged in illegal or corrupt practices is never at peace, I repeat, there exists no peace for people with corrupt mentality. And I have interacted with such people in a variety of situations. Various ailments linked with political and bureaucratic life chase which I need not reiterate. I am of the opinion that many such people do not have enough work and so minds work in different directions with not very conducive influence on society. Mostly, this drives such men to unethical resorts and materialistic greed. It is a natural human tendency. For some people who have no other axe to grind, what next is the question that crops up? That is why I call it a pleasant futility. This provides sufficient stuff to deliberate upon. You are attached to people and work; and don’t forget that you get money for that matter, and it is with everyone. It is absolute hypocrisy if you call it public service. Yes, there are definitely certain aberrations and exceptions.

7. LP: Has literary-writing helped you in any way in your bureaucratic journey?

PCK: I learnt at all levels. A bureaucratic life is an experience in different fields of life. One comes across diverse segments of society. From a beggar in the street, you walk up to a business tycoon and public/political men and in between you have a distance filled with many multifaceted persons. It is relationship with men at various levels that teaches a lot. To hear and to listen is a great lesson. To talk out is itself a big achievement if it is with understanding. But for literary pursuits, you ought to have your time, clearly set apart and beyond the reach of office work, in order to write aptly. On the other hand, creativity also fills in gaps in space and empty time.

8. LP: A bureaucrat is known to be an expert in “Decision making”. How far is this true of P C K Prem as a decision maker?

PCK: I would say yes, a bureaucrat is trained to take quick decisions. But quickness invites troubles if a decision does not suit political bosses. I tasted this situation many a time. Most of the bureaucrats probably play a safe game these days, and leave it to the political chief to take decisions. I think it is a right approach in a parliamentary system of government and here caution is necessary if contemporary mood is properly gauged. To that degree, one’s identity is eroded.

9. LP: You have shifted to civil services after having served as a lecturer in English for some time? Any teaching experiences to share with readers? Were you genuinely confronted with various problems?

PCK: There was a desire to see life in totality. In teaching I realized, I was restrained. To project an image of a man was not possible. Man as a man, I mean. I don’t think I was a man of discipline but I wanted to live with a set of reasonably pragmatic rules and principles of life. Another thought always assailed mind that teaching is an ideal profession and all else is corrupt. Again, it was a fallacy of those years. But then the routine also did not help me and here questions regarding morality arose; and there were obstacles too. I hope you understand. I must say… love for reading did help in pursuing literary tastes.

10. LP: What is your literary contribution as a writer? I mean your output of publications as on today.

PCK: Creative activity is difficult. It is not possible always to conform to what society desires. But if a creative artist is socially conscious, he not only fulfills inner desires but enriches the society. It is for the society to judge to what extent an author has been useful. Creative works which provoke and hurt faith of people, corrupt everyone in the long run. As already told, I have more than forty publications so far.

11. LP: You are known to be a trilingual writer: English, Hindi and Pahari. When and where did your passion for writing originate? How well has it progressed in your creative life?

PCK: During the adolescent years, I used to see historical and mythical plays enacted by local artists in the villages, mostly at night. I loved films relating to history, mythology and legends. I read a lot –all sorts of books. No limit and that probably inspired. I tried to be neutral and objective but this ambience was awesome to maintain. I also wrote in fragments. When I was in the 10th class, I wrote a novel. For obvious reasons I put it in the trunk which was later on retrieved, polished, updated and published with the title “Vanshdaan” which won Chanderdhar Sharma Guleri’s State Award. Another novel “Sangyaheen” bagged State Academy Award. This is how the literary journey remained continuous. “A Handsome Man”- a novel in English -was short-listed for Commonwealth Literary Award.

12. LP: It is said that poetry is the poetry of surrender from heart to heart. How far do you agree with this comment? In what way does your poetry reflect this?

PCK: You are correct. Poetry talks to heart with the language of emotions. It is self-abnegation in another way. In a state of egoless ness, man is at peace. It awakens intellect with the force of its sound. At another level, it is concretization of emotions in words and this is the origin of humanism in creative writing.

13. LP: And your poetry collection titled “Oracles of the Last Decade”. What oracles have you revived & implanted as a Poet?

PCK: Contemporary wisdom confuses. An intellect analyzes and stuns everyone. In an age of suspicion and uncertainty, growth and wayward behavioral outlook with little care for finer things of life, disturbs. It is a culture of this age. This needs valid instruments to handle. At this moment a sense of remorse overwhelms intellectuals, for; they fail to provide reasonable answers. When one finds things in a fragmented state there is an inherent thought to synthesize. To find answers, one goes back to myths and legends. A search continues to find solutions in the process of creation and consequent chaos. If one links messages of myths to the inner voice, one finds prophetic voices which if rightly understood these voices provide clues to answers of modern sickness. Everyone finds this relation but fails to correlate. In certain poems I have tried to co-relate predictive voices to contemporary life but still I find the process incomplete. Oracles and predictions do fascinate man and so it is with me.

14. LP: Yours is Life of Multi-dimensional personalities: A lecturer, avaricious reader, a creative writer and a bureaucrat in P C K Prem. How could you play different roles within the permissible limits of time?

PCK: I understand if time is organized and managed properly and each function of life is given its space and time without much scope for gossips and politicking, one can live life as one may wish. Theoretically, it appears logical but one is invariably prone to volatile vagaries of thoughts and emotions. Here, one ought to restrain naughty emotions only then one can approach the desired objective.

15. LP: How do you define “best poetry” Do you support “Coleridge’s the best words in best Order”?

PCK: Mathew Arnold spoke of “best poetry”, that meant “power of forming, sustaining and delighting” and when Coleridge tells that “poetry is the best words in the best order” these poets spoke, of their time, its spirit and conscience. Creative writings depict the essence the age and also inadvertently foretell thinking patterns of people. Best poetry must interpret life in totality. It not only materializes imagination and emotions in ‘proper’ words but also these words contain the intellectual range of poets which is within the reach of everyone. In modern times, complex living-styles and intricate thoughts pose dangerous and intricate possibilities in understanding for; a verse now gives multiple meanings. So to define poetry is not so easy. One defines it and another meaning crops up with questions. To be precise, to me poetry is intensity of emotions and thoughts with bits of rational undertones and fragmented experiences in mottled images. It is capturing of emotions in words before inspirational sources dry up as one picks up a pen to give it a definite shape and substance. True poetry is also an expression of a deep feeling, a defining of a sensation, a materialization of a thought in words almost similar to a painting, a sculpture or a statuette ready to speak but awaiting ‘sounds and an interpreter.’ An experience of a moment defines memory. From this point, it is relevant and touches everyone. I understand, in poetry one also classifies a moment, a segment of a memory and a transitory impression in images to give beauty and life to feelings, emotions, sentiments and thoughts so that poetry is relevant, purposeful and meaningful.

16. LP: Why do you write poetry?

PCK: At times, being assailed by a variety of images and oblique figures in a vague state of mind, I wish to find words for images and imagined or hazy figures and at another level, I want feelings to take definite shapes in words. If emotions concretize, it is a moment of fulfillment. Secondly, in poetry one is driven to a world where one can live with loneliness, anguish and inner sufferings and still feel immensely happy. This is the real world of a creative artist, I understand.

17. LP: “Rainbow At Sixty” is your poetry collection rooted in the concept “Indigenous poetry built around ancient wisdom and contemporary realism: How do look at the criticism?

PCK: I can not think of a situation where one can disconnect one’s identity from the world. To find valid existence, a man goes back to past. From past he returns to present. If in trouble with the present which is often a certainty, he escapes to future. Earlier I spoke of creation. Here I would say, creation is an enigma but a man believes in this mystery. History appears quite near and factual so man often goes back to something illusive and not substantiated and so in the course of enquiry he finds solace in ancient wisdom so that present looks authentic. This struggle continues in poetry and other creative writings. To effectively concretize inner urges and connect these to outside world is a poet’s dilemma. But you know, this is all disturbing.

18. LP: What do you say about your works which are known for their originality, imagery and imagination?

PCK: Contemporary times are convoluted. Multiple impacts function to irritate and impede the growth of man. These stifling influences are terrible weaknesses and, strengths as well and in an age of plenty amidst engulfing voids where even luxuries terrify with disgust; these provide glimpses of real meaning. Here one finds grandeur of intellect with ostensible patchwork. To reach these complexities, fresh imagery helps in achieving the desired and original affects of imagination and experience in words. This may look difficult but one has to do it. There is no running away.

19. LP: It is said that Life bestows both good and bad things. Any blunders, which have impacted your life?

PCK: You are right. Good and bad, vice and virtue, ugly and beautiful make life meaningful. It cannot be otherwise. If this is understood, one is at peace. Yes, I did commit mistakes when I wanted to adhere to certain norms and principles in life. It created difficulties and many were annoyed. But then, I stood my ground. Later on, I concluded that one should not go against the spirit of age otherwise even relations and friends –big or small- will desert you. It is bad in taste but one ought to learn to observe silence when bad elements are around …which I did not do. Anyway, I do not have regrets.

20. LP: Are you religious or irreligious?

PCK: This depends as to how you take life. Living is easy and it is also discomforting. Lord Krishna and Bhisma talk of universal truth. It is not different what Koran, Bible and other religious books tell. Religion is love for humanity without expectations, it appears to me. It is a way of life. If one reads Bhisma Parva, one finds life’s purpose and philosophy in totality and possibly nothing exists outside. Or let us say: live a straight life with plain and fine words without being circuitous. Life, if uninterrupted like a hill stream flows well, no filth and pollution ever corrupts it. It looks simple but very difficult, for, life is not a clear and undisturbed flow and from here I believe man’s journey to good life begins. That means it tells how one should live and lead a contended, happy and peaceful life. Coming back to religion, one finds coherence and continuity here. It is a concrete thought but it is abstract also and depends as to how one looks at it. To that I extent I am religious. In another situation, I just ask: Is religion necessary… to live an honest and straight life?

21. LP: What are the motivating themes of your Poetry?

PCK: It is difficult to sublimate different kinds of reading. I have been studying legends and myths of different countries without much seriousness. But somewhere in the subconscious these were taking roots. And when interest in creative writing took roots, I had to go back and back to find relevance of life in bygone days. Not entirely a smooth going but it stirred and confused, for I got inkling that man does nothing really new or fresh but somehow he clings to the past and goes on to say that it is present and he is a New Man. To this extent, personal and historical allusions and rationale of myths are integral to life. It is through myths and legends that man could not ignore rituals, customs and habits. The concept of God, soul and reincarnation is not of a recent creation. It is only an idea and interpretation of past, present and future. When man talks of genealogy or heritage, I think man tries to justify living and life, and naturally myths surface and resurface. From here, a strong wish to eternalize life begins which remains a search; unending and so continuity exists.

22. LP: Coming to prose-writings, you have got to your credit works such as novels and short stories. What is your over rated and under rated book? How did readers respond to your writings?

PCK: It is only after a period of time that literary output of an author is analyzed in totality. So far I understand there have been fragmentary attempts at evaluation. A consolidated picture is yet to emerge. The literary critics so far have been quite encouraging. But I think it is too early to asses a creative work. Let it breathe and survive and at an appropriate time, evaluation will automatically surface.

23. LP: Your long written work is a novel titled “A Handsome Man” what do you want to convey through this work? Can you call it a “Magnum Opus”?

PCK: The novel is about contemporary ethos. It is an effort to live with the spirit and culture of age. It moves to past and then returns to live in the present. It is about evil and at times it does speak about the goodness of life. It is about elite of India and about India. India has progressed but those who run the affairs, lack in ethics and morals with a few exceptions. Good and ethical living begins from the top but it is not happening. To a man of integrity and intellect, dreams of many who wanted to live in free Indian with reasonable virtues of life, appear shattered. There is uneasiness in life. Here corrupt dance around, honesty suffocates and dies. It is an age where relations live in punctured loyalty. It is this enigmatic living which forms the foundation of this novel. It will not be proper to call it Magnum opus but definitely ‘it is a serious work of literary art characterized by historical overtones and vast sweep.’ Yes, KaalKhand (A Slice of Time) in Hindi is a magnum opus, for it is a tale of two centuries in historical perspective with a fictionalized backdrop and it runs into twenty-three hundred pages with more than one thousand characters. I would also like to add here that it is difficult to separate subjective approach to writing all the time. Whatever one writes, it is observation, experience and explanation. It is difficult to sift subjective from the objective. Intensity of experience and nonaligned appraisal of situations and relations can eliminate autographical element in a creative work. To write objectively has been a painful experience. To some extent, a creative writer cannot be objective. In such a huge work, imperceptible incidents relating to family background can not be brushed aside. While writing this long novel, I had interaction with many old men who took birth around 1880 and lived on to relate certain personal experiences about people, history and India. That is how Kaalkhand took birth.

24. LP: Any autobiographical works to your credit?

PCK: I have not even thought over it.

25. LP: A retired bureaucrat in P C K Prem activates vigorously the life of a creative writer in P C K Prem. How can you substantiate this comment?

PCK: I am inclined to disagree. I was very active while in service. Out of service, I still enjoy creative activity. During those days, I used to organize time with a ruthless candor. Time-scheduled has not changed but if there was a lag, it was recuperated in due course of time. There is immense relief I feel when I know that there is no white-collar or white-khaddar or khaki pursuing me with a compulsive strain. Looking back, I realize, I loved freedom and independence throughout with confrontations, defeats, failures, irritations and obstructions. But each failure was a lesson and there are visible changes in life patterns without a negative impact. Change with an independent mind, inspires.

26. LP: Which literary work do you rate as “the best of century”?

PCK: I like books which force you to sit quietly and think and think long. Perhaps it is not possible to categorize a literary work. Ayn Rand’s writings definitely fascinated me. It is a philosophy of life that shocks and amazes. Another book by Peter Watson ‘a terrible beauty’ makes a meaningful reading. It is a story of ideas which capsules contemporary mind.

27. LP: Your literary career has spanned more than four decades now. Any awards to your credit?

PCK: Besides various literary awards (more than a dozen) including Life Time Achievement Awards by social and literary organizations, I won Sahitya Academy Award and State Literary Award instituted by the State Govt. ‘A Handsome Man’ was short-listed for Commonwealth Literary Award.

28. LP: As a bureaucrat, any tough times you dealt with?

PCK: At times mildness and humility is considered weakness. When you act tough, tough and unpleasant times are ahead in bureaucratic life. It is a question of survival that dominates a bureaucrat’s thinking and there ends the tale. When survival is supreme, one compromises. When one does not bend, one breaks. I hope you understand. In times of moral crisis and in an age of uncertainty where conduct of man is suspect, it is difficult to live at peace and so as a bureaucrat I did not have very soft and mild experiences and it was a difficult job for me, at least. But I learnt a lot from bureaucrats and netas. Alliance with these people continues till you finish up with a cup of coffee. I cherish those little bitter feelings, for; lessons were so lasting and important. And if one is a creative writer, the anguish is much more intense and healthy.

29. LP: A poet need not necessarily be a critic of merit. But P C K Prem combines in himself the literary honours of poet & Critic. Who would you like to be compared with?

PCK: It is difficult to draw comparison. As a creative artist one is quite independent. Either you move with the emotion and thought of a moment as it happens in poetry or you take the route as per will of characters with minor shifts. But as a critic, one has to adopt entirely different course of action with reason, scrutiny and analysis.

30. LP: Literary Awards in India are conferred upon the basis of Caste, region and religion? Would you agree with this allegation?

PCK: This possibility can not be ruled out; for laws/principles are entirely distorted for ulterior motives; and unholy alliances in life grow, leading to unjust decisions. But it happens in a system which is a massive movement and none can afford to change its course for obvious reasons. Here, one discerns least care for ethics and values.

31. LP: What message would you like to leave for the budding poets and writers?

PCK: Observation and experience with a lot of varied quality reading makes life meaningful provided one is in search of inner peace and satisfaction. But it does not mean one should eschew material comforts.

32. LP: Where would you like to place Indian English poetry?

PCK: Its existence is a fact. In introduction to Contemporary Indian English Poetry from Himachal, an anthology, I wrote that: it is not that Indian poets imitated English poetry and its thematic traditions …but it is because of their commitment to Indian thought and people. Poets’ cultural-roots and deep-seated spiritual consciousness encouraged them to emphasize Indian-ness in poetry…Practical material propensities of western thought, no doubt, gain ascendance in modern Indian system but there invariably exists a spiritual and philosophical undercurrent which differentiates it from western English poetry. I still hold this opinion and I would like to say that Indian English Poetry has its own identity. An Indian English poet is conscious of social obligations and he is part of the social milieu with genuine anxieties about life’s destiny and turns to explore metaphysical meanings of man’s life. If he goes to other areas of probing, it is just an aberration. IEP depicts consciousness of India in totality, I would say.
 

About P C K Prem

P C K Prem (p. c. katoch): Academician-turned bureaucrat, after teaching in various colleges in Himachal and Punjab, he shifted to Civil Services and later on retired as member of HP Public Service Commission. A tri-lingual (English, Hindi and Pahari) poet, novelist, short story writer and critic, he is associated with several literary journals. He has seven books of poems in English including ‘Contemporary Indian English Poetry from Himachal’–edited. 

His publications in English include:

Poetry: 

Among the Shadows (Narinder Publicaitons, Delhi, 1989), Enigmas of an Identity (Rachna Publications, Palampur, HP, 1990), Contemporary Indian English Poetry from Himachal –(Konark Publishers, Delhi, 1992), Those Distant Horizons (Abhinav Publications, Delhi, 1993), The Bermuda Triangles(Writers Workshop, Calcutta, 1996), Oracles of the Last Decade(Writers Workshop, 1998),  and Rainbows at Sixty(Prakash Book Depot, Bareilly, 2008). Tales of Half-men (UP)

Novels:  

Rainbows at Dawn (Writers Workshop, 1991), A Night of Storms (Writers Workshop, (1996), It Shall Be Green Again (Writers Workshop, 1999), A Handsome Man (Abhinav Publications, Delhi, 2001), A Heart for the Man (Book Enclave, Jaipur, 2002), Not Their Lives (Book Enclave, 2003), Relations UP.

Short Stories:  

Shadows at Dawn, 1990.

Hindi:
            
In Hindi, the books include: Akash Mera Nahin, File Gawah Hai, Dashansh, Shankhnaad, Vishmoh, Sangyaheen, Chhote Chhote Riste, Khuda Hua Adami, Vanshdaan, Itne Baras Baad, Kaalkhand -in Five Volumes 2300 pages-,Adha Adhura Ek Din, Akash Aur Kauve, Agnipind, Shayad etc. all novels; Tinka Bhar Dard, Akritiaon Ke Beech, Awaaz-edited, Dhundh Me Ugte Sooraj –coedited, Riste, Chopal Khamosh Hai, Teen Kadam Aur, Din Beet Gaye, Pyond - all collections of short stories and Inderdhanush Shabad Ho Gaye - poetry.          

He has two children: daughter Dr Shivalik Katoch Pathania and son P. Vikranta Jay Katoch. Presently, he lives with his wife Shakuntla at: Katoch Cottage, Mian Luder-Mahant House, Chanakyapuri, Palampur – 176061, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh.