Kritya has completed its third year. For three long years we have been publishing it regularly without any delay, every month, on the dot of time. Kritya has not resorted to any kind of propaganda, and has never made any tall claims. Here we believe in working quietly without showing off, that is why Kritya has never come out with any type of slogan. In the course of these three years, a number of web journals had come up with a number of slogans. Kritya is happy to find that mainstream poets are now convenient with web journals. Kritya’s work was not limited to a web journal, we could bring out a print journal and could arrange two national and one international poetry festivals in these three years. We are again ready with yet another international festival coming up in Punjab in November.
Kritya has many friends, and some continue with us silently. I want to mention our co-editor Jayasree Ramakrishnan, who has been with Kritya for these three long years. She does her work quietly, and without any delay. If I had not got the help of Jayasree, it would not have been easy for me to take the burden of Kritya on my weak shoulders.
This issue of Kritya carries an enlightening interview with a poet from Iraq, Soheil Najm, who voices his opinion regarding those, including poets and writers, who left Iraq in the wake of the war. This is also the occasion for him to draw attention to the sad plight of Iraq:
“The case in Iraq is very different and very complicated. I guess all the Iraqis love their country but, the pity, for four decades they, especially the poor, have got nothing but pain and collective symmetries. Nobody may be knowing that Saddam's regime (the Ba'athist) distorted the social fabric of the Iraqi people. They killed many of the original ethics. . . .The Ba'athists succeeded to make the neighbor spy on his neighbor, or even on his family. . . . A father shot his son because the latter refused to participate in the war against Iran. The Iraqis lived a horrible life in the past and they are now. Because of the corrupted politicians, death has been attacking the Iraqis everywhere. Every house has its disaster, every one has either lost one of the members of his family, or one of his relatives or at least one of his close friends. . . .Dr. Raji al-Tikreety, accused to be a conspirator, Saddam let his wild dogs eat him! Who has experienced our agony and horror? The Iraqi poet, Sa'sdi Yousif, described Iraq as the country between two swords, not two rivers! After the fall of Saddam's regime the terrorists, the Ba'athists and the Islamists did the worst in the entire human history - to slaughter a person, like a sheep, only for his or her identity! In short I don't blame the persons who left Iraq, especially those whose lives were threatened, although I would have liked them to stay to fight the wolves, as Ana Akhmatova suggests, with those who are inside.
An Iranian poet, Farideh Hassanzadeh-Mostafavi, conducted this interview. Kritya is publishing this interview to connect poetry with war. A poet can carry a gun for his own country as easily as he carries a pen in his hand. But it is sure that he experiences pain when carrying the gun, and is blissful with the pen in his hand. We recall an Indian poet, Agnishekhar, who is fighting for his own people and country, and is forced to live in exile. He is a member of the advisory board in Kritya’s Hindi section. His poems talk graphically about the pain of leaving one’s own country and facing terror. He says:

The gun does not terrorize me
I know its intention
It is your
explosive-like silence
that terrorize me
I am not afraid of your ready affirmative:

“yes” ”yes” 

These two poets are talking in the same language and showing the same feeling, though they belong to two different groups. Thus we find that peace is important for anyone, irrespective of country, cast and creed. Kritya prays fervently for an end to the terror and re-establishment of peace in the world. Friends, once again we present a number of poems in the section, Poetry in Our Time. Continue reading  'Ritusanhara' of Kalidasa, with the poetry of Atapa (summer). Enjoy viewing the paintings of Rangeya Raghava, a great writer, in this issue. He is the translator of this great poetic work of Kalidasa, into English and Hindi. These paintings are drawn on the theme of Ritusanhara. The painting on the page In The Name Of Poetry is by an Iraqi female artist, Afifa Laabi, and sent by Faridah for this link.
Dear readers and well-wishers, we are ready to embark on another year, and expect your full support to bring Kritya alive with good poetry.
Best wishes

Rati Saxena



Please check the link for Poetry festival-   kritya2008