For their sustaining friendship, and for conversations and collaborations over the years: Ilija Trojanow in Vienna; Jerry Pinto, Arundhathi Subramaniam, Sampurna Chattarji, Kaiwan Mehta, Mustansir Dalvi and Jennifer Robertson in Bombay; Jürgen Brôcan in Dortmund. For their friendship, and for the inspiring manner in which they have at crucial times helped me renew my poetic journey: Ruth Padel in London; Sandeep Parmar and James Byrne in Liverpool; Steven J. Fowler in London; George Szirtes in Norfolk; Douglas Messerli in Los Angeles; Paul Tan in Singapore. Friends and fellow travellers in Wales: Rhian Edwards for marvellous occasions of jugalbandi in Bombay, Newport, Bridgend and London; Eurig Salisbury in Aberystwyth for his wry wisdom and his deep knowledge of oral and scribal traditions.

For the magical experience of ‘Walking Cities: India–Wales’ (2014–2015) and Gelynion: Nikki Morgan and Ted Hodgkinson; and the sharers in the claera, Rhian Edwards, Eurig Salisbury, Nia Davies, Sampurna Chattarji, Jeet Thayil, Tishani Doshi, Jonathan Edwards and Joe Dunthorne.

For inviting me into Liverpool’s architectures of epiphany: Sandeep Parmar and Emma Hayward at the University of Liverpool: Department of English/Centre for New and International Literature; Sally Tallant and Rosie Cooper at the Liverpool Biennial 2016. For my initiation into the Belvedere, and their memorable poetry and art: Robert Sheppard and Patricia Farrell in Liverpool.

In the fellowship of poetry, translation, and journeying across landscapes familiar and strange: Nikola Madzirov, Alvin Pang, Nuño Aguirre de Cárcer and Subhro Bandopadhyay.

At Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, for their warmth, cheerfulness and generosity: Jean-Baptiste Joly, Kaiwan Mehta, Sophie-Charlotte Thieroff, Clara Herrmann, Angela Butterstein, Maren Pfeiffer and the stellar team at the Castle.

At the South Asia Program, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York: Anne Blackburn and Iftikhar Dadi, for their warm and gracious invitation to deliver the Tagore Lecture in Modern Indian Literature 2016 (‘The Soloist Performs with an Orchestra of Events’, 23 September 2016); and Bill Phelan, Daniel Bass and Bari Doeffinger, for their collegial support.

*

As always, I thank my family for being my first crucible of thoughts and images. My wife and comrade, Nancy Adajania, has been on board this project since it began to take shape; her responses and suggestions have been invaluable. Some of these poems have their ultimate origins in my father, Raghuvir Hoskote’s stories, retellings of stories and labyrinthine collection of books. Without my mother, Chandra Hoskote’s passionate literary commitments, her belief and active support, I would never have become a writer; Amma is no more with us, and Jonahwhale is dedicated to her memory.

THE BEGINNING

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