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The poet is Vijay Nambisan, and the six selections featured by Scroll.in come from his collection First Infinities, credited to Poetrywala. The selections range from the flood-swollen Bhāratapuzha to a temple without its god, moving between playful observation, uncertainty and elegy.
Why these six selections matter
Scroll.in published the selection on April 26, 2015, introducing Nambisan as a poet whose work appeared in a two-poet volume in 1992 and who, more than two decades later, delivered his first full-length collection, First Infinities. That is the publication history as presented in the 2015 article, not a current biographical survey.
The article recalls that Dom Moraes described Nambisan’s work in the 1992 volume as “an indication that Indian poetry, after many years of striving, ha(d) at last arrived at maturity.” It characterizes the later collection as one “in which learning and insight are animated by lightness of touch and an unmistakeable tone.” Both are statements quoted or summarized from Scroll.in’s introduction, rather than claims of a broader critical consensus. Read the original Scroll.in article.
What the six pieces explore
Weather and a river
“Snow” imagines an unfamiliar encounter with snow. “Nila in flood time,” by contrast, is an extended, numbered sequence: it personifies the Niļa, a local name for the Bhāratapuzha, which crosses north-central Kerala to the Arabian Sea. The river’s flood appears as both giver and threat. These are different scales of attention: an imagined weather experience and a force shaping a community.
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Poetry, observation and uncertainty
In “Dirge,” a comic, self-protective speaker reflects on poetic legacy and the economics of writing. “Ducks” begins with captive birds and turns observation into uncertainty about their circumstances. The pieces set a wry voice beside a quieter, unresolved act of looking.
Absence and modest hope
“The deserted temple” evokes a sacred place after its god has departed. “A little better” finds a small measure of pleasure in an uncertain seedling against the economics of a rice harvest. The contrast is between abandonment and a hope that remains tentative rather than triumphant.
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How to approach the collection
Across the selections, shifts in form and scale help explain their range: songlike rhyme sits beside reflective free verse; domestic observation sits beside a flood and its community; playfulness gives way to uncertainty, elegy and wonder. These are readings of the published pieces, not claims about Nambisan’s intentions.
Scroll.in attributes the excerpts to First Infinities by Vijay Nambisan, published by Poetrywala. The article establishes that collection as the source of the selections; it does not establish a current edition, price, stock status or retailer listing.
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