Marathi poet, activist Shirish Pai passes away

Mumbai: Noted poet Shirish Pai, credited with introducing Haiku to the Marathi-speaking world, passed away on Saturday after a brief illness, family sources said. She was 88.

Born in 1929, Ms. Pai was the daughter of noted writer-journalist Acharya Prahlad Keshav Atre.

From her childhood, she was gifted with an art of writing and learned lessons from her father Acharya Atre. Literature ideas and reading were in Pai’s gene due to her father’s teachings and environment of the house. Acharya Atre was a famous writer, who had an aggressive thinking, which was reflected, in his writings.

Pai also worked as a journalist in Acharya Atre’s Maratha newspaper. Pai translated Japanese Haiku from English to Marathi. She also participated in the Samyukta Maharashtra (United Maharashtra) movement.

The state cultural minister Vinod Tawde said, “It a great loss to Marathi literature. We lost a great poet, social activist, and writer. Her contribution is huge and her thinking portrayed in her writings.” She started translating Haiku in 1975. She studied Japanese Haiku, its origin, and nature and published five Marathi Haiku books. Pai had an independent style of writing, and the readers have always enjoyed happiness her writing and loved her write-ups because of her independent writing styles. Her famous collection of poetries were Ek Tari, Ek Pavasalyat, Gayawat, Kasturi, Rutuchakra. Lal bairagin, Hey hi diwas jatil were critically acclaimed novels of Pai. She is survived by two sons Rajendra and Vikramaditya.