Dr Hariom, Principal Secretary in UP’s Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
TEHELKA INTERVIEW
Where are you originally from? Where were you born, and where did you receive your early education? What was your childhood like?
I am from Katari village in Amethi district. When I was born, it was part of Sultanpur district. I studied in the village itself until Class 12. I spent my childhood playing, roaming the fields, plucking mangoes and tamarinds, and eating corn and watermelons.
I completed my graduation and post-graduation first at Allahabad University and then at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
At what age did you realise that you should prepare for the civil services? Was the decision your own, or did someone advise you?
I was good at studies. My teachers were particularly fond of me. My father used to say that the Collector is the head of the district, and that I should study hard and become a Collector.
Some of my teachers also mentioned the IAS and PCS examinations when I was in Class 12 and told me that I was a meritorious student and should try my luck in these examinations.
You studied at JNU. How was your campus experience? What did you learn there?
JNU does not differentiate between Hindi- and English-speaking students at the linguistic level. People look at content and ideology. Students from across the country and the world study there, and it was at JNU that I truly experienced what a university is. Whatever I had seen at Allahabad University seemed to fade into the background at JNU. I learned a great deal there.
Ganga Dhaba is an integral part of JNU’s collective memory. When one got tired of studying late at night, we would sit there. There would be endless conversations, debates, laughter and jokes, and occasionally poetry recitations or someone humming a song. JNU introduced me to an entirely new world.
How and how much did your life change after you were selected for the IAS? How did the attitude of your friends and those who had studied alongside you change?
The selection felt like a very big dream coming true. Everything changed overnight. I was the All India topper among those who appeared for the examination in Hindi medium. Everyone’s attitude on the campus had changed.
People began looking at me like a winner. I was suddenly surrounded by many people. People started coming to interview me. My friends were happy for me. Everyone looked at me as if I had been one person until the previous day and had suddenly become someone else.
Where was your first posting after training? How do you remember your first posting?
My first posting as a magistrate was in Rudraprayag. There were the cold winds of the Alaknanda, the hills, and I climbed the steps leading to Baba Kedarnath. There was a certain stillness in the lifestyle. It was not as hectic as in the plains.
Life moves slowly in the mountains, but there is peace. I had a good time amid the beauty of nature and the challenges of the mountains. It was a good experience.
You have served as DM in several districts. In which district was your tenure the best and most satisfying?
I have been DM in 11 districts. If we talk about satisfaction, the two-and-a-quarter years I spent in Gorakhpur were the best. My tenure in Kanpur was also good.
Allahabad was where I studied. Whenever I used to pass in front of the DM’s residence, I would look at the DM’s nameplate and think that perhaps one day my name would also be written on it. When I was posted there, I experienced a very different kind of happiness.
Being from Uttar Pradesh, I found it easier to understand and address the problems of villages, streets, settlements, fields and farmland.
Along with being an officer, you are also a poet, writer and singer. How do you strike a balance between the officer and the artist within you? Do the two ever clash?
Yes, it is true that along with being an officer, I also have a creative side expressed through poetry and music. A sensitive heart makes you a better human being, and then, as an officer, it becomes easier to take good and right decisions. There is justice in those decisions. There is warmth in dealing with people. There is no arrogance or ego.
My creativity has played a major role in making me a better human being. I derive immense happiness from writing and singing. The officer and the artist within me do not clash. One simply needs to exercise caution.
An officer must work according to government policies, whereas an artist seeks freedom. Literature does offer enough space to express oneself through symbols and suggestions. Music, on the other hand, is magic. Millions of people who listen to my music like me and love me, and that is my real earning.
When did poetry enter your life? Which poets do you like to read and listen to?
At JNU, I used to listen to Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali and Jagjit Singh as singers. Their music also carried poetry. Listening to all of them awakened my interest. I started reading Faiz, Mir, Ghalib, Josh and Iqbal. Later, I read poets ranging from Nida Fazli to Bashir Badr and many others.
Initially, I began writing broken, imperfect poetry. Gradually, I became immersed in it. How good a writer I am is for those who read and listen to me to decide, but my constant endeavour is to maintain a creative and lyrical relationship with life and society.
I also write stories and poems, but I like expressing something profound in just two lines. That is why I particularly admire the craft of poetry. This format finds its way onto people’s tongues. It finds its way into their hearts.
There are many moments in every writer’s life when they get stuck in a ‘creative block’. This perhaps happens even more with those who write poetry. Has there ever been a time when you wanted to write but simply could not?
You are absolutely right. This happens to me too. Creativity is an arrival. It is when emotions, knowledge and experience come together, and a flash of light illuminates the mind. There is an urge to write.
There have been many occasions when I could not produce a new ghazal for a long time. At times, I wrote one or two couplets, but could not complete the ghazal. For example, see the couplet:
उन्हें लगा था कि मिट्टी में मिल चुका हूँ मैं,
मुझे यक़ीन था, मैं बन के शजर निकलूँ
I wrote this couplet first, but it took six or seven months to complete the ghazal. Once you find one end, it can take a long time to find the other. Later, I wrote the opening couplet and other verses, and after several months, the ghazal was finally completed.
इधर तो डूब गया, तो मैं उधर निकलूँगा,
खिलूँगा धूप की मानिंद, जिधर निकलूँगा।
मुझे न गाँव, गली, शहर में ढूँढा करिए,
दिलों में ढूँढिए अपने, मैं उधर निकलूँगा।
Do you attend mushairas? It is often said that the standard of mushaira platforms has declined in the present era, and so has the quality of poetry. How do you view this decline?
Yes, I do participate in mushairas. The standard of poetry has declined because poets are more focused on getting applause. They think that if the audience claps, their poetry must be considered good. But that is not the case.
Applause comes more readily for superficial things. To understand something profound, one needs a deeper level of mind, intellect and consciousness. Of course, when there are thousands of people in the audience, you cannot expect all of them to have that depth. The great poets of the past were known for the quality of their poetry.
In films, Sahir Ludhianvi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Gulzar and Javed Akhtar wrote excellent songs. Gopal Das Neeraj was successful on mushaira stages and equally successful in films. The point is simply that these people never compromised on their writing.
Your wife, Malvika ji, is also a poet and singer. Is there a poetic and musical jugalbandi at home, or is there a sense of competition about who writes and sings better than the other?
Malvika also writes and sings. There is an atmosphere of poetry and music at home. There is no jugalbandi as such, but everyone is interested in it. Our daughters also like singing. They sing English songs, but they sing in tune and sing well.
