Visually challenged Sahitya Akademi awardee Asudani plans to write more fiction

the pleasant impressions brought to me through other senses constitute aesthetics for me, Asudani told PTI in an interview as he emphasised that even a good voice and a good touch is beauty for him.After scripting 37 works, including his own books and translations of Sindhi writings into English, he wants to explore fiction more.His Sindhi poetry work Hathu Pakidijain Poetry-Ghazal has won the Sahitya Akademi Award 2023, which will be presented to him this month in the national capital.He has published 37 books and 19 of them are his own works.

In his early 50s, Vinod Asudani is a professor by profession, a writer by passion and a firm believer in disability aesthetics. He is also the first visually challenged author to bag the Sahitya Akademi award.

''All the impressions that my mind gets do not come through the eyes.

It gets through other senses... the pleasant impressions brought to me through other senses constitute aesthetics for me,'' Asudani told PTI in an interview as he emphasised that even a good voice and a good touch is beauty for him.

After scripting 37 works, including his own books and translations of Sindhi writings into English, he wants to explore fiction more.

His Sindhi poetry work 'Hathu Pakidijain (Poetry-Ghazal)' has won the Sahitya Akademi Award 2023, which will be presented to him this month in the national capital.

He has published 37 books and 19 of them are his own works. Among the 19 works, six are in Sindhi, two in Hindi, and 11 in English.

The remaining 18 works are translations into English from Sindhi of different writers and among them, five are the works of writers who have won the Sahitya Akademi award.

On his future plans, Asudani said he will continue to do translations and explore more fiction works. ''I will also continue to write poetry but I also intend to come into fiction. I have one novel in English but that is not enough... I want to experiment with fiction. I have one English novel and one set of English short stories,'' he said on the sidelines of the recently concluded Gateway Literature Festival in Mumbai.

He strongly believes that the Sahitya Akademi award will help him to bring disability literature into the mainstream.

For Asudani, things are a matter of priority, and teaching is his bread and butter.

''It is a matter of priority. Teaching is my bread and butter... literature is my first passion, then motivational talks, then social commitments...,'' he pointed out.

In response to a question on what he considers as success in terms of work, Asudani said he is satisfied with his work.

''I come from Sindhi language and the speakers (of the language) are few, and opportunities are few. I decided that I should translate or come up with English writing. I started writing in English... if I have something to say in my literary works, it should reach a bigger audience.

''There is an impulse in me that drives me to write. I always feel I should have written more,'' he said.

He has also started a YouTube channel along with his younger brother Rajesh, who is also visually challenged and a writer. On the channel, they discuss various literary matters, with Asudani saying that their way of interpretation is a little bit different from academic criticism.

''We call it quantum criticism, which is open ended,'' he said.

Asudani is a professor of English and Social Science at Shri Ramdeobaba College of Engineering and Management in Nagpur. He always keeps with him the first copies of his poetries written in Braille.

''I cannot perceive the visual stimuli, so I am drawn to other stimuli and if they bring pleasure, bliss, then it constitutes disability aesthetics,'' he said.

Delving into the efforts that are required for his activities, Asudani said that he needs to put in five times more effort to get anywhere where other people can get easily, whether it is travel, writing a book or attending a literature festival.

''Life has taught me many sweet and bitter lessons due to my limitations. Strangers have been more helpful sometimes than people whom you know on an everyday basis. So far as you don't depend on somebody, you do not really know whether a person is a friend or not, until and unless you want him to do a small favour,'' he stressed.

Also a motivational speaker, Asudani paused for a few seconds before responding to a query on what motivates him and said, ''it is difficult''.

''But, I do not consider the visual impairment as a disability. Sometimes, it is a limitation. It is not more than a limitation. I feel everybody has a limitation but it is of a different nature. My limitation is visible and sometimes practical...,'' he remarked.