Ex-RAW poet Keki N. Daruwalla passes away

Celebrated English poet and former IPS officer Keki N. Daruwalla died at a Delhi hospital after prolonged illness and a spell of pneumonia, his daughter Anaheita Kapadia revealed on Friday, 27 September. He was 87.

Daruwalla, one of India's best-known writers in English, died on Thursday night.

"He had a stroke a year ago and hadn't been keeping well since. There were stroke-related complications. But it wasn't a stroke this time; he basically died of pneumonia," Kapadia told PTI.

Daruwalla, also known for his short stories, is survived by two daughters, Anaheita and Rookvain, his sons-in-law and four grandchildren.

His last rites will be performed on Friday at 4:30 p.m. at the Parsi Aramgah near Khan Market.

Born in Lahore in 1937, Daruwalla studied at the government college in Ludhiana. He joined the Indian Police Services (Uttar Pradesh cadre) in 1958 and rose through the ranks to become special assistant on international affairs to then prime minister Charan Singh.

He later joined the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) where he was promoted to the rank of secretary, RAW.

Even though he enjoyed a successful career in the police and later at RAW, it was his literary acumen that gained him national and international repute.

Daruwalla's first book of poetry, Under Orion, was published in 1970. Two years later, he received the Uttar Pradesh State Award for his second book, Apparition in April.

‘...Shadows fall here

Like old lime wash

From sand -papered walls

The city broods on nothingness

Forms bulge and snap

The shadows of a grille

Gravely down

Like quartz-grit’

The poem above is from his book Keeper of the Dead, for which he won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1984.

He returned that award in October 2015, in protest against the Sahitya Akademi's failure "to speak out against ideological collectives that have used physical violence against authors".