Maharashtra Rajya Hindi Sahitya Akademi Honors Tikam Shekhawat With Mama Varerkar Puraskar

Pune, 15 March 2023: City-based poet, Tikam Shekhawat, has been announced as the winner of the Mama Varerkar Puraskar by the Maharashtra Rajya Hindi Sahitya Akademi. The award has been granted in recognition of his book ‘Bheetar Bahar Sarvatra,’ which is a translation of the Marathi poetry collection ‘Aat Baher Sarvatra’ by Vijay Chormare, a renowned journalist and acclaimed Marathi poet.

The award was announced on March 10 and a ceremony will be organized by the Maharashtra government in Mumbai by the end of this month and will be chaired by the Cultural Minister of Maharashtra.

Shekhawat is a versatile media person, moderator, translator, short filmmaker, movie reviewer, and poet by heart. He represents the contemporary progressive Muse fraternity and has made his own space in contemporary Hindi poetry and translation of contemporary poetry into English, Hindi, and Marathi languages. He has also contributed immensely to literature by translating the poetry of contemporary poets in Marathi, Hindi, and English, including the poetry of Uday Prakash, Nagraj Manule, Loknath Yashwant, Vijay Chormare, Manohar Jadhav, and more.

Shekhawat is Head HR at The Times of India Group for Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad Region. Shekhawat expressed his gratitude for being the recipient of this prestigious recognition, saying that he felt privileged, acknowledged, delighted, and honored. He also mentioned that this award has given him an opportunity to showcase Vijay Chormare’s Marathi poetry collection of dissent against the contemporary social system, bigot morality, politics, and hypocrisy to the Hindi reading world.

Shekhawat dedicated this award to Dr Damodar Khadse, who has been instrumental and a mentor to him in his literature journey.

Shekhawat’s poetry collection “Safed Log” and his Hindi translation of Vishwas Nangre Patil’s famous book “Man me hain Vishwas” have also garnered him recognition in the literature world.