Ranjit Hoskote on the trials and tribulations of the poet in India: "The real problem with Indian poetry in English is its precarious relationship with its own acknowledged audience. Unlike the audiences that sustain the Hindi and Marathi kavi sammelan or the Urdu mehfil, to name only three of the vital interfaces between poets and audiences in India, the audience for English in India does not truly bring a shared and consensual understanding to bear on the poetry it receives." Call him a philistine, but the Babu has wearily waded through far too much derivative and self-indulgent slop masquerading as poetry in search of a few stray gems to have much patience with this argument.