There, with the crowd will I merge
And till dusk there's no fear
No need to go in search of myself
near the sea shore
over the road...
The crowds, the smell of sweat, the noise and dust of Mumbai are like oxygen for poet Saumitra. And his poems make that evident. He writes with simplicity about already-known facts -- but he is able to put words to things one can only feel. And with those same words, he changes his entire persona. Right before your eyes to become Kishore Kadam, the actor. Or Harilal in Gandhi Virrudh Gandhi. Or Ambedkar in Gandhi and Ambedkar.

And after a while it is difficult to separate the actor from the poet. "Why let people know that the same man is doing badly in two fields?" grins Kadam. More simply, the fact is that he hates his name. "I wonder why my parents called me `Kishore'," he says. Instead he chose Saumitra, as hismother's name is Sumitra and "Sumitra's son is Saumitra". Writing for the last 15 years, his poems have been published in various magazines. Now his collection of poetry is due to be published by Granthali publication. And Kadam knows that he can't hide anymore.

Born and brought up in Bandra, Kadam's first poem was inspired by an unknown singer who used to practise in a temple, close to his house. One day, the singer -- Kadam still knows nothing about him -- gave the young listener a metre and asked him to write a poem. Kadam penned a verse and the singer used that for his next riyaz. "I don't know what I used to write, what it meant, but the fact that people read my poems was unique in itself," says Kadam.

Not any more. Today, he has written over a 100 poems, reflecting a range of experience. There are poems on Vincent Van Gogh's paintings which he penned after reading Lust For Life. On theatre -- which came to him while waiting in the wings. "Here I am looking at Seema Biswas's face (GandhiVirrudh Gandhi) going through the act while my mind is reciting a poem," says Kadam. And on cinema -- when he worked as an assistant director and actor, in films like Antarnad and Mammo with Shyam Benegal. Kadam has also worked with Amol Palekar in Bangarwadi and Sudhir Mishra in Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin.

And then there's a series of poems on Mumbai, and the eternal search for one's identity. "If I am working for 15 days at a stretch, then on the one day off, I love going to the city. I spend hours on the pavement going through books, hours at the Jehangir Art Gallery staring at paintings, which I don't understand but I like looking. And then I like to watch a movie," he says. But what he loves most is getting into trains and walking on platforms. That is what also takes most of the space in his poetry.

A lyricist for Marathi cinema, he recently released his first Marathi music album, Gaarwa, sung by Milind Ingle. Awaiting the release of his book (as yet untitled),Kadam still feels he is not taking his poetry seriously. "I don't think I am concentrating. If I concentrate then I might end up writing bad poems," he says.

Kishore Kadam will read out his poetry at the Little Theatre, NCPA. On September 3, 1998. Time: 6.30 pm.