Chullikkad, a poet-rebel, who lives on his own terms

Balachandran Chullikkad has always been the fierce, young, poet-rebel, who voiced the anger and anguish of a generation. He recently turned 56 and is old enough to be junior superintendent of the Ernakulam District Treasury. But he finds that he has represented the dreams and visions of an unsuccessful generation.

In an article in The Hindu, the writer clearly marks with a sense of loss on his retirement. “I'm the poet of a lost and failed generation. Our dreams have failed. Our ideas have failed. I'm the poet of a time of anguish and trauma that this generation cannot conceive.”

Balachandran is so disillusioned that he even wrote on his Facebook page that he did not expect to live this long. His pessimism perhaps emerges from the his contemporaries and great friends sucha s Kadammanitta and Ayyappan who are all dead. It is obvious in his article on Facebook how shaken he is with their exodus from this world. 

The Hindu further states that he lives life on his own terms. He never accepted awards, shunned the media and stayed away from any celebrations of his writing or otherwise. He has a complicated relationship with his family, tints of which are clearly visible in his writing. He has even acted in television serials and films. But his love affair continued with poetry throughout.