Autorickshaw driver turns poet in Karimnagar

Khalid said when the Statehood agitation was at its peak in 2010, police frequently lathi-charged the agitating people. Moved by their troubles, he started writing.

Karimnagar: He might be an autorickshaw driver by profession, but Mohammad Khalid is known for his poems as well. One who interacts with a number of people as part of his profession every day, Khalid pens his experiences with all those people in the form of poetry.

To take his writings to more people, he had published a book titled “Manamantha Okkate”, a compilation of 66 poems in October 2023 and now, is planning to publish one more book.

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Moved by the police lathi-charges on Telangana agitators during the time of the separate Telangana Statehood movement, Khalid started writing in small sentences. He wrote poems on farmers, students, political leaders and social issues but none of those saw the light of the day.

However, in 2014, during a poetry meet at Karimnagar Film Bhavan, he read out one of his poems. The appreciation apart, he got got confidence as news of his participation in the ‘kavi sammelanam’ was published in a vernacular Telugu daily newspaper, which announced that an autorickshaw driver had become a poet.

A resident of Shashab street, Karimnagar, Khalid studied up to Class X. Hailing from a poor background, he used to help his father in selling fruits near the bus-stand after coming from school.

Though his dream was to become an IPS officer, Khalid’s financial conditions forced him to forget that dream. Though he made an attempt to become a constable, he was disqualified since his height was not of ‘required’ levels in 1993. He then turned to the driving profession to run the family and purchased an auto-rickshaw in 2001.

Speaking to Telangana Today, Khalid said when the Statehood agitation was at its peak in 2010, police frequently lathi-charged the agitating people. Moved by their troubles, he started writing.

“In 2014, I went to drop a passenger at Karimnagar Film Bhavan and asked him what was going on in there. He told me about the kavi sammelanam. When I told that I also write poems, the passenger, who was a poet, encouraged me to attend the event, where I read out one of my poems,” he said.

And he hasn’t stopped writing, with his second book to come out soon.