1976, he translated Jawaharlal Nehru's poetry from English to Marathi, in collaboration with Vrinda Nabar, and co-edited a fiction and poetry anthology. His poem The Night of the Scorpion is used as study material in Indian and Colombian schools. Ezekiel also penned poems in ‘Indian English’ like the one based on instruction boards in his favourite Irani café. His poems are used in NCERT and ICSE English textbooks. His poem 'Background, Casually' is considered to be the most defining poem of his poetic and personal career. Nissim Ezekiel is often considered the father of Modern Indian English poetry by many critics. He was honoured with the Padmashri award by the President of India in 1988 and the Sahitya Akademi cultural award in 1983. Editor He edited The Indian P.E.N., official organ of P.E.N. All-India Centre, Bombay from The Theosophy Hall, New Marine Lines, and encouraged poets and writers. He was the founding editor of Quest in 1954. Death After a prolonged battle with Alzheimer’s disease, Nissim Ezekiel died in Mumbai, on 9 January 2004 (aged 79). Books by Ezekiel 1952: Time To Change 1953: Sixty poems 1956: The Discovery of India 1959: The Third 1960: The Unfinished Man 1965: The Exact Name 1974: Snakeskin and Other Poems, translations of the Marathi poet Indira Sant 1976: Hymns in Darkness 1982: Latter-Day Psalms 1989: Collected Poems 1952-88 OUP Plays 1969: The Three Plays Kolkata: Writers Workshop, India Do Not Call it Suicide Madras: Macmillan India, 1993. Prose Naipaul's India and mine- an essay Editor 1965: An Emerson Readers 1969: A Joseph King Reader 1990: Another India, anthology of fiction and poetry Poems The Couple Enterprise A Time to Change Philosophy Island For Elkana The Professor Soap Marriage In the country cott How the english lessons ended The Paradise Flycatcher Night of The Scorpion Goodbye party for Miss Pushpa T.S. Entertainment (was the best of one) “Background, Casually” Poet, Lover and Birdwatcher Appearances in the following poetry Anthologies The Golden Treasure of Writers Workshop Poetry (2008) ed. by Rubana Huq and published by Writers Workshop, Calcutta Ten Twentieth-Century Indian Poets (1976) ed. by R. Parthasarathy and published by Oxford University Press, New Delhi The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets (1992) ed. by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and published by Oxford University Press, New Delhi Further reading R. Raj Rao, Nissim Ezekiel: The Authorized Biography (Viking, 2000) Sanjit Mishra, The Poetic Art