Unbelievable! One, reputed newspaper rejected the review on Vajpayee’s poetry. Almost all sections of the society accept Vajpayee Ji with reverence. God knows what the theory behind the rejection is? However, thankfully, Kashmir Times published it today. Book Review By Adarsh Ajit Name of the book: Selected Poems Poet: Atal Bihari Vajpayee Translator: Arvind Shah Publisher: Prabhat Prakashan ‘Clay did not surrender the sanctity of chandan’ In the first poem, Which Way Shall I Go, of the Selected Poems, Vajpayee is in utter conflict within. The poet dangles between the successes and the failures, optimism and the pessimism and hope and the despair. The blend of confidence and gloom makes the poem remarkably representative of life in totality. But struggle, the crown of manhood, is the poet’s resolve: Shall I gather the bits below? Or shall I fashion a new great show? Vajpayee is of the conviction that that there are black dots behind the faceless draughts of humanity. The beauties which have ugly marks are prone to hatred. Nobody blames the Rahu which eclipses the prettiness of the moon. The poet is dumb on watching the clouds that shroud the striking mornings. He neither sings nor remains silent. He watches lonely the hum tunes on the bank of the lake with a burden at his back: Nests shattered in disarray Eagles in moods merry Neither sorrow nor smile The couplets are universally appropriate especially in the backdrop of turbulent Kashmir. After thoroughly analysing, it, also, plainly gives us the paint of horror which displaced Kashmiri Pandits went through in 1990. Coming out from the depressive orientation of the things Vajpayee with renewed zeal and courage sings a new song. Now the singing of the cuckoo, the spring song and the luminosity of the dawn gives him the insight not to succumb but to fight anew: A new song now I sing It is beyond the poet’s imagination who is right and who is wrong? For him it is a complex question. For him without righteousness, the war of virtue is fought. In this whole mess only the poor get humiliated. The poet is of the opinion that we lose the warmth of the present activities due to slumbering into the past and future anxieties and thus the life scales on the profit and loss. Peeping through the life of Atal Behari Vajpayee, the living legend, the tallest and mostly honoured personality, his poem Confrontation with Death reveals the ups and downs of the poet, his struggle, his aspirations and the love that was showered on him from time to time. Vajpayee is as great as a person and as a poet that he boldly challenges the death: O death, do not come in the disguised face Come on face to face and test my grace. The poet says that he is able to silent the crowds but he fails to plead for himself in the court of his conscience. He loses the suit because he can read the writings on the wall but cannot control the destiny: I am able to look ahead Can read writing on the wall But am unable to read the palms In the poem Let us untie the Mental Knots which the translator has translated into two different styles, clay did not surrender the sanctity of chandan is a punch line which springs out multidimensional philosophies of life and nature, myths, practicalities, originality, the true sense of purity, piousness and that is why the poet appeals to untie the mental knot. Vajpayee puts a question to those who want power when there are murders of children, men and women at their back. He asks are not they their own ones: Throne soaked in innocent blood Is worse than curse of cremation dust Arvind Shah has created his own style of translation and in some poems he tries to maintain the rhythm that is outdated. He has tried his best but still the recitation of Hindi poems in Vajpayee’s own voice predominantly dominates and eclipses the translation work. But at several times Arvind is at his best and it is evinced in a poem The Evening of Life is on its Way to Pass: Meanings saw change Words went wastage...... Years are shun The path is done... Friendship with dreams Scattered tunes and themes... The evening of life is on its way to pass. Pakistan’s Kargil intrusion under Vajpayee’s Prime Minister-ship was the height of the treachery of hostile Pakistan. It was a stabbing in the back of peace loving philosophy of Vajpayee. But determined Vajpayee’s approach is written in a poem Will Not Allow War. The poet has written a couple of poems in the prison during the emergency and his six line poem Agony is a representative poem of that era: Isolated cell Agonising tunes spell Insect’s crack around A piercing sound Even sky is close Suffocation to impose The poet is against the unprecedented heights, flights, and successes that cannot be contained in the prescribed moulds. For the poet high mountains do not nurture trees, herbs and grass. He believes that standing single in absoluteness is no greatness: No variety in seasons No spring, no autumn But only sense of height Only loneliness and silence In the poem On the Green Grass, the poet compares and contrasts the rising sun with the dew drops. Though momentary, yet dew has its own existence and importance that cannot be denied: Shall I salute the growing sun Or look for the evaporated dew then? Part two of the book is the biographical review of Atal Behari Vajpayee’s life in Arvind Shah’s poetic outflow. It covers Vajpayee’s life from his birth to becoming of the Prime Minister including his stylish oration that used to magnetise the huge crowds. The book ends with a patriotic poem Salute to the Motherland. Jaswant Singh has written a foreword. Pats and appreciations from Narender Modi, Shiv Raj Chauhan and L K Advani for the translator are also included in the book. An introduction has been given by Dr. Omkar Kaul. As for as critical point of view is concerned, the translator’s observation that translating a poem is similar to writing a poem is correct assessment but he is absolutely wrong when he says that translating a poem is a simple job. Translations make the poets and translations finish the poets. In between the two, there is a balance between originality and the translations. Arvind Shah’s method is to limit the limitless within its own format. Not going for complete free verse, Arvind cuts down the elasticity of Vajpayee’s melody of original Hindi poems. Free verse translation could have been considerably better. Vajpayee is candid to confess in his talk entitled The Poet and Me that politics and writing poetry cannot go together though he has always tried to strike a balance between the poet and the politician. Vajpayee also unfolds that had he not come into politics, then he would have been a top-class poet. Had the book been restricted to the creativity of Vajpayee’s poetic abilities only, it would have been better. Instead of adorning words of some political leaders, the words of literary personalities would have added the beauty to it. .....................................................................
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 16:40:20 +0000
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