A Rich Magnum Opus: Thousands of Shades. Thousand more Waves! An Opinion—Kunal Roy

 

A Rich Magnum Opus: Thousands of Shades. Thousand more Waves! An Opinion.

KUNAL ROY

Name of the Book : The Violet Sun: An Anthology of 21st - Century Indian English Poetry

Editor: Inam Hussain Begg Mullick

Publisher: Writers Workshop

ISBN: 978- 81- 968192-6-2

Price: Rs 350

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Since time immemorial poetry has been discovered to enrich the heart of the millions. Poetry has rediscovered our life and rediscovered our socio-economic and socio-cultural milieu. Poetry behaves as a salvo to the ached heart, the bleeding soul. And we, the poor mortals manage to find a deep solace in poetry, especially at our unguarded moments! 

 Modern poetry has always carried a profound significance and a poignant message to its ardent lovers. Ranging from Arnold to Lawrence to Yeats to Eliot, the sense of unalloyed ecstasy blended with sublime spirituality runs through the common thread of their work. However, this golden tradition is being carried further with a touch of aplomb by the novel posterity. The award winning poet Inam Hussain Begg Mullick who shouldered the onus of editing the present book under review bears a strong testimony to the periodic changes of poetic pattern over a couple of decades! 

  An elegant, smooth, silky velvet cover will not only draw your heed but also make you turn the pages and savour the ensconced delight! Curiosity overpowers prudence and this collection offers the readers with ample examples to prove this point.

  The present anthology essays to explore the myriad themes of identity, culture and human feelings, bringing forth the diverse voices and perspectives and obviously making the readers witness a rich tapestry of thoughts and reflections. Undoubtedly the book manages to plunge into the subtle complexities of life and the various shades of experience! 

   There are more than a score of poets whose priceless contributions have found a special place here. Each has his or her own manner to describe the world before drawing an apt conclusion. The opening poems 'View' and 'Colour Problems in the family' are completely diametrically opposite to one another. In 'View', the poet says, "Withered long past welcome/ The sea is a massive bolt, shot across", while in the latter he has mentioned various hues like pink, black, yellow, ash, brown and eventually in the closing stanza we come across such immortal lines: "True/They were colours, I shed in your shoulder". Akash Sinha has gifted us with poems like 'Air' and 'Today( A tribute to Leonard Cohen)'. While 'Air' deals with the potent nature of an unseen presence, yet the irony lies in the initial words : "A presence" is there. This shows that often the intangible objects have an overwhelming effect on us. He says , "Wind is sorcery. A naughty way not let us settle. Wind is not your kin. Never trust the thieving wind". On the other 'Today' is a humble homage to Leonard Cohen, where the poet has literally poured out his heart over a chalice of beverage. Ipso facto the closing lines can be very close to one's heart: "I am the mad king who fights happenings. My madness has cost me my sleep. Yet I do not learn". A regret is pronounced gracefully! The reason is obvious. Confession combines with regret and helps the readers to take a glance of his inner turbulence! Anjana Basu's 'Amour' and 'Milady Sky' are technically very adept. The poet has divided the sections according to the flow of thoughts. 'Amour' with its four distinct quarters reveals the quintessence of her emotive waves. But 'Milady Sky' has an artistic approach as she vividly describes 'Seferis Sky', 'Moon strip' and 'Make up'. Small expressions fused with density. "She unbuttons her clothes ", "the moon en deshabille in a froth of clouds'', " You wear sunlight" are not only symbolic but make the readers move with the flow! 

  Aritrik Dutt Chowdhury's 'I choose English' and 'Gluttony of Love' are simply incomparable. In the opening lines of the first poem, the poet admits, " I choose English to sell my emotions. Wider reach". He has stated a good number of reasons behind his choice. Be it academic, professional or personal, his arguments are strong enough to defy one's imagination. "The dreams eat into the emanant truth/ And bygone smiles/ kill the skirmishes of sooth".

Love and philosophy are inextricably intermingled with love in the lines of 'Gluttony of Love'. Love accompanies Languishment and it is further reflected in the line, " The gluttony of love/ While you won't anymore want to be free".

   There are other poets namely Arnab Chatterjee, Ashoke Viswanathan and Biswajit Chatterjee who have penned short and sharp poems, perhaps to relieve the readers, as they always desire to go for shorter things. The works, 'On the Bed' , 'A Shadow' by Chatterjee exhume a zig zag pattern of emotions. He blatantly confesses , "My lids move/ my mouth exudes nothing / save erstwhile meal". However, " A Shadow" evokes an eerie emotion as he says, " with his nose, his curious, beady eyes, looks". 'Elongation' by Viswanathan resembles a sun-dried feeling. " And we could feel their pain/ Some flowers did protest/ as did some roving crows". 'Open Spaces' is an interesting one as the poet has talked at length about birds, politicians, crows and crowns. Interestingly, Kalidas intervenes and shortens the length! On the other, Biswajit Chatterjee's 'My Kite my story' - echoes an autobiographical tone. "My Kite resembles a tailored bird" reflects upon his mind and mood. 'Julia Roberts and I : An Untold Story' raises the hood of inquisitiveness. The expressions like "Who's this guy? The great lover? / I asked her" or " Can't you see face in the mirror?" digress from the conventional track and encourage the mind to indulge in a lateral thinking.

  Poets like Boudhayan Mukherjee, C. P. Surendran, Daipayan Nair, Debolina Dey, Deeptesh Sen and Hoshang Merchant have left an indelible mark through their lovely and sprightly words. Be it Mukherjee's 'Rise', 'Void' or Surendran's 'Threshold', 'Elusive', Nair's Haiku, Tanka or Dey 's 'Carp l : Idiom for Hands', 'Carp ll : Lipsyncing Leaping Over the Dragon Gate' or Sen's 'Medusa' , 'Nowhere girl' a sense of belongingness, introspection and above all the marks of modernity are well conceived of. Different lines, "I tell you all, that sadness is not divine. Rise!" speak of sheer optimism and encouragement, "And evenings bubbling like blood/ Along the broken arteries of the sky " tell us about the dark sombreness and melancholic outburst, "Slum sunset-/ the children place a juice box on the road" remind us of the childhood devoid of despair and anxiety, "I still love what your hands can do with a marinade to a bowl of fish "-an unconditional love , a journey where two hearts always beat to each other, "the fading music of wild feet/ walking a thousand miles" can obliquely take us to the world of Wordsworth, so far as the 'music' is concerned. However, a sense of mild trepidation is also at work. A blended feeling which aids to imagine a " ghostly ambience", " Christ meets Peter after the Resurrection" and " Mary found Christ dead " show how life co-exists with death. Resurrection brings in a new hope and death, a shaky affair, tearing apart the soul into two halves!

 On the other plane of this anthology, we come across some of the most finest poets of this time. Inam Hussain Begg Mullick 's 'Six episodes', 'The Avant - garde Haiku', Ketaki Datta's 'Hoping against Hope', 'Sangfroid', Naina Dey's 'Haiku', 'Tongue Talk', Neera Kashyap's 'A War poem', 'A Searching War' and Ritamvara Bhattacharya's 'Loneliness', 'Intimately You' will surely move the readers beyond any tinge of doubt.

  "In a raspy voice/ the hailstorm spoke"- exhibit the intense observation of the poet. It is something astounding to discover how the poet amasses his wealth of various moods to impact the audience. "All the lights of the world had snuffed out / The world seemed a dark place to live in" delineates the nude picture of the contemporary world. Besides, the brevity of expressions is remarkably noted in the lines "While I slumbered/ like a mermaid / in the shadow of a drowned hill, "in a passionate vortex of rising authoritarian power", " You are intimately my Lord, the plenitude in my life ". A classic amalgamation of peace, power and the Supreme power. 

   As the readers will hopefully turn the next few pages, surprises are on wait. Potkar's 'the poet goes to story land' is a work of unbridled fantasy. But realism has found a place too. 'divvy perspectiva' is a catchy fable imbued with a moral tone. "Do we all go equally into the sunrise and sunset" - a question which makes us think twice before an apt reply. Apart, Saman Rizvi's 'Ghazal somehow' , 'Language', Sharmila Ray's 'Room', 'Pastries infinite' , Somolekha's 'Common Man', 'Blues' and Somrita Urni Ganguly's 'Paris 1968', 'Your Old Curio Shop' are decked up with priceless realism, fantasy and wisdom. These are not short in texture, but pretty long as each line holds your attention before moving to the next uninterruptedly. The readers must have patience to fathom the rich nuances embedded in each of the literary work.

   It is pretty knotty to encapsulate the style and diction of this Opus. Varied images, metaphorical expressions and multiple layers of thought and significance have deluged this enviable work. However, the most unique factor is, a variety of subjects has been dealt with. The readers can easily widen their mental horizon by their sharp intellect, sharp acumen. 

  Mullick's The Violet Sun bears an allegorical significance. A massive spectrum across the sky of fantasy. There are various shades and each has been well - chiselled out , leaving no room for dismay. So the time has ripened to deck up your shelf with this ' pearl in an oyster'!!