A poet of rare sensibilities, Gyanendrapati, who is based in Varanasi, writes: ‘Match boxes have gone missing….’. why and how ? hinting at religion-swearing, blood-spitting fanatics? rings a bell? Gujarat?
or perhaps Nandita Das’ film Firaaq ? is the poet thinking ahead of a time when people would do away with ‘match boxes’ ? or does he smell an imminent threat ? what is the metaphor about? the poet wants the readers to comb through their perceptions on religion. is it possible to put the dusty, soily and smelly conditionings to the side of the trashcan? should we not proofread our actions flush-faced? are you glancing at me for my approval? why don’t you drape your ‘free mind’ over that wobbly chair of ‘age-old tradition’ ?
Gyanendrapati’s poem ‘Maachis’ Sunday, Nov 15 2009
Nirmal Verma Sunday, Nov 1 2009
You strode along the shores of modernity
Like Mallarme to disengage
Word-clogged reality by
Crafting silences,
Flickering between ennui and angst.
Buds twitched, petals drooped
Tears dry to a trickle
Values melting away on the pyre
As man’s ravenous eyes feed on,
Folded away in a corner
Lies the aching soul
The cast-away morsels of humanity
Caught in the cobweb of rebirth
Brooding over the heyday of Satya Yuga
“He is a victim of self-delusion”
Sarcasm is frozen in stupor.
As you glean impressions
Memories sail in endless flocks
A dragging, drugged silence
Veils your words…
NOTE: Nirmal Verma (3 April 1929 – 25 October 2005) was a Hindi writer & one of the pioneers of ‘Nayi Kahani’ (New Story), the literary movement of Hindi literature.
Sudeep Ghosh's Blog 