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Achieving catharsis through poetry

NO celebrations were ever held in Himachal to commemorate March 21 as World Poetry Day, while young dramatists celebrate World Theatre Day on March 27 every year. They also manage to get the message, given by a renowned dramatist, for the day translated into Hindi, which is read in front of the audience at the Gaiety before the play starts.

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Shriniwas Joshi

NO celebrations were ever held in Himachal to commemorate March 21 as World Poetry Day, while young dramatists celebrate World Theatre Day on March 27 every year. They also manage to get the message, given by a renowned dramatist, for the day translated into Hindi, which is read in front of the audience at the Gaiety before the play starts.

I received two books on poetry —  one is 'Khwabon ke Ped Talei', in Urdu and in Devnagri script by Zahid Abrol of Una and the other 'The Frosted Glass' in English by Kanwar Dinesh Singh of Shimla. Both have tried to introduce something new. Zahid added 'Dohas' in Urdu and Dinesh 'Ghazals' in English poetry.

There are two prefaces to the Urdu poetry book. Professor Satyapal Anand, who is settled in the US, writes: "Zahid Abrol is akin to Jesus, who while being crucified was worried about the others and was wishing well for his opponents." The second preface is by Rashid Jamal Farooqui, who from Dehradun writes: "Dreams are the best. And the dreams converted into poems are like cherry on the cake. I wish that this world becomes a better place (and) dons the colours of Zahid's dreams." Zahid writes about Siddhpur, a small place near Ahmedabad, where communal fire would have engulfed the two major communities had the efforts of a few not saved the place. "Is tarah jab aag mein ghee na pada, aag bujhi/ intequam aur junoon ki shiddat/ pyar aur uns ki Ganga mein bahi/ Is se pehle ki zamaane mein yeh bhaichara/ tang mahaul mein ghut ghut ke hamesha ke liye so jaaye/…Siddhpur, (tera jaisaa)/ saara jahaan ho jaaye." Khushwant Singh was moved by this poem and sent a short note to Zahid appreciating the poem. Zahid paid tributes to many known writers in his book, but I was moved by one that he had paid to Vinod Lakhanpal, a writer from Una. His untimely and sudden death due to heart attack was saddening. What was eating him? Zahid has made an attempt to find it: "Wo dukhi tha/ Dukhi tha, lekin wo apne dukh se dukhi nahin tha/ Dukhi tha wo, is liye ki duniya mein dard kyon hai/ Dukhi tha wo, yeh zamana itna bhi sard kyon hai." He has described in his services to his pet language Urdu: "Hum Ghalib-au-Nazir nahin ban sake to kya/Sher-au-sukhan mein humne guzaari tamam umra/ Urdu zaban pe apna bhi hai karz dosto/ humne isi ki zulf sanwari tamaam umr." 

Kanwar Dinesh has written several books but his great contribution is bringing out a magazine 'Hyphen'. It is a bilingual magazine fed by English and Hindi. His latest book 'The Frosted Glass' has 40 poems and 12 ghazals. Mary Barnet, Editor-in-Chief, www.PoetryMagazine.com, USA, writes about his poetry: "Each page speaks directly to your heart and soul and invites you to dig deeper, find a connection, and empower yourself to go forth with a better understanding of the world around you."

Ghazal in English was something new, but it exists. It is a series of couplets. Each couplet is an independent poem, although a thematic continuity may develop. It is just like a Ghazal in Urdu poetry. Dinesh writes in 'Empty Hands': "They give plenty and raise their heads in pride; I take plenty, and in shame I've myself to hide…Man has come with empty hands, and so he'll go away, Why should the dancing and ephemeral take any pride?" 

'The Sudden Flash of Light' brings romance to its height.  “Don't remove the veil so quickly, I am afraid of being blinded in this heat." JBS Haldane said doubt clarifies many things. Had Copernicus not doubted, we had been believing today what Galileo had said. So, Dinesh doubts all: "They say the face is the index of the mind. And I doubt them too." He is not a Doubting Thomas, but wants to know the truth through doubting. The poetry in the book is not bogged by too many metaphors and is an interesting read.

Tailpiece

"There's no money in poetry, but then there's no poetry in money either." Robert Graves

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