Sunday, January 24, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets, Edited by Jeet Thayil
The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets, edited by Jeet Thayil, includes an eclectic, exciting and incredible anthology of poems by seventy-two poets from India and Indian diaspora. These voices that span the last fifty-five years includes works by all the major poets, (more familiar names) of Indian English including Nissim Ezekiel, Dom Moraes, Arun Kolatkar, Agha Shahid Ali, AK Ramanujan, Arvind Krishan Mehrotra, Adil Jussawala, Keki Daruwala, Jayanta Mahapatra, Kamla Das and R. Parthasarthy. The collection also includes many younger poets and and many upcoming voices including Vikram Seth, Jeet Thayil, Ravi Shankar, Meena Alexander, Rukmini Bhaya Nair, Kazim Ali, Daljit Nagra, among others.
The voices bring forth influences and feelings excavated, collected, cultivated, imported, ingrained or extracted from a rich and varied landscape of Indian heritage, culture, philosophy, religion and echoing the daily chaos and beauty of Indian existence. Diversity in temperament and tastes, rich colors and varied textures, aroma of spices, shingle of bangles, Hindu and sufi mysticism, Kamasutra or censored sexuality, chutnified or dignified English, free verse and sonnets, and a grand tour of modern and ancient world is served in this collection. Voices that are of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians, Indians, Americans, Britishers, and World citizens versify such that each poem both represents the local, particular idioms, icons and ideas and transcends these in creating literature that is human, universal, eternal.
Adil Jussawalla, perhaps speaks for every Indian writer, who spend his lifetime pursuing poetry in a country, where there is little reward for bards writing in this 'phoren' language, and whose English poets, are yet to be welcomed in international circuits, where a bad translation from another language gets more audience, than original writing in English from a poet born in India/non-Western countries:
"Bright sparks /
on the international back-slapping circuit /
are picking up prizes like static. //
He's for the dark."
Arundhati Subramaniam, in a poem titled "To the Welsh Critic Who Doesn't Find Me Identifiably Indian" provides a succinct portrayal of both Western prejudice about who they consider is Indian and what is not, and the frustration of an Indian writer seeking to speak in this language about his or her complex existence that is not bound by what textbook definition proclaims to be his or her territory or ideology. The anthology also includes essays by Jeet Thayil, Bruce King and Arvind Krishan Melhotra. These essays provide insight into the life and work of few of the famous poets as well as the state of/ regard for English poetry writing in India. Similarly there are poetic tributes to the likes of Nissim Ezekiel and Agha Shahid Ali by poets touched and transformed by their work, and other poems that stake claim on English as language of expression, exile, migration, longing, learning and spirituality.
"Considerthefemalebodyyourmost /
Basictextanddontforgetitsslokas"
suggests Rukmini Bhaya Nair, whereas
"You are no plagiarist of dusk. /
Nothing in the sky equals itself."
writes Kazim Ali. At once, homage to a thirty century old tradition of Sanskrit verse form, shalokas, is made and in another poem, the limitlessness of possibilities is hinted at. The collection contains a large number of quotable lines, and startling sentences, each embedded in nicely sculpted lines and word images. Moreover, the collection includes works by poets who deserve way more attention than we have given them. Not many of us know of the poems by G. S. Sharat Chandra, who was once nominated for Pulitzer Prize. He writes:
'My good shoe has run away /
with the tacks /
of its slutty twin.'
Similarly Agha Shahid Ali is quite unknown in India. He, like G. S. Sharat Chandra has a prize named after him (by University of Utah). Shahid was a Kashmiri-American poet, best known for his Ghazals in English. He was devoted to the cause, and taught many Americans that this form of verse is not merely about rhyming couplets, but about rendering a lament that stretches the personal grief, till it becomes an umbrella over everyone who reads the poems.The collection does not contain any of his Ghazals, but his accessibility and depth is reflected in these lines I often quote from 'Stationery',
"The world is full of paper. /
Write to me."
Works by Mamta Kalia, Leela Gandhi, Eunice de Souza, Kamla Das and others have an edge to them, a revolt against the Kaushalya-Sita-Sati-Savitri (ideal mother/housewife) image of Indian women, a celebration of contemporary movements in celebration of right and freedom of women. Eunice de Souza has lines like:
"'O Universal Lover /
in a state of perpetual erection! /
Let me too enter into /
communion with the world /
through thee.' "
and others like:
'It pays to be a poet. /
You don't have to pay prostitutes.'
Leela says:
"Our desire wanting we tried our love /
and found it good enough without /
this sex thing, this hip and lip thing. /
Let other lovers sweat and grind, /
our love's refined, raising virtues from necessity."
In a poem titled Brat, Mamta Kalia, has a daughter say:
"You, perhaps, were hardly proud /
Of your creativity -- /
Except for the comfort /
That I looked like Papa /
And not like the neighbour /
Who shared our bathroom."
While Vivek Narayanan celebrates the vamp from silver screen in "Three Elegies for Silk Smitha", Arun Kolatkar picks an "Ogress" from a poverty-striken street and describes her
"has always been a kind /
of an auxiliary mother, /
semi-official nanny //
and baby-bather-in-chief /
to a whole chain of children /
born to this street".
Reading the poems included in this collection helps us arrive at answers to our own quest in poetry, as well as in life. Jayanta Mahapatra, who is another pillar of Indian writing, usually keeps irony to minimum, but in a poem titled "The Quest" he says:
"Even computers begin to understand our castes and prejudices. /
The voluptuous figures of women in stone /
only wish to save our feelings of love and freedom;"
While Nagra and Ezekiel provide glimpses of Indian English, countless lines, similes, metaphors and allusions scattered throughout the book emphasize the "Indian" (in English). Indian poets writing in English have had a few guiding lights in the subcontinent. The inimitable Nissim Ezekiel as a mentor, and the tireless P. Lal (Writers Workshop , Calcutta) as a publisher are two significant pillars. The anthology is a tribute to the lifelong struggles of these and other poets. Jeet has done a commendable job in compiling biographies, digging out unpublished and published poems from known and obscure sources and highlighting how poetry defies the artificial constraints and bounds of time, space, age, location and traditions. Philip Nikolayev, the editor of Fulcrum, who inspired the project, and everyone else who contributed to its completion deserve the gratitude of every Indian (especially of the poets). Other anthologies that deserve our gratitude include collections edited and/ or translated by AK Ramanujan and R. Parthasarthy.
The voices bring forth influences and feelings excavated, collected, cultivated, imported, ingrained or extracted from a rich and varied landscape of Indian heritage, culture, philosophy, religion and echoing the daily chaos and beauty of Indian existence. Diversity in temperament and tastes, rich colors and varied textures, aroma of spices, shingle of bangles, Hindu and sufi mysticism, Kamasutra or censored sexuality, chutnified or dignified English, free verse and sonnets, and a grand tour of modern and ancient world is served in this collection. Voices that are of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians, Indians, Americans, Britishers, and World citizens versify such that each poem both represents the local, particular idioms, icons and ideas and transcends these in creating literature that is human, universal, eternal.
Adil Jussawalla, perhaps speaks for every Indian writer, who spend his lifetime pursuing poetry in a country, where there is little reward for bards writing in this 'phoren' language, and whose English poets, are yet to be welcomed in international circuits, where a bad translation from another language gets more audience, than original writing in English from a poet born in India/non-Western countries:
"Bright sparks /
on the international back-slapping circuit /
are picking up prizes like static. //
He's for the dark."
Arundhati Subramaniam, in a poem titled "To the Welsh Critic Who Doesn't Find Me Identifiably Indian" provides a succinct portrayal of both Western prejudice about who they consider is Indian and what is not, and the frustration of an Indian writer seeking to speak in this language about his or her complex existence that is not bound by what textbook definition proclaims to be his or her territory or ideology. The anthology also includes essays by Jeet Thayil, Bruce King and Arvind Krishan Melhotra. These essays provide insight into the life and work of few of the famous poets as well as the state of/ regard for English poetry writing in India. Similarly there are poetic tributes to the likes of Nissim Ezekiel and Agha Shahid Ali by poets touched and transformed by their work, and other poems that stake claim on English as language of expression, exile, migration, longing, learning and spirituality.
"Considerthefemalebodyyourmost /
Basictextanddontforgetitsslokas"
suggests Rukmini Bhaya Nair, whereas
"You are no plagiarist of dusk. /
Nothing in the sky equals itself."
writes Kazim Ali. At once, homage to a thirty century old tradition of Sanskrit verse form, shalokas, is made and in another poem, the limitlessness of possibilities is hinted at. The collection contains a large number of quotable lines, and startling sentences, each embedded in nicely sculpted lines and word images. Moreover, the collection includes works by poets who deserve way more attention than we have given them. Not many of us know of the poems by G. S. Sharat Chandra, who was once nominated for Pulitzer Prize. He writes:
'My good shoe has run away /
with the tacks /
of its slutty twin.'
Similarly Agha Shahid Ali is quite unknown in India. He, like G. S. Sharat Chandra has a prize named after him (by University of Utah). Shahid was a Kashmiri-American poet, best known for his Ghazals in English. He was devoted to the cause, and taught many Americans that this form of verse is not merely about rhyming couplets, but about rendering a lament that stretches the personal grief, till it becomes an umbrella over everyone who reads the poems.The collection does not contain any of his Ghazals, but his accessibility and depth is reflected in these lines I often quote from 'Stationery',
"The world is full of paper. /
Write to me."
Works by Mamta Kalia, Leela Gandhi, Eunice de Souza, Kamla Das and others have an edge to them, a revolt against the Kaushalya-Sita-Sati-Savitri (ideal mother/housewife) image of Indian women, a celebration of contemporary movements in celebration of right and freedom of women. Eunice de Souza has lines like:
"'O Universal Lover /
in a state of perpetual erection! /
Let me too enter into /
communion with the world /
through thee.' "
and others like:
'It pays to be a poet. /
You don't have to pay prostitutes.'
Leela says:
"Our desire wanting we tried our love /
and found it good enough without /
this sex thing, this hip and lip thing. /
Let other lovers sweat and grind, /
our love's refined, raising virtues from necessity."
In a poem titled Brat, Mamta Kalia, has a daughter say:
"You, perhaps, were hardly proud /
Of your creativity -- /
Except for the comfort /
That I looked like Papa /
And not like the neighbour /
Who shared our bathroom."
While Vivek Narayanan celebrates the vamp from silver screen in "Three Elegies for Silk Smitha", Arun Kolatkar picks an "Ogress" from a poverty-striken street and describes her
"has always been a kind /
of an auxiliary mother, /
semi-official nanny //
and baby-bather-in-chief /
to a whole chain of children /
born to this street".
Reading the poems included in this collection helps us arrive at answers to our own quest in poetry, as well as in life. Jayanta Mahapatra, who is another pillar of Indian writing, usually keeps irony to minimum, but in a poem titled "The Quest" he says:
"Even computers begin to understand our castes and prejudices. /
The voluptuous figures of women in stone /
only wish to save our feelings of love and freedom;"
While Nagra and Ezekiel provide glimpses of Indian English, countless lines, similes, metaphors and allusions scattered throughout the book emphasize the "Indian" (in English). Indian poets writing in English have had a few guiding lights in the subcontinent. The inimitable Nissim Ezekiel as a mentor, and the tireless P. Lal (Writers Workshop , Calcutta) as a publisher are two significant pillars. The anthology is a tribute to the lifelong struggles of these and other poets. Jeet has done a commendable job in compiling biographies, digging out unpublished and published poems from known and obscure sources and highlighting how poetry defies the artificial constraints and bounds of time, space, age, location and traditions. Philip Nikolayev, the editor of Fulcrum, who inspired the project, and everyone else who contributed to its completion deserve the gratitude of every Indian (especially of the poets). Other anthologies that deserve our gratitude include collections edited and/ or translated by AK Ramanujan and R. Parthasarthy.
I highly recommend this Bloodaxe anthology for its reach and range, and for a comprehensive and erudite introduction to Indian poetry in English. It includes most of the important poets born before 1975 (or as I jokingly tell myself, all poets older than me!), and provides exemplary poems about every imaginable theme and subject that poets and readers will remember and relish in years to come. I have often returned to the poems included there, and I have learned more about Indian poetry in English language from this book than most others. I think the anthology should on the shelf of every Indian poet, irrespective of the language they write in. I will close this review with another set of memorable lines from Ranjit Hoskote, who in a poem titled "Ghalib in the Winter of the Great Revolt" writes:
"The friend, with a spy at his shoulder, writes back: /
When did you become a poet of adjectives /
roosting in the rafters of a broken house? /
Ghalib, the owl must hide in the tamarind for now, /
but the genie of havoc will go on furlough soon. /
You say your ink-well is empty, but your dry quill /
still claws at the fibers of the heart."
"The friend, with a spy at his shoulder, writes back: /
When did you become a poet of adjectives /
roosting in the rafters of a broken house? /
Ghalib, the owl must hide in the tamarind for now, /
but the genie of havoc will go on furlough soon. /
You say your ink-well is empty, but your dry quill /
still claws at the fibers of the heart."
Saturday, January 02, 2010
On claims of sexual bias in publishing (In a Washington Post article)
Juliana Braggot wrote a piece in the Washinton post claiming "Key to literary success? Be a man -- or write like one". She goes on to quote the statistics about how many female authors featured on the top 100 books of the year 2009 (a list by Publishers Weekly & another by Amazon), and how many of the fifty most inspiring authors writing now are females (a list published by Poets and Writers). I suppose it is best to read her piece before proceeding, though her major claims can be quoted here:
"How many female writers were in the top 10? Zero. How many on the entire list? Twenty-nine.
I wish I were scandalized, or at least surprised. I'm not. I understand the invisible prejudice -- from the inside out. I'm a woman, but I've been a sexist, too."
and
"What are the best books? The answer is always subjective, and I'm not a literary arbiter. But the message I received from this year's lists was painfully familiar. It forced me to explain to my students -- the next generation of writers -- that the men in the class have double if not five times the chance of this kind of recognition. I'll hand over the statistics and explain that an industry kept afloat by women is sexist. I'll confess to my own sexism. And I'll tell them that we have failed, but they don't have to."
Here is what I think of the whole issue:
I think that statistics often hide more than they reveal. There are a handful of female poets and novelists before 1900 who are deemed as greats (Jane Austen, Bronte Sisters, Mary Shelley). But there are also only a handful of Black (African-American), Brown (South Asian, Middle-Eastern) and Yellow (Chinese, Korean, Japanese) skinned writers even now, who are on the lists of greats of literature. The latter "bias" (if you wish to call it that) excludes 80% of the world population, excludes the writers who are worshiped in their nations and are giants in literature and languages read/spoken by millions of people: but no one thinks of that... and if this is true, the earlier statements made by the author apply to women in Western societies only. While I do not want to downplay a bias, if it exists, by pointing out another bias, in our search for justice, we may not and must not, limit our struggle only to things that directly benefit us. Also we have to be wary of creating a new bias, where say women or certain races or castes or language speakers get undue preference for jobs, prizes, and so on; already the academic and industry circles are rife with allegations that hiring in the past few seasons has been tainted by this mode of political correctness / bias or social coercion!
In any event, in this country (and everywhere else), the present generation can be fair only to the present generation, but you cannot go back to the eighteenth century and invent great female authors or authors from African-American ancestry writing in English. Maybe great female or African-American writers could have existed if education and opportunity were provided to them, maybe few good ones did exist but either their work was lost or they never got published. But we only compare what exists, and conceptual problems of what if and what if not, are pointless, as their premise is unrealizable.
Somehow Julianna claims that successful female writers are the ones who wrote about male themes (and interestingly, she quotes herself as an example). But all the female authors I like and I read and read and read, (Virginia Woolf, Akhmatova, Rich, Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Bishop, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Dickinson, Jane Austen, Arundhati Roy, Mirabai, Toni Morrison, Edith Wharton, Tahmima Anam, Mahadevi Verma, Kamla Markendaya, Cather, Boland, Forugh Farrokzad, Naomi Shihab Nye, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, Sarojini Naidu, Kamla Das, and so on), I can't recall a single one of them who wrote as a male author would, or pretend to be one! If I was an author I listed here, I would not be pleased with Julianna's article and yes, I am pretending to think or speak like a female author, but that is my choice; believing it or not is yours. Whether Flaubert and Lawrence wrote about female emotion as well as Woolf or Austen could is not in question for me, whether Woolf and Austen wrote well about male themes is also not in question for me: I only care about literature that causes me to wander, wonder, think, feel, smile, laugh, cry, make me drift into another time and place, about writing that entertains, and educates without telling me when and how, words that make me examine the world within and the world outside. All female writers listed by me do a large bit of what I expect from good literature; all writers I read or know personally write well, not because they are hyper-representations of a female or a Muslim or a Sri-Lankan or a communist country educated personae, but because they transcend such considerations.
It is very easy to blame biases of other people, turn bitter, cry foul, slander... what requires grit and character is to "show the other cheek", (like a good Christian / Buddhist / Hindu / human), and to keep writing. Good writing, like nuts in a box of cornflakes, or bubbles in beer, will always rise to the top.
It is very easy to blame biases of other people, turn bitter, cry foul, slander... what requires grit and character is to "show the other cheek", (like a good Christian / Buddhist / Hindu / human), and to keep writing. Good writing, like nuts in a box of cornflakes, or bubbles in beer, will always rise to the top.
Why did I need to write this post? While I believe that biases exist, both sexual and racial, their exposition and their dissolution, requires a constructive effort from people who can perceive them and write about them. If I were to claim that my poems are not accepted for publication solely because I am a woman (or for argument sake, say because I am a non-Christian, non-American, non-White , non-female, non-minority writer) I will be stating a half-lie, apart from slandering even those who have no such biases, ignoring any faults my own writing could have, trivializing the creativity and talent of who have been picked instead of me and in spite of me, and I will be doing a disservice to the very notion I want to support. Historically, popularity of books in a particular year has never been an index of how humanity perceives them in the long run, and all lists quoted here represent statistics of a small fraction of buyers and readers around the world. Ideas, metaphors, biases, notions, fashions, preferences are all ever evolving and ever emerging in ways we can only steer or mould, but cannot control entirely. The injustices of past cannot be used for justifying injustices in present or future. Any recourse to political or social activism in the name of race, caste, sex, creed, nationality, religion or language that tries to correct a bias by reverse discrimination (sometimes in form of reservation or affirmative action), any activism that denies the possibility of creating injustice elsewhere in its effort to provide injustice for past events, any activism that pretends to correct history by destroying the relics, icons and idols of the past, any activism that believes in superior or more binding rights of a fraction of humanity over others, any activism of this sort is unacceptable to me and must be to all people, as it creates fresh injustice, hate, acrimony, anger, violence, bitterness and inequality.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
2010 में नया-पुराना, कर्मस्तुती, और आत्मबोध (2010 mein naya purana, karma stuti aur aatmbodh
2010 में नया-पुराना, कर्मस्तुती, और आत्मबोध
डॉ. विवेक शर्मा
1
दस-बीस होते-करते बीस दस हो आया है
नया वर्ष है साथी, सब नए सपनों की माया है
नया गीत गूंजा है रेडियो पर, आई है अब फिल्में नयी
नए कैलेंडर लगे खूंटों पर, है अखबार नयी, मारामार नयी,
कहते हैं नए साल में मिलेंगे उपहार नए, कुछ दिखे है आसार नए,
अब नयी कलमों से खूंटों पर पर खिलेंगे पुष्प के प्रतिबिम्ब नए,
अब कोई नया विलंभ रोकेगा सरकार का कोई नया प्रस्ताव,
यूँ तो बहुत दीया है भगवान् ने, पर नयी मांगे पैदा करेंगीं नए अभाव,
फिर बीतेगा जनवरी, फरवरी, और मई के आते आते,
लगेगा सब अच्छा ले गया वो २००९ जाते जाते |
2.
वर्षांत पर फिर सोचेगा मनुष्य: कुछ नहीं बदलता यहाँ पर,
वही घात हैं, वही धूर्त हैं, वही महंत, वही बलवंत,
बस कहीं जन्मा है कोई, तो कोई गया है लोक छोड़के,
कोई नए कालेज पहुंचा है, विवाह का कर रहा है विचार कोई,
वही कार्यक्रम है, दूसरा स्टेशन है, शायद हैं कुछ अधिनायक नए,
कुछ नहीं बदलता यहाँ पर, बस आ जाते हैं आचार-व्यवहार नए,
पर गीतोपदेश सुन साथी, कर्म किये जा, निस्संदेह किये जा,
जो मिले, सो मिले, धर्म-कर्म से न करना गिले,
जो मिटे, सो मिटे, जो बने, सो बने, कर्म किये जा, हर पल किये जा,
मात्र कर्म पर था अधिकार तेरा, महाफल पर था अधिकार नहीं |
३
'जो हुआ जैसे हुआ' को कहते हैं इतिहास समझ, और 'जो जैसे होना चाहिए' को संस्कार समझ,
महाफल पर अधिकार नहीं, पर उसे निर्धारित करता है कर्म ही, इस क्यूँ, कैसे को संसार समझ,
क्या भला है, क्या बुरा है, नीति क्या, क्या नियम, क्या नियति, क्या नीयत,
झाँक भीतर, सब रहस्य, रस, रूप, रौनक, रंग, दीप्ती, गुण-दोष भीतर है,
तहों में तलाश, सतहों से दूर रह, टटोल स्व को, सच्चितानंद भीतर है,
चक्रव्यूह लगे चुनौतियाँ, संग्राम पराक्रम दिखाने का मंच, और जीवन हर क्षण
है अर्थ (पैसा / मर्म), काम (मोह / वासना), धर्मं (अध्यातम / रीति-रीवाज), के द्वन्द,
इन द्वंदों में, मायागीत के छंदों से, मुक्ति के रस्ते तीन: परिश्रम, ज्ञान-साधना और भक्ति के,
मित्र नए वर्ष में नए हर्ष से स्वरच कामनाएं, कर निर्धारित जय-स्वजय, और पा आत्म में शक्ति यह,
चाहे अश्रु मिलें या सांसारिक सुख मिलें, पर रहे कर्म प्रमुख, आस्था आमुख और परमार्थ से भरा रहे हृदय |
डॉ. विवेक शर्मा
1
दस-बीस होते-करते बीस दस हो आया है
नया वर्ष है साथी, सब नए सपनों की माया है
नया गीत गूंजा है रेडियो पर, आई है अब फिल्में नयी
नए कैलेंडर लगे खूंटों पर, है अखबार नयी, मारामार नयी,
कहते हैं नए साल में मिलेंगे उपहार नए, कुछ दिखे है आसार नए,
अब नयी कलमों से खूंटों पर पर खिलेंगे पुष्प के प्रतिबिम्ब नए,
अब कोई नया विलंभ रोकेगा सरकार का कोई नया प्रस्ताव,
यूँ तो बहुत दीया है भगवान् ने, पर नयी मांगे पैदा करेंगीं नए अभाव,
फिर बीतेगा जनवरी, फरवरी, और मई के आते आते,
लगेगा सब अच्छा ले गया वो २००९ जाते जाते |
2.
वर्षांत पर फिर सोचेगा मनुष्य: कुछ नहीं बदलता यहाँ पर,
वही घात हैं, वही धूर्त हैं, वही महंत, वही बलवंत,
बस कहीं जन्मा है कोई, तो कोई गया है लोक छोड़के,
कोई नए कालेज पहुंचा है, विवाह का कर रहा है विचार कोई,
वही कार्यक्रम है, दूसरा स्टेशन है, शायद हैं कुछ अधिनायक नए,
कुछ नहीं बदलता यहाँ पर, बस आ जाते हैं आचार-व्यवहार नए,
पर गीतोपदेश सुन साथी, कर्म किये जा, निस्संदेह किये जा,
जो मिले, सो मिले, धर्म-कर्म से न करना गिले,
जो मिटे, सो मिटे, जो बने, सो बने, कर्म किये जा, हर पल किये जा,
मात्र कर्म पर था अधिकार तेरा, महाफल पर था अधिकार नहीं |
३
'जो हुआ जैसे हुआ' को कहते हैं इतिहास समझ, और 'जो जैसे होना चाहिए' को संस्कार समझ,
महाफल पर अधिकार नहीं, पर उसे निर्धारित करता है कर्म ही, इस क्यूँ, कैसे को संसार समझ,
क्या भला है, क्या बुरा है, नीति क्या, क्या नियम, क्या नियति, क्या नीयत,
झाँक भीतर, सब रहस्य, रस, रूप, रौनक, रंग, दीप्ती, गुण-दोष भीतर है,
तहों में तलाश, सतहों से दूर रह, टटोल स्व को, सच्चितानंद भीतर है,
चक्रव्यूह लगे चुनौतियाँ, संग्राम पराक्रम दिखाने का मंच, और जीवन हर क्षण
है अर्थ (पैसा / मर्म), काम (मोह / वासना), धर्मं (अध्यातम / रीति-रीवाज), के द्वन्द,
इन द्वंदों में, मायागीत के छंदों से, मुक्ति के रस्ते तीन: परिश्रम, ज्ञान-साधना और भक्ति के,
मित्र नए वर्ष में नए हर्ष से स्वरच कामनाएं, कर निर्धारित जय-स्वजय, और पा आत्म में शक्ति यह,
चाहे अश्रु मिलें या सांसारिक सुख मिलें, पर रहे कर्म प्रमुख, आस्था आमुख और परमार्थ से भरा रहे हृदय |
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Books read in 2010
Read in 2010 (105 = 75 + 30; NF 33)
ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS -- FICTION (19): (The Collected Stories by Kafka), Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco, Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, Legends of Khasak by O. V. Vijayan (trans. by the author), A New Life by Orhan Pamuk, (The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky), Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, Death in Venice and seven other stories by Thomas Mann, Nana by Emile' Zola, A Life by Maupassant, Nip the buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenzumuro Oe, Embers by Sandor Marai, The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges, Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe, Cousin Bette by Honore de Balzac, Lust by Elfriede Jelinek, The Sound of Waves by Mishima, The Alchemist by Paulo Ceolho.
NOVEL / FICTION IN ENGLISH (18): Eve's diary by Mark Twain, The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, All About H. Hatter by G. V. Desani, Insomnia and Other Stories by Aamer Hussein, The Missing Piece Meets the Big O by Shel Silverstein, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis, Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel, Rumi's Tales from the Silk Road: Pilgrimage to Paradise by Kamla Kapur, A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe, Main Street by Sinclair Lewis, An Accidental God by Sameul Gido, The Snows of Kilimanjaro and other stories by Ernest Hemingway, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junoz Diaz, Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, The Romantics by Pankaj Mishra, The Captain's Doll by D. H. Lawrence, The Financial Expert by R. K. Narayana, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain.
NON-FICTION (13): Anonyponymous: The Forgotten People Behind Everyday Words by John Marciano, Orientalism by Edward Said, Nobel Lectures: From the Literature Laureates, 1986-2006 by Various, A People's History of the United States: 1492- Present by Howard Zinn, Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers by Arundhati Roy, Gandhi on Non-violence: A selection from writings of Mahatma Gandhi edited by Thomas Merton, The Art of Sinking in Poetry by Alexander Pope, William Jones' Ancient Theology by Urs App, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, Always Astonished: Selected Prose by Fernando Pessoa, Istanbul by Orhan Pamuk, Survival of the Prettiest by Nancy Etcoff, Edge of the Empire by Maya Jasanoff.
ENGLISH POETRY (27): The Best Poems of the English Language: From Chaucer to Robert Frost by Harold Bloom, These Errors are Correct by Jeet Thayil, A Necklace of Skulls by Eunice de'Souza, Closure by Kamla Das and Suresh Kohli, Black Candle by Chitra Banerjee Devakarni, The Far Mosque by Kazim Ali, My Sister -- Life by Boris Pasternak, Imperfect Thirst by Galway Kinell, Walking to Martha's Vineyard and The Beforelife by Franz Wright, Odyssey by Homer (trans. from Greek by Robert Fitzgerald), On the Bus with Rosa Parks by Rita Dove, The Darkness around us is Deep by William Stafford, The Wrong Side of the Rainbow by Charles Wright, The Adam of Two Edens, A River Dies of Thirst and The Butterfly's Burden by Mahmoud Darwish (translated from Arabic), Out Here by Ginger Murchison, A Sky Half-Dismantled by Shawn Delgado, Fully Empowered and Spain in Our Hearts by Pablo Neruda (Trans by Alastair Reid), The Flowers of a Moment by Ko UN (Trans by Brother Anthony, Young-moo Kim and Gary Gach), Sonnets by Jorge Luis Borges, Human Chain by Seamus Heaney, (Garbage by A. R. Ammons), Almond Blossoms and Beyond by Mahmoud Darwish (trans by Mohammad Shaheen), A Slice of Water by Prabakar T Rajan.
Hindi / Urdu / Sanskrit/ Punjabi (5+3): Baanbhat ki aatmkatha by Hazariprasad Dwivedi,
Satta ke Samne by Noam Chomsky (translated by Anup Sethi), Yogasutra by Patanjali, Pratinidhi Kahaniyan by Mannu Bhandari, Valmikiya Ramayana in Hindi (trans./edited) by Ramchandra Verma Shashtri, Ramayana by Valmiki (Sanskrit), Rashmirathi and Sanchaita by Ramdhari Singh Dinkar.
बाणभट्ट की आत्मकथा -- हजारीप्रसाद द्विवेदी, सत्ता के सामने -- नोअम चोमस्की (अनुवाद -- अनूप सेठी), योगसूत्र -- पतंजलि, प्रतिनिधि कहानियां -- मन्नू भंडारी, वाल्मीकीय रामायण (हिंदी अनुवाद रामचंद्र वर्मा शास्त्री), रामायण -- वाल्मीकि, रश्मिरथी एवं संचयिता -- रामधारी सिंह 'दिनकर'
Satta ke Samne by Noam Chomsky (translated by Anup Sethi), Yogasutra by Patanjali, Pratinidhi Kahaniyan by Mannu Bhandari, Valmikiya Ramayana in Hindi (trans./edited) by Ramchandra Verma Shashtri, Ramayana by Valmiki (Sanskrit), Rashmirathi and Sanchaita by Ramdhari Singh Dinkar.
बाणभट्ट की आत्मकथा -- हजारीप्रसाद द्विवेदी, सत्ता के सामने -- नोअम चोमस्की (अनुवाद -- अनूप सेठी), योगसूत्र -- पतंजलि, प्रतिनिधि कहानियां -- मन्नू भंडारी, वाल्मीकीय रामायण (हिंदी अनुवाद रामचंद्र वर्मा शास्त्री), रामायण -- वाल्मीकि, रश्मिरथी एवं संचयिता -- रामधारी सिंह 'दिनकर'
PHILOSOPHY / RELIGION / MYTHOLOGY (13): Eastern Religions and Western Thought by S. Radhakrishnan, Twilight of the Idols and The AntiChrist by Friedrich Nietzsche, The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali, trans. by Chip Hartranft, Hinduism by KM Sen, Panchtantra by Vishnu Sharma: translated by Chandra Raman, (Discourse on Metaphysics and The Monadology by G. W. Leibniz), The Religion of Man by Rabindranath Tagore, The Analects of Confucius (translated and notes by Simon Leys), Bhakti or Devotion and Life after death by Swami Vivekananda.
MAHABHARATA (by Mahrishi Ved Vyas; tr. by Kisari Mohun Ganguly) (2/18): Adiparva, (Sabhaparva)
POPULAR SCIENCE (8): (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn, The Character of Physical Law by Richard Feynman), Ben Franklin Stilled the Waves: An Informal History of Pouring Oil on Water with Reflections on the Ups and Downs of Scientific Life by Charles Tanford, Nature's Robots: A History of Proteins by Charles Tanford and Jacqueline Reynolds, How Animals Work by Knut Schmidt-Nielsen, Soap Bubbles: Their Colors and Forces that Mould Them by C. V. Boys, (Five Quarts: A personal and natural history of blood by Bill Heyes), The History of Ink, including its Etymology, Chemistry, and Bibliography by Thaddeus Davids.
Favorite reads of the year (Fiction / Novels /Short Stories)
1) The Adam of Two Edens, A River Dies of Thirst and The Butterfly's Burden by Mahmoud Darwish (translated from Arabic): An exceptional poet from the modern era, the Palestinian poet whose writing is full of humanity, and the inexhaustible anguish of exile: if he appeals to me so much in translation, perhaps it is worth learning Arabic to read him in the original tongue.
2) Embers by Sandor Marai (translated from Hungarian): A unforgettable masterpiece from mid-twentieth century, that explores the nature of friendship, love, hate and jealousy, in a taut prose; every chapter surprises the reader, and every chapter forces the reader to explore the mysteries within himself.
3) All About H. Hatter by G. V. Desani: One of the funniest books I have read in a while; babu English (or desi English) at its best. Requires a certain familiarity with the language as it is/was spoken by Indians with little or no exposure to the West, except through dated literature.
4) Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck: A tour de force, an epic novel that provides a insight into the struggle and lives of a depression-era family that moves to California after losing farmlands to obscure and powerful financial institutions. One of the best American novels I have ever read.
5) Orientalism by Edward Said: A remarkable marvel of scholarship, that examines the Orientalists who created an East in literature and philosophy that was moulded, motivated and tinted or tainted by the cultural, economic, political and religious biases of their mother nations.
6) A People's History of the United States: 1492- Present by Howard Zinn: An alternative perspective of US history that is both illuminating and disturbing, for Zinn recounts the struggle of common man, the hungry laborers, the slaves & African-American, and women to be recognized as equals, their struggle to get the right to vote and to earn respect and recognition as humans and as Americans. Also provides a dark and depressing portrait of actions of American government, capitalists and profit-mongers who systematically wiped out Native Americans and have been engaged in wars (proxy and real) around the world, leading to repression and carnage in foreign territories.
7) Baanbhat ki aatmkatha by Hazariprasad Dwivedi (Hindi): Dwivedi sets this historical novel in the era when Buddhism was waning, Harsha rules parts of North India, and writes it as autobiography of the famous Sanskrit poet Baanbhat. The novel is a literary extravaganza of sorts, and contains many unforgettable characters and lines, and deserves to be read by more people in general and Hindus in particular.
8) Eastern Religions and Western Thought by S. Radhakrishnan: As a work of philosophy, as a series of lectures about religions, as a work of scholarship that encompasses Western and Eastern schools of thought, these series of lectures by S. Radhakrishnan are perhaps unsurpassed in their reach, detail and clarity. The author presents complex ideas with the authority and simplicity that becomes a man of his learning and erudition.
9) Hinduism by KM Sen and The Religion of Man by Rabindranath Tagore: Many people ask me if there is a simple text that can explain to them the basic and core ideas, beliefs and practices of Hindus. Perhaps these two texts can do the job, and I recommend Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, Vivekananda's lectures and Upanishads for the seekers who want to get to the core spiritual and philosophical basis of Hindu belief system. (Bad translations are easily available, but true seekers will figure out how to discard the chaff, and get to the wheat of the arguments...)
10) Nature's Robots: A History of Proteins by Charles Tanford and Jacqueline Reynolds: If a biophysicist is asked to explain the meaning of life, he/she will tell you all about how central proteins are to the actual functioning of life processes. This book is a journey through the world of proteins, with an introduction that provides clues about how the understanding emerged historically and the celebrated and forgotten heroes that made crucial contributions to the study of proteins.
11) The Best Poems of the English Language: From Chaucer to Robert Frost by Harold Bloom: Yes sir, it is a mammoth enterprise, for you get to read everyone from Shakespeare to Keats, Wordsworth to Shelley, Milton to Emily Dickinson, and five centuries worth of poetry anthologized and introduced by Harold Bloom.
1) The Adam of Two Edens, A River Dies of Thirst and The Butterfly's Burden by Mahmoud Darwish (translated from Arabic): An exceptional poet from the modern era, the Palestinian poet whose writing is full of humanity, and the inexhaustible anguish of exile: if he appeals to me so much in translation, perhaps it is worth learning Arabic to read him in the original tongue.
2) Embers by Sandor Marai (translated from Hungarian): A unforgettable masterpiece from mid-twentieth century, that explores the nature of friendship, love, hate and jealousy, in a taut prose; every chapter surprises the reader, and every chapter forces the reader to explore the mysteries within himself.
3) All About H. Hatter by G. V. Desani: One of the funniest books I have read in a while; babu English (or desi English) at its best. Requires a certain familiarity with the language as it is/was spoken by Indians with little or no exposure to the West, except through dated literature.
4) Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck: A tour de force, an epic novel that provides a insight into the struggle and lives of a depression-era family that moves to California after losing farmlands to obscure and powerful financial institutions. One of the best American novels I have ever read.
5) Orientalism by Edward Said: A remarkable marvel of scholarship, that examines the Orientalists who created an East in literature and philosophy that was moulded, motivated and tinted or tainted by the cultural, economic, political and religious biases of their mother nations.
6) A People's History of the United States: 1492- Present by Howard Zinn: An alternative perspective of US history that is both illuminating and disturbing, for Zinn recounts the struggle of common man, the hungry laborers, the slaves & African-American, and women to be recognized as equals, their struggle to get the right to vote and to earn respect and recognition as humans and as Americans. Also provides a dark and depressing portrait of actions of American government, capitalists and profit-mongers who systematically wiped out Native Americans and have been engaged in wars (proxy and real) around the world, leading to repression and carnage in foreign territories.
7) Baanbhat ki aatmkatha by Hazariprasad Dwivedi (Hindi): Dwivedi sets this historical novel in the era when Buddhism was waning, Harsha rules parts of North India, and writes it as autobiography of the famous Sanskrit poet Baanbhat. The novel is a literary extravaganza of sorts, and contains many unforgettable characters and lines, and deserves to be read by more people in general and Hindus in particular.
8) Eastern Religions and Western Thought by S. Radhakrishnan: As a work of philosophy, as a series of lectures about religions, as a work of scholarship that encompasses Western and Eastern schools of thought, these series of lectures by S. Radhakrishnan are perhaps unsurpassed in their reach, detail and clarity. The author presents complex ideas with the authority and simplicity that becomes a man of his learning and erudition.
9) Hinduism by KM Sen and The Religion of Man by Rabindranath Tagore: Many people ask me if there is a simple text that can explain to them the basic and core ideas, beliefs and practices of Hindus. Perhaps these two texts can do the job, and I recommend Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, Vivekananda's lectures and Upanishads for the seekers who want to get to the core spiritual and philosophical basis of Hindu belief system. (Bad translations are easily available, but true seekers will figure out how to discard the chaff, and get to the wheat of the arguments...)
10) Nature's Robots: A History of Proteins by Charles Tanford and Jacqueline Reynolds: If a biophysicist is asked to explain the meaning of life, he/she will tell you all about how central proteins are to the actual functioning of life processes. This book is a journey through the world of proteins, with an introduction that provides clues about how the understanding emerged historically and the celebrated and forgotten heroes that made crucial contributions to the study of proteins.
11) The Best Poems of the English Language: From Chaucer to Robert Frost by Harold Bloom: Yes sir, it is a mammoth enterprise, for you get to read everyone from Shakespeare to Keats, Wordsworth to Shelley, Milton to Emily Dickinson, and five centuries worth of poetry anthologized and introduced by Harold Bloom.
Monday, December 07, 2009
About Saga of a Crumpled Piece of Paper
'Scholars without borders' are a group of academics based in New Delhi, who aim to provide Indian books to global audiences. My first collection of poems, Saga of a Crumpled Piece of Paper (63 Poems, English, Writers Workshop, Calcutta) has finally found a distributor in them http://swblogs.blogspot.com/2009/12/rare
The book is available for Rs 200 in India & $20 elsewhere (postage included). Shipping cost to US is quite high, and I have been frustrated in my efforts of getting these here in US, for cheap (I will get some with my bags in Feb and my friend Abhinav carried a few, but books are heavy & airlines are stingy!)
Buying them is easier in India I guess, and the site where you can buy these is http://tinyurl.com/BookofPoemsVivek
Like all books published by Writers Workshop, the book is: Limited edition. Gold-embossed, hand-stitched, hand-pasted & hand-bound by Tulamiah Mohiuddin with handloom sari cloth; Printed by Abhijit Nath, in a Lake Garden Press.
ISBN Number : 9788181578518
There are four parts in the book, first one is about pursuit of beloved, second one about a lost beloved, third one has random thoughts and fourth one is about how an Indian poet in America keeps remembering his home country and his own people. The last poem, "Half-happy with India turning into a trillion dollar economy" was nominated for a Pushcart, and "Your face" was published with audio online at http://www.cortlandreview.com/
Few other Poems that appear on this blog, that appear in the book in revised versions, are: Boston Bhaaratiya, Pearl Earrings, Mumbai Burns, The Story of Ramdas, and Faded Sarees. It seems most of the romantic poems included in the book were never posted online. (Your Face @ The Cortland Review is a representative example of my love poems).
The book includes a kind and gracious introduction by my mentor, my friend, my Gurudev, Thomas Lux, and I specially thank everyone at Poetry at Tech (Ginger, Travis, all the friends I made there, and the people who fund &support the program including Bourne family and Bruce McEver) for all their help and encouragement. More info about the book is included in a post at My Himachal by Avnishji.
Half-happy with India Turning into a Trillion Dollar Economy
When half of my nation sleeps
with half-filled bellies, under the half-roofs,
with half-hopes of a mouthful tomorrow,
when half of my nation grows up with half-rights
to education and employment,with half-filled bellies, under the half-roofs,
with half-hopes of a mouthful tomorrow,
when half of my nation grows up with half-rights
with half-health produces babies, with a half-heart
chokes before the stoves that burn wood,
and cook half-water curries made with half-salt,
when half-length men walk the streets
half-naked, willing to work for half-wages,
half-grown women slip into beds at half-price,
when half-sane leaders pocket half-funds,
and divide the nation into halves that fight,
(haves and not-haves all half-fooled)
when half-castes organize into brigands,
and seek half-reservation for their half-intellect,
when half of the news is of rapes, riots, extortions,
half-nation worries about Naxalists, Maoists, terrorists,
half-resolved cases haunt the courts,
where victims of the crime wait half-lives
for half-compensations,
when half-history is distorted or concocted,
sacrifices of men like Gandhi half-known, half-respected,
when half-heritage is lying like wreckage, and half-religions
have pocketed half-faith and finished the better half,
when half-talented sportsmen cloud TV with ads,
half-naked woman talk of modernism with half-minds,
half-cultured men, hypocrites, type half-lies into their
tax returns, and half-acknowledge their sexual slights,
when half of my nation cannot even read or hear my voice,
and other half will ignore it by their own choice,
and half-close their eyes to see half-blessed dreams
of half-American lives.
Friday, December 04, 2009
(Lost in translation) Bechara dil kya kare from Movie: Khushboo with Lyrics: Gulzar
Let us look at the translation first, notes will follow later. The song can be found on youtube as well as other sources, has music by R. D. Burman and is sung by Asha Bhonsle.
What can the heart do, sears in saawan, sears in bhado,
The path isn't two seconds long, stops an instant, walks an instant,
The Yogi moves from a village to village, cures the sick,
Only my heart's fever he doesn't know, doesn't lay his hand....
For you, there are many roads, you can go whereever you wish,
For me, only your path-ways, if you take me along..
NOTES:
bechaaraa dil kyaa kare, saavan jale bhaadon jale
do pal ki raah nahin, ik pal ruke ik pal chale
gaaNv gaaNv men, ghuume re jogi, rogi change kare,
mere hi man kaa, taDap naa jaane, haath naa dhare
tere vaaste, laakhon raaste, tuu jahaaN bhi chale,
mere liye hai, teri hi raahen, tuu jo saath le
बेचारा दिल क्या करे, सावन जले भादों जले
दो पल की राह नहीं, इक पल रुके इक पल चले
गाँव गाँव में, घूमे रे जोगी, रोगी चंगे करे,
मेरे ही मन की, तड़प ना जाने, हाथ ना धरे
तेरे वास्ते, लाखों रास्ते, तू जहां भी चले,
मेरे लिए है, तेरी ही राहें, तू जो साथ ले
What can the heart do, sears in saawan, sears in bhado,
The path isn't two seconds long, stops an instant, walks an instant,
The Yogi moves from a village to village, cures the sick,
Only my heart's fever he doesn't know, doesn't lay his hand....
For you, there are many roads, you can go whereever you wish,
For me, only your path-ways, if you take me along..
NOTES:
The song includes many references that are lost in translation. "do pal ki raah" has many connotations for a Hindu as many ancient and modern verses call life as a two moment, two pal, two second long pursuit. Harivansh Rai Bachchan always said: "mitti ka tan, masti ka man, pal bhar jeevan, mera parichay" (Body of earth, Mind of mirth, Life in a moment, my biography).If you have read Tagore's songs in translation, you will recognize that some of the translations are similar to the one possible for this song.
A heart searing in monsoon means the burning, the yearning is immense. The reference to Sawaan is too common in Hindi and Indian literature and the real joy of monsoon can be appreciated by only the farmers who see the paddy flourish after the rains. Sawaan was also the month of separation between husband and wives, the month of prayers to Lord Shiva, and just saying these words (Saawan and Bhado) in Hindi bring so many associations to the mind.
A heart searing in monsoon means the burning, the yearning is immense. The reference to Sawaan is too common in Hindi and Indian literature and the real joy of monsoon can be appreciated by only the farmers who see the paddy flourish after the rains. Sawaan was also the month of separation between husband and wives, the month of prayers to Lord Shiva, and just saying these words (Saawan and Bhado) in Hindi bring so many associations to the mind.
The couplet that refers to Jogi, or Yogi is another interesting reference to times when sages or sadhus would go from village to village distributing medicine and blessings. There are many Bhakti, sufi or devotional songs that use the word Jogi in the sense of a wanderer, or lover, or God, and here too, Gulzar employs the word in a way where connotations can be diverse. Tagore always used this kind of doublespeak, as it most of the poets in rest of India.
In the last couplet, a feminist interpretation is possible: A woman says that man has access to any path he chooses, whereas female follows, and that too if the man allows. Another interpretation is perhaps more accurate though, if we think of jogi or Yogi or saint, as the person addressed, then, this couplet continues the devotional strain, where the teacher, the jogi knows every path to God, love, destination, ecstasy. The song is in female voice, but the song itself is as applicable to males as it is to females, to anyone who is in dilemma, and wants to find someone who can not only heal, not only knows the answers, but can also take you along. If love is a spiritual journey, as many Hindu and sufi believers have said time and again, then this is another spiritual, love song, where beloved is also a divinity.
In the last couplet, a feminist interpretation is possible: A woman says that man has access to any path he chooses, whereas female follows, and that too if the man allows. Another interpretation is perhaps more accurate though, if we think of jogi or Yogi or saint, as the person addressed, then, this couplet continues the devotional strain, where the teacher, the jogi knows every path to God, love, destination, ecstasy. The song is in female voice, but the song itself is as applicable to males as it is to females, to anyone who is in dilemma, and wants to find someone who can not only heal, not only knows the answers, but can also take you along. If love is a spiritual journey, as many Hindu and sufi believers have said time and again, then this is another spiritual, love song, where beloved is also a divinity.
bechaaraa dil kyaa kare, saavan jale bhaadon jale
do pal ki raah nahin, ik pal ruke ik pal chale
gaaNv gaaNv men, ghuume re jogi, rogi change kare,
mere hi man kaa, taDap naa jaane, haath naa dhare
tere vaaste, laakhon raaste, tuu jahaaN bhi chale,
mere liye hai, teri hi raahen, tuu jo saath le
बेचारा दिल क्या करे, सावन जले भादों जले
दो पल की राह नहीं, इक पल रुके इक पल चले
गाँव गाँव में, घूमे रे जोगी, रोगी चंगे करे,
मेरे ही मन की, तड़प ना जाने, हाथ ना धरे
तेरे वास्ते, लाखों रास्ते, तू जहां भी चले,
मेरे लिए है, तेरी ही राहें, तू जो साथ ले
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