BOOK REVIEW ...'HARUD : THE AUTUMN' BY BRIJ NATH BETAB

 

 

 https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/a-resonance-of-myriad-experiences/

Harud, The Autumn ' By Brij Nath Pandit ' Betab'

 (A collection of 64 poems in English)

 Publisher: Triple Zed Publishers, Kashmir 

 Price: Rs 250/=

 ( Available at 9796818181) 

 

 

Brij Nath Betab' is a well-known media personality from the union territory of Jammu And Kashmir. Apart from being a broadcaster, he is a poet, author, speaker, essayist and literary critic. He writes in Kashmiri, Hindi ,Urdu and English. With six published books that were well received, he has earned a place for himself in the literary circles of the country . The Well known poet, lyricist and filmmaker Gulzar has included Brij Nath Betab’s poetry in his anthology of Indian poetry titled," A Poem a Day". Published by Harper Collins, the anthology comprises 365 poems in 34 languages from across the country. Gulzar is all praise for Betab’s poetry. And grateful Betab says," By using my two poems, the anthology has given voice to all those people who are uprooted because of terrorism."  Prof Suvir Kaul from the University of Pennsylvania has also included Betab's poem in his literary collection titled, " Of Gardens And Graves: Kashmir, Poetry, Politics". Born in Akingam, Anantnag, Kashmir, Betab is a widely travelled person within and outside the country. He has been officially associated with Sahitya Akademi, J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages , National Book Trust and Bhartiya Jnanpith (Language Advisory Committee). 

Formally released on July 11, 2023, in a seminar organised by Sahitya Akademi in Srinagar, the book under review has 104 pages spread over which are 64 crisp, poignant and profoundly stimulating poems. The poet has dedicated the book to the memory of his parents. From the first poem,' I am Shiva ' to the last poem, 'Mahabharat', the poet's observation looks sharp, clear and devoid of any haziness or ambiguity of conception. In many places, he is forthright and direct in talking about terrorism and the devastation caused by the merchants of death and destruction. There are three moving poems dealing with the massacre of innocents at Wandhama, Chithi Singh Pora and Nandimarg. The poem dedicated to Shujat Bukhari is highly moving and profound in tribute. Bukhari was a well-known journalist and the founding editor of the 'Rising Kashmir ', a Srinagar-based newspaper. He fell to the bullets of the terrorists in the Kashmir valley. I quote some poems:-

(1)

 "You are off the beam. 

 if you thought

 you erased 

 what my ancestors wrote 

 beautiful and fragrant

 fascinating, prideful

 please remember

 Abhinav and Lall

 are eternal and immortal

 My pages shall never be blank......"

 ( poem " blank page" )

 

(2)

 

"All day

 we keep planning

 discuss strategies

 to safeguard neighbourhood 

 support each other

 be prepared to help

 in case........

 the night changes the scenario

 dogs start barking

 neighbour refuses 

 to open the door..." 

 ( poem ' deceit' )

 

(3)

"not in words alone

 had I amply warned the dew 

 listen o silver queen

 pay some heed

 don't befriend the morning rays 

 just in case, you mean to shine

 ill though, dew had its zeal

 and now it calls for

 some " magical heal"..."

 ( poem " destruction")

 

In its multiple forms of political banishment, voluntary expatriation, and or economically-driven emigration, exile has been a literary topic since the times of ancient Greece. The subject of exile occupies a fundamental position in several world literature’s oldest masterpieces such as Homer’s Odyssey and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. Even in Ramayana and Mahabharata , we come across the Exile of Sri Rama and the Pandavas. Exile is a major subject that surfaces in the poems of Betab. Exile undoubtedly denotes the process of separation from one’s roots, the natural and familiar environment. Through some poems appearing in the collection under review, Betab proves himself a deft handler of subjects like estrangement from the origin—disjointedness, feeling of loss, disparity, decentralization, and marginality while conveying pathos and pain of exile in a style that comes closer to the well known Kurdish poet Sherko Bekas. Sometimes I find Betab’s ‘Exile Poetry’ almost similar to the poems of well-known Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti. In Betab’s poetry, the motif of exile does not appear as a matter of choice but is imposed upon it by the political and social circumstances that he and his community encountered in 1990. This exile invites the use of motifs derived from the conflict between separation from one’s homeland and soil and the desire to return. Among these motifs are memory, nostalgia, return, and absence. This is what Betab writes in a poem included in the compilation under review:-

 (1)

 " Rays kissing

 paddy ears

 yawning tree branches 

 inviting singing birds

 dancing rivulets

 playing santoor,

 shepherds moving uphill

 school bells ringing

 skies resonating with prayers,

 a gunfire,

 the village is dead ..."

 ( poem ' my village ') 

 

Some poems in the book under review are nostalgia-laden. This nostalgia is associated with positive memories and evokes deep reflections. Through his poems that deal with nostalgia, Betab reconstructs images for the reader to resurrect the place or situations of his past triggering mixed emotions of pleasure and sadness. This mixed feeling sends overall positive vibes. And Betab's nostalgic poems hold the power to safeguard the emotional contact of the reader with his obfuscated past. In many of the poems in the book under review, Betab describes nostalgically his village, willow trees, brooks, Chinars, birds, paddy fields, seasons and festivities. He is bold and eloquent when he speaks about the dagger that the merchants of death and destruction thrust into the backbone of the shared living and the composite culture of the valley. Through this collection, Betab also presents the helplessness of people for whom all options were closed by the gun wielding terrorists . Deserted or burnt structures, silence, fear, deceit, and plunder have been used as metaphors to convey the tragedy that befell the  beautiful valley and its inhabitants .

 

 There are many other interesting and excellent poems in this compilation. Specific mention needs to be made of poems like,  Migratory Birds, My Post Office, Caricature, Wetland, Lady Of The Lake, Aroma, Market Men, Waw ( wind ) and Dark Room. Written in simple English, the poems are full of powerful imagery that connects the reader. For a reader, these crisp poems resonate on some deeper level reminding him of something he has lived through, felt, thought and experienced before. I observed that the poet has possibly used the technique of enjambment in these poems to retain a distinct flow. I recommend the book to all and conclude this review with a poem from this compilation.

".. Nights are curfewed

 the scare has engulfed the village

 windows shut

 barking dogs 

 add to terror

 ailing mother screams 

 under the quilt

 children are dumped 

 in a cellar

 wind at the door petrifies

 father loses hope

 mother identifies the knock

 a neighbour needs some medicine.."

 ( poem "pain". ) 

 

( Avtar Mota )

The review was published in the Daily Excelsior dated 6th August, 2023. See at:-

https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/a-resonance-of-myriad-experiences/

 

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