BOOK REVIEW 'DEHAKATA CHINAR' BY MAHARAJ SHAH

                                                                                

 

                     BOOK REVIEW

 

DEHAKATA   CHINAR   ( KAVYA-SANGRAH )

By  Maharaj  Krishen  Shah

Price 299/= ISBN 978-81-19605-26-2

Publisher..YASHITA PUBLICATION PVT. LTD.

NEW DELHI

( Available with Rohit Pandita for 150 rupees

Call …….9596976373 10 AM to 9 PM )

 

 

Maharaj Shah is possibly the first person in  the early 1990s to have visited camps in Jammu and documented the pain and suffering of Kashmiri Pandits through his tele-film. He is a  filmmaker , Hindi poet , actor , teacher , media personality and runs of an  independent YouTube  channel . He headed ETV Rajasthan for some years and at the moment he edits   Koshur  Samachar published from New Delhi. He has been awarded by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Uttar Pradesh government for his constructive role as writer and journalist. He has already published three well received books titled, ‘ Crescent Moon’ ( short story collection ),’ Pravaah Vitasta ka’ ( biography ) and ‘Television Karyakram Nirmaan Prakriya ‘ ( jointly with Ashok Jailkhani ). After  the first group of successful Hindi writers  like  S S Toshakhani, Hari Krishen Kaul, R L Shant,  Chandrakanta ,  and many more , he is one amongst the second group of  young Hindi writers from the  Kashmir valley who earned name and fame for their contribution  . Others in this second group include Agnishekhar,  Kshama Koul, Maharaj Krishen Santoshi , Nida  Nawaz and  a few more . He hails from Mattan , the historic  town that produced men like Mahatma Parmanand ( saint poet ) and Pandit Kripa Ram Datt who sacrificed his life in the battle of Chamkaur Sahib fighing  against the  army of  Wazir Khan aided by  Mughal forces. Pandit Kripa Ram had joined the forces of Guru Gobind Singh  . He had led the delegation of 500 Kashmiri Pandits to Guru Tegh Bahadur  during the dark days of Afghan rule in the Kashmir valley.

 Edward Said, in his essay ‘Reflections on Exile,’ defined exile as ‘the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted’. The  book under review has 48 poems ( blank verse )  spread over  95 pages with an engrossing  foreword by Dr Shiben Krishen Raina  . Almost all the poems in this collection revolve around the subject of exile , pain , suffering , nostalgia and banishment . The poems carry  the same artistic restlessness and the  unending inquiry with complex questions about exile, identity, language, politics, and faith. One quality of these poems is that the poet does not allow himself to  either feel  delighted or  intrigued by the elusive promise of return. He has sidetracked the issue of so called “Honourable Return “ of exiles from Kashmir to their native place. Shah’s poems bring a feeling similar to the poems of Aria Aber ( Afghan refugee poetess who was brought up in Germany ), Choman Hardi (exiled Kurdish poetess ) ,  Nazand Begikhani ( exiled Kurdish  poetess) and Kajal Ahmed (  exiled Kurdish poetess and journalist ). Through the poems in this collection, Shah finds subtle parallels between his oppression as a member of the microscopic  minority community  and his subjugation as Kashmiri Pandit  by  a mindset that  was swayed by intolerance and hate. At the same time,  Shah’s poems  also demonstrate a strong  commitment towards   the Kashmiri culture and its preservation .

I quote excerpts from  some  poems to substantiate what I have said above .

(1)

 

“Ke  jis raah chalta huun

Nirantar chalta hi ja raha huun

Apni zameen se juda

Aasmaan se kata

Nirantar shunya se ladta

Shunya  bharta

Mausam ko akhbaaron mein

padta ja raha huun”

( from the  poem ‘Samay’ )

 

( The path that I chose for myself  ,

I  keep moving on it incessantly ,

Severed from the roots,

Cut off from the sky ,

 I  fight the emptiness perpetually,

And fill up the vacuum within .

Only through newspapers  ,

I  keep  track of the changing  seasons .)

 

(2)

“Eik daur dushmani ka tum ne nibhaaya hai,

Eik daur dosti ka mein nibhaoonga ,

Aao meri duniya ujhaadne vaalon

Duniya basaana tum ko sikhaoonga “

 

( from the poem ‘Eik geet teray naam ‘)

 

( You fulfilled the promise of  your  enmity ,

 Let me also fulfill my  friendship’s promise .

Come  all  you,

 My tormentors ,

Come ,

let me teach you

 the skills of  worldly settlement .)

 

(3)

“Kaagaz si jal rahi hai zindagi

Siyaahi sa ubhar kar aa raha huun

Nahin maloom kya hai swar aur lai

Mein to bus apni dhun me gaa rahaa huun”

( from the poem ‘Priy mitar santoshi  ke naam ‘)

 

( Life burns like a piece of paper,

Like ink , I  keep emerging on it  .

 I know nothing about  notes and  melodies ,

 I sing  my own jingles.)

 

(4)

“ mein gali ka kutta

Apni masti me choor

Faakakash,

Nidar , ladne ko utaavala ,

Kissi eik ka na hokar

Sab ka rakh kar lihaaj

Guzaara har haal me karta huun

Na gale mein patta pahanta huun

Me to duum kamar tak uthaa kar

Apni ichha se bhonkta huun

………..Par yeh pados ke ghar me

Pal rahaa hai jo naazon se

Mujhe patte ke faayde ginaata hai

Aur duum dabaa kar

 peir chaatne ka mazaa

 samjhaata hai”

 

( from the poem’ Gali ka kutta’ )

 

( I am a street dog ,

 I move with my own style and fun,

Famished,

Undaunted,

Fighting on slight provocation,

I belong to none,

Yet I care for all .

I manage in every situation,

Never  wearing  a  leash or a  collar chain,

Raising my tail to my back,

I bark at   will

Look , the dog  being brought up

With attention and luxury ,

In  this neighbour’s  house,

That dog Keeps teaching me

the utilities of

 wearing  a color chain and leash

or licking shoes with a low dangling tail.)

 

(5)

 

‘Bus  ab rehne do

 kaisi deewali

mujhe kehne do

‘ hum ne is parv ko

Kitne seham ke manaaya

Kashmir me diya jalaana

mana hai ….“

( from the poem ‘Deewali’  )

 

(Stop it now,

What is this  Deepawali ?

Let me say  ,

‘  In fright and fear,

We have   celebrated this festival,

To light a lamp

Is forbidden in Kashmir.)

 

(6)

 

“Shahar ujhadna

Dharti ka sikudna,

Hawa ka rukh badalna

Jinhe dikha nahin,

Woh  aaj

Pull tootne

 ki baat karte hain”

( from the poem ‘Atoot Rishta’ )

 

(  yesterday ,

those who couldn’t  see,

how the city was ravaged,

 how spaces were  shrunk,  

 and how people changed faces,

today, these very people

talk  about the  

Shattered bridges.)

Most of the poems in this collection speak in a direct tone that is free from metaphors or  similes while some poems included in this collection carry a deep nostalgia that is seem  in the poems of Christina Rossetti .However, the major issue surfacing in most of the poems in this compilation is exile and separation from motherland.  I would like  to mention  some more impressive poems like , Vida ( parting ),Hum To Khanabadosh Hain ,Jaane Se Pehle ,Sapne Jeevan ke ,Bheetar Tak,Tapti Bahaar, Kaun Ujhaad Gaya Sab, Beet Gaye Din Rein,Virus and Sach Bolna Paap hai . I recommend this poetic collection to all the lovers of literature in general and poetry in particular.

 

( Avtar Mota )

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.