Dream India Dream
by Manas Bakshi
Reviewed
by
Prof.
(Dr.) Sagar Mal Gupta
Dream India Dream | Poetry | Manas Bakshi |
Deys Illuminate Publication, INR 249
ISBN:
978-93-92780-04-2
Dr Manas Bakshi, an internationally renowned poet, figures in fifty
anthologies of poetry including World Poetry Anthology from 1999 to 2008 edited
by Dr Krishna Srinivas. He has authored fourteen books of poetry from 1988 to
2023. He is a major poet with a difference. The variety of themes on which he
writes is astonishing.. He writes reflective poems rather than descriptive
ones. His style of writing is elitist and outstanding. He talks about social
and political ills not in a realistic way but about their impact of this change
on the mind and psyche of a conscious individual.
The title of the collection ‘Dream India Dream’ has a poem of that name
(80, 81) which states that we only dream of a change but it remains only a
dream and does not turn into a reality.
We dream to change, autocratic and dynastic administration; we dream of
changing the pitiable condition of the lower strata of society but are unable
to change:
Dream India Dream
Long live Demos, Kratos or no Kratos
Thrive on the pomace, don’t, long for the cream (81)
The advocacy of democracy, the reign of the country by populace,
irrespective of their meager resources is laudable.
There are three poems ‘on confronting covid’ (48-50); they bring out the
menace of covid to all irrespective of ‘prince and pauper’, ‘young and old’ and
‘priest and atheist’. Things look different from outside but, in fact, nothing
has changed in society. Man has become a
victim of ‘medieval tyranny’ behind the mask of civilities. During covid, man
is forced to spend his time in isolation; the only salvation is a prayer to God
to’ save his life’:
Flutter wings
In the glare and glaze of cyber craze
When corona affected prince and pauper,
Priest and atheist, young and old
All in a Quarantine praying only for His grace (49)
The disease of corona has confined man indoors but has given liberty to
animals to roam around without any danger.
This highlights the good effect of corona. The poet also regrets that
there is no open space in cities even for children to play; they are replete
with a concrete jungle and they too are confined to stay indoors:
Some animals have come out in the open
Roaming dauntless ……….”
Some migratory birds flocking to a rural lake
Pure and serene as after the first monsoon rain. (49)
But the worst sufferers during corona were the migrant workers who
walked back to their homes starving and some of them reached homes but most of
them died on the way. How sad it is!
Misfortunes in life do not come alone but bring a host of other maladies with them. Corona too brought
‘Amphan’ the diabolic super cyclone in its trail. The twin disaster not only shattered the
economy of the country but also the life
of birds and animals. thus corona brought out all over devastation and
death..
The plethora of themes on which Bakshi writes poetry is astonishing..In
the poem ‘Cry’ (58), he pleads for peace against the atmosphere of religious
warfare whereas in ‘Pulwama’ (59), he advocates revenge for the barbaric terror
attack. In both the poems, he creates an
atmosphere of desolation, destruction and insurgence by using evocative images such as ‘mind’s desolate
shore’ (58), ‘dead shells of crabs and lobster’(58); ‘human vultures’(58)
,’groaning of rickety dogs’(59),’woes of footpath beggars’(59),’winds blowing
stormy waves turning turbulent’(59).
In the poem ‘Sequel’ (62), the protagonist laments that the supreme
creation of God----that is man seldom bothers to care for other species of
nature including women. Because of this predicament, he can go neither to heaven
nor to hell and is in a fix and there is nobody to help him. There are
innumerable cases of ‘rapes’ every minute in the country; there are innumerable
cases of feticide in the country. Who is
responsible? It is certainly man, the so called supreme creation of God:
Mother—like caring, this earth
Ruptured with each rape with each rape victim
Looks pallid
In your fragmented psyche---- (63)
The poet has written a number of poems on the social, political and
religious maladies affecting the country today such as religious intolerance,
mob-lynching, love-jihad, honour killing, jingoism, rapes and murders. Two
poems ‘Prognosis Irrefutable’ (66) and ‘Parasites’ (67) illustrate these ills
beautifully and poignantly. The perpetrators commit these crimes by wearing the
mask of innocence on the one hand and by using trickery on the other:
Strangers in darkness
Enter the fray and escape (66)
These criminals get scot free because there are no witnesses to expose
their crimes. Very effectively, the poet
describes this:
It is all about a known face,
The tree can’t disclose, nor can the street.
The predatory opportunists on the prowl
Apt to gag the voice of protest. (66)
It seems even nature helps these criminals to go scot free:
Before it rains----rains to wash off
The remains of the burnt-out effigy
Of rapist, plunderer and murder of democracy. (66)
Using a beautiful image of ‘fructifying tree’ for the newly won freedom
of India, the poet is worried about the people who are assailing this tree by
narrow walls of religious intolerance, honor-killing love-jihad etc. and thus they are acting as parasites to check its growth:
A fructifying tree
A nation born after huge sacrifice
Encircled by shrubs and parasites
Finds not enough space to stretch
nor can it rise---(67)
The poet completes the poem by saying that for survival, the country is
compelled to compromise with unwanted elements.
‘O Mother India’ (52) is a highly
emotional poem bringing tears to the eyes of the reader when he notices the
sorry state in which the country is embroiled in spite of 75 years of
independence. Describing the emotional state of the teenager, who has witnessed
the rape of her elder sister and suicide of her father, the poet says that she
has no tears any more in her eyes but fire.
The poet further refers to the pitiable condition of the farmers, who
are compelled to commit suicide or live under the feudal bondage throughout
their lives. The poet satirizes those human beings who propagate prosperity and
peace in India on social media falsely and have no respect for these farmers,
who are food producers of the country.
He ends the poem by invoking ‘Mother India’ to wipe her tears at the
sorry condition of the majority of people till the exploiters’ conscience is
awakened:
O mother India
Let darkness celebrate seven decades of independence
Till this holy land is awakened by winter—end sun rays:
Stirred –up human conscience. (53)
The poet is not only a singer of pessimism like Thomas Hardy but also
sings of tunes of optimism like Robert Browning for India. In the poem, ‘Taking It from Nature’ (64), he
exhorts the citizens of India not to be torn apart by barriers of caste, gender,
religion and political affiliations but to live in peace and harmony by
overcoming these barriers. He gives a highly logical reason for adopting this
dictum. He avers that the horizon in
nature is brimming with confluence of all religions. After a shocking calamity ---flood or
drought---man starts living with animals and reptiles without any grudge like
the hero in Yen Martel’s novel ‘The Life of Pi’ and he becomes God incarnate:
To survive catastrophic agony
Hand in hand, man and woman
Hindu, Muslim, Jain Sikh, Christian
Forsake religious barriers
Learn to work in Unison
Live in PEACE AND HARMONY. (65)
‘The Soul of India Survives’ is a powerful poem redolent with optimism
and philosophical underpinnings. The
poet asserts that the soul of India does not reside in age old myths or vortex
of anarchism and terrorism but in the inherent truths and values; in the aura
of faith in divine life (82); in ‘Kazi Nazrul’s fiery rebellion poem’; in the
noble creation of Tagore or love for all His beloved creations, And brotherhood
of mankind pronouncing Vasudhaivakutumbkam:
The World is my family:
Soul of India survives in the great souls
Of Krishna, Mohammad, Buddha, Nanak, Jesus
Forget not their lessons
The future is ours, only ours.(84)
Compare this exhortation with another one in the poem ‘Poetry of Untold
Pain ‘ (85)where he pleads for a lesson of life ,to live with all, animate and
inanimate.
What lofty and great ideas!
Dr Bakshi. Kudos for your thoughts!
Love is an essential part of life. Life is dull and insipid without
intense relationship between man and woman .Right from the beginning, poets of
all countries and age have written about love.
The spirit of love allows Wordsworth to connect with other people as
well’ to see into the life of things’.
For Shelley, love is a cosmic force .Metaphysical poetry is highly
intellectualized ‘paradoxical and complicated in thought. Manas Bakshi has
three love poems in the collection. Two
of them have the shadow of metaphysical poetry.
These poems are ‘Reciprocal’ (57), ‘You Say So’ (14) and ‘Who Is She’
(60). ‘Reciprocal’ is a dialogue between and woman. Man says to woman that she
is an inseparable part of his life as sunshine to the universe, ‘moonbeam to
the night’ and ‘flow of water to the sea’. Woman talks of bonding of two minds
in sublime love and man woman relationship is complementary to each other.
In the poem ‘You Say So’, the protagonist asserts that love is not the
satisfaction of carnal desires but love is much more than this. Love in real life is connected with the union of mind, body and
soul. Compare this poem of Bakshi’s with
Donne’s poems ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’ and ‘Canonization’. In the
‘Canonization’, he fuses sexual or romantic love with religious motifs and
imagery. Love becomes a sort of religion
in itself---a sanctified thing. One can see a similarity between ‘sanctified’
(Donne) and ‘salvation fructifies’ (Bakshi).
Bakshi’s emotion exhibits a balanced measurement of love like A. H.
Baqui’s love haiku:
Love is in fact some
rosy blooms, thorny bowers
and young metaphors.
In the poem, ‘Who Is She’, the protagonist loves an imaginary woman; an
enigmatic woman:
She is nobody’s ladylove
Nobody’s her bed partner
Perceptible as both—real and psychic;
She is a love story—Unsaid
But felt in the groan of bruised
veins! (60)
The perceptible woman is both real and psychic. Sometimes she appears real; sometimes
imaginary. These feelings are reflected
in Donne’s poem ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’. Donne likens the relationship between him and
his wife to a religious or spiritual bond between two souls: couples who are
bonded physically but don’t have this deeper spiritual connection.
There are several lines in the poems of this collection which are
satiric and ironic in tone. Take one poem ‘Amorously? Never’ (71) , in
which a snake charmer kisses a snake not out of love but to extract
venom from his sac to sell it at a great price.
This is an effective satire on the snake charmer’s behavior as uttered
by the cobra:
You kiss me once in a fortnight—
No, not amorously
But for the venom in my sac
Priced as much
As blue you extract. (71)
According to Aristotle, poetry is more philosophical than history
because to unfold a convincing plot, the poet must grasp and represent the
internal logic, the necessity of the outcome of these events. In Sidney’s view
poetry is superior to philosophy and history because poetry presents compelling
examples of not what has been or will be but what should be. Philosophy
articulates abstract description of an ethical principle.
Irrespective of what the above critics say, my main thinking is that
poetry is wedded to philosophy. Most of the great poetry has philosophical
underpinnings. A poet expresses his opinion and refers to humanitarian values.
There are a number of lines in the poems of this collection which contain
philosophical ideas and concepts about life.
In the poem, ‘At the Juncture’ (79), the poet asserts that the beginning
of something is certain but the end is uncertain. If one does not obey the
rules of life, one should be prepared to face disastrous moments:
Certain was the beginning
Uncertain is the end
Inscribed on a leaf of life
Floating alongside
Rules of the earthly game
Not obeyed
One has to pay for
The disastrous moments.(79)
In the poem ‘Satyameva Jayate’ (68), the poet upholds that it is truth
in life that ultimately wins. Power-wielders grab more than they need in life
thorough trickery.
But it is truth that would ultimately prevail and expose the trickery of
the power-wielders.:
Latent is the power-wielder’s trick
To grab in guileful ways
More than they need
Truth is the other name of civilization
Unmasking the shameless inhuman face! (69)
Compare the extracts from the above poem with the Bangladeshi poet A. H.
Baqui:
Literature tells lies
that gives at times great truths
better than real truths.
This haiku is a good reply to Plato who said poets are liars.
An image is a word-picture that enables a reader of poetry to relive the
sensational and emotional experience of the poet. Every poet uses imagery to
convey his unique experience of life, society, country, and the world. Imagery
allows the reader to clearly see, touch, taste, smell and hear what is
happening and in some cases even empathize with the poet or his subject.
Manas Bakshi uses all kinds of imagery that is visual, auditory,
tactile, olfactory and gustatory very effectively and relevantly. He employs
similes, metaphors and symbols as devices to create images. Sometimes he uses a
fusion of two kinds of images to the delight of the reader.
Describing the rift between a couple, the poet uses very effectively a
fusion of audible (melodious song) and gustatory (venomous) in the poem ‘Hidden
Threat’ (51).
Unaware
When that
Melodious song
Faltering midway
Imbibed
An unknown
But venomous
Snakes hissing! (51)
In the poem ‘O Mother India’ (52-53), the poet uses very effectively the
metaphor of panther-like nocturnal animals for political goons to create a
visual imagery.
In the poem ‘Pulwama’ the poet uses a fusion visual and tactical image
very effectively.
Last night’s cold wave
Couldn’t douse
Tonight, winds blowing stormy
Waves turning turbulent
Soil for cracking in protest
Against
Barbaric terror attack in Pulwama,
Demand revenge. (59)
The collection is replete with examples but a sample has been given
above.
To conclude we can say that Manas Bakshi is a poet with a difference. He
has created a niche for himself in the modern poets writing in English. He has
an uncanny knack to create extraordinary poetry by choosing ordinary events.
His poetry is a Disney land of images which places him at par with metaphysical
poets of the 17th century. His poetry is an ocean of gems and to get
the meaning, one has to make several dips.
The more the reader dives, the more meaning he gets. I enjoyed reading
the poems and I am sure you will too if you decide to have that enjoyment.
I end the present renewal with a quotation from W.H. Hudson:
“A great book is born of the brain and heart of its author; he has put
himself into its pages;…; for what we call genius is only another name for
freshness and originality of nature, with its resulting freshness and
originality of outlook upon the world, of insight and thought. The mark of a
really great book is that it has something fresh and original to say, and that
it says this in a fresh and independent way (6, 7).
Works Cited
Bakshi, Manas. Dream India Dream. Kolkata:
Dey’s Illuminate Publication, 2022.
Hudson, W.H. An Introduction to the Study of
English Literature. Jaipur; Indian Publishing House, 2010.