Thursday, April 12, 2007

Victory of Hope over Experience


Hemant asked me to scribble something like a blog for the forthcoming issue ofAbhidhanantar and I was wondering what to write. Actually, my poetry has come in for adverse criticism from various quarters and usual complaints are that I have no moral consciousness(ah-hem) ,I am actually a `romantic poet' and that my modernity is superficial, and that I have no social consciousness.That I resemble a `Pandit Poet' of the Pandit era of Marathi poetry. And I am irritated.
I feel that I should not have entered Marathi poetry scenario at all. I am taken aback at the crudity and superficiality of the conception of poetry today in Marathi. Poetry,according to many of those who supposedly take poetry seriously, ought to reflect social problems realistically and directly or ought to be a documentary criticism of society. For those who do not take poetry seriously it is hardly anything more than cliched and sentimental phrasing that they learnt at school. In short, the understanding of poetry in Marathi is shallow and crude. Do you hope to be appreciated Mr. Ketkar? Do you expect a sensible critique of your works? Forget it and write good poems and hope that some time in the far away future after your death, someone sensible and intelligent will come across your works and respond to it in more mature way.
Dr. Johnson described marriage as a victory of hope over experience. Writing poetry in Marathi is no different. You hope for a sensible and intelligent reader, even if you havent come across any.

Monday, April 9, 2007

The Phoenix?

After a hectic, depressing, sickening and stressful month, my life is slowly returning to normal. At least apparently. Asthma is more or less under control, thanks to regular intake of Montelukast. Assessment work for internal test is more or less over. Supervision etc is underway and the assessment for the university exams will begin soon. I am coming out of the Slough of Despond and the Giant Despair is loosening his grip over me. May be I am catching a glimpse of faint light at the other end of the tunnel of this Dark Night of the Soul.

Love is a healing agent. The cupid kindly pays a visit to me and instead of shooting me he holds out his helping hand. Optimism? I am not famous for that. Was reading about the Generation X, the generation born in the sixties and seventies and discovered that cynicism and disillusionment is trade mark of my generation. Well thats true at least in my case.Wow, it is almost a year after I changed the job and came to Baroda. I have remained extremely busy with extra-curricular activities through out the year. But the activities are better, related to literature and culture at least.