Adarsh Ajit
Name of the book : Songs of Light
Poet : Ayaz Rasool Nazki
Publisher : Writers Workshop
Price : Rs 200/-
Ayaz Rasool Nazki’s book of English poems Songs of Light shows his talent, sensitive poetic ability to chisel words, expertise at avoiding the superfluous and above all copying nature and pasting it on paper. However, a few poems, like A Poem for My Wife, attract attention because of genuine sharpened sensibility and deep-rooted emotions. The verses like I am no bee/ I am no bird/ I am no tree/ do not nest on my branch/do not sit under my wing/ when the rain comes, sense is the virtue of the fools/and pens arte flaunted by the illiterate, I too belong to/the country without a post office, drink the elixir of eternity/that is the life of perfect ones/may you then be with the pure and mainly/ The sea is deeper than the deep….. are excellent examples of the depth of the poet.
Had Nazki not written a few verses like /I am not writing/any poem today/ I am in the/ valley of Kashmir, the whole book would have presented a universal outlook. But by such inclusions, the local colour outshines the universal one. For him the darkness has stretched its wings and devoured the richness of the beautiful past though the treasures are buried. Nazki paints a man with a lantern in his hand showing the path ahead but circumstantial gloom overpowers the man and he is seen only once thus leaving history behind:
The man with the lantern/turned the corner/lantern dangling…….
The poet blames destiny for the total wreck of Kashmir once called Paradise on Earth as he sees no one responsible for it. The conversion of positivity into negativity had been destined as per the poet:
How do I blame that gardener/flower plants were sown/and nettle has grown
The love of the tall trees, blooming buds, running waters, clouds, mountains and birds speaks of his loyalty to his own shadow to which he belongs. His maddening love for aesthetics is directly related to his creativity. Unfortunately the unknown sickles are cutting the roots of the greenery. The poet receives blows on seeing the fire all around and attacks those who are responsible for the destruction of the multi-coloured flower gardens, though some of his lines are full of knots and puns:
And then they withered/ash to ash/colour to colourless.
Nazki warns that the flying birds cannot be imprisoned within the four walls. Their feathers cannot be shackled by dictatorial sermons. The birds are a symbol of peace; they are not slaves of borders.
Birds were told/of sanctions/the no fly zone/…but birds bring peace/where no no-fly zones are required……
Stuck in the land of conflict the poet dismantles the layers of depression and dejection. Even the debris, under which the ethos of Kashmir is at present buried, has given rise to negativity and pessimism. But these things don’t dishearten the poet. Though his pace of resolve receives hiccups yet he sees the light and the flights of the birds. Nazki waits for someone to light a lamp, feed it with oil, spruce its worn-out wick, and light a match sick. He himself does not shy away from singing a song of hope from all the chambers of his heart and at the risk of everything to penetrate into the intense darkness:
I will sing light/in this dark night/and bear the consequences/of my dreams…..
Sometimes tired due to depressing scenario the warmth of the poet cools down. He wants to live in seclusion away from the mundane which is full of warp and woes, tragedies and sorrows, injustice and demoralisation. Fed up with these uneven curves of life he sighs:
One day/ I will also retire/to the hermitage.
Analyzing the warriors who leave with their armours to fight and return un-bruised and victorious, Nazki believes that silence speaks mountains and unspoken words are a true treasure. The repetitions and recurrences lose beauty and become monotonous. Everyone involved is adamant in chanting the same questions and getting the same answers that are not answers at all. The tools of fighting from all sides and the responses received are unchanged:
the same question/and yet again/the same reply/no reply/
Provoked by a certain mindset which questions the authenticity of the existence of the mountains and the ability of the mountains to be one’s friend the poet asks geologists to explore the hidden treasures and the worth of the mountains which reflect civilizational contours as against the sandy foundations which slip away beneath:
Sand is/ treacherous/slips between the fingers…..but the mountains speaks to me/of departed souls/it speaks to me/of the muse……ask any geologist/he will tell you/its worthy…but/the wisdom/of knowing/but the history/of witnessing…
Nazki compares the two mindsets, one, having big mansions with small-minded inhabitants and the others living in cells with narrow lanes but having open and large minds. This statement, though controversial, can be a point of debate in the present day Kashmir. Two decades of the Kashmir happenings reveal this sad and tragic part of history. The two areas named as uptown and downtown are evidently clear to any Kashmiri. This explanation has broader elasticity filled with historical fumes, contradictions and behavioural attitudes of different people in handling Kashmir:
huge mansions/for small men…….they had/ narrow lanes/they had/open minds
Nazki’s ideas run parallel to the flight of the birds differently at different situations. He aspires for peace but questions:
Will it so happen/that even after I am gone/the sun will rise as before….that birds will chirp for normalcy. The bird will come back/ I have been told his nest is warm/his chicks are cold/he has to cross…… The sky on fire/ is a fine reference to the Pandit community. He talks about their return. The young progeny living in different environment or across the country and the world lack the warmth of return to home. But at the same time the poet is conscious about the fuming valley where even poets have disappeared into the meadows and melted into the cloud. ‘Not to suffer like the generations have suffered’ and ‘let them have their childhood’ speak the conditions through which, Nazki, as a poet, as a human being, as an intellectual, and more importantly as a resident of Kashmir is experiencing.
Nazki’s attacks and counterattacks look almost balanced. At times he is dangerously bold and open. He believes that any idea without any evolution, movement and development is unheard even by the gods. He opines that a man cannot reach anywhere if he gets stuck to the ABC of life:
That would be blasphemous but/the nursery rhymes are for kids/and kids have nothing to do with god/only adults commit sins and need mercy
In his nice foreword the Hindi poet Maharaj Krishen Santoshi terms Songs of Light as an extension of Nazki’s poetic sensibilities.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
