Dr. K.N. Pandita
Vanya Kusum, (2017) a collection of Hindi poems by Dr. Sangeeta and Dr.Anita Kiran, pp 110, hard bound Rs. 450, published by Utpal Publications, Delhi.
This is a collection of seventy-one Hindi poems jointly composed by two scholars, Dr. Sangeeta and Dr. Anita Kiran, the faculties at the Department of Higher Education in the State government.
A peculiarity of this collection is that, besides the text of the poems, the book carries profusion of pencil drawings mostly by the authors that reflect the mood of the poems adorned with these sketches. A reader generally tries to explore co-relation between the theme of the poem and the content of the sketches. Interpretations may not be necessarily uniform for all readers; it depends on how one approaches the deeper impressions taken from the content of the poems.
There is sufficient variety in the theme of these poems. However, the common factor is movement from outside to inside. Broadly speaking, the collection indicates deviation from the beaten path. It is not romanticism where everything looks shining; it is not dark pessimism where even pulse beat would like to stop. It is introspection introspection into the investigation of ultimate destiny.
These poems raise an important question. Aren’t we, the human beings a bundle of contradictions and conflicts in final analysis? This is precisely the question which Shakespeare presented in Hamlet: “to be or not to be”. We have moved forward more than half a millennium when Shakespeare had raised that question. This long period has seen great material and intellectual march of mankind. Yet, it seems difficult to conclude that our conflict and contradiction in personality are resolved. Perhaps, these are inalienable part of existence.
It appears that the authors somehow tend to believe that all said and done, the invisible hand of destiny or call it super nature has some mysterious role in shaping the things in the course of our lives. Many happenings are inexplicable, many contrary to the established law of nature. This makes us reiterate the question, aren’t we to gods what “flies are to wanton boys” who kill us for their sport?
The truth is that the mystery will persist and so will our inner conflict as long as the universe is what it is. Are we, therefore, condemned to eternal pain of compromising with our inscrutable identity?
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