Lalit Gupta
Name of Book ‘Oh Hoon Abla Naien’
Poetess Usha Kiran ‘Kiran’
Publisher Nishesh Prakashan,
Gandhi Nagar Jammu
Price Rs 250/-
On who is regularly publishing her poetry, the Jammu based Usha Kiran ‘Kiran’ is a well known name in modern Dogri literary circles. For the member of exclusive tribe of the small number of female creative poets in Dogra society, poetry is not only a medium of expression of inner flow of thoughts and ideas but also as a mission to comment upon social ills and evils that she encounters day in and day out.
‘Oh Hoon Abla Naien, is her latest and sixth collection of poems. Earlier works include ‘Ghar Aa Mitra’, ‘Hikhiein Di Bulbul’, ‘Sanjhaan Intzaarein Diyaan’, Tere Aouney Sha Pehlein’ and ‘Patjhar’Da Ant’.
Most of her expressions lit with poetic insight and idiom are like mirrors in which various forms of social injustices, inequalities and human tendencies for self-destruction that inform contemporary reality of our times, are reflected with all their starkness, forcing the reader to ponder and think of re-ordering the system.
With the result, Usha Kiran’s poems highlight multiple issues that range from the painful anguish to the strength of women, concern for changing values, degradation of environment et al. The gender based issues emerge as the leitmotif of her poems. While yearning for the times when our daughters are safe from such predatory behavior, when our young ladies and women, both young and old, have the right to decide their futures, she also gives a clarion call to change the stereotypical positioning of women as she is no more meek and submissive and would no more put up with oppression and exploitation: The title of her latest poetry collection, ‘Oh Hoon Abla Naien, poignantly sums up her resolve.
Name of Book ‘Unbidde Moti’
Poet Rattan Bhardwaj
Publisher Dogri Sahitya Sabha,
Akhnoor.
Price Rs 250/-
Song writers have a special place amongst the poets in all societies as songs express widely-shared values or experiences and emotions that help define a group’s identity and solidarity. How certain songs become “anthems” for particular generations was best seen in case of Ram Prasad Bismal’s ‘Sarfaroshi Ki Tammana Aaj Hammre Dil Mein Hai’, which moved generations to fight for freedom of mother land.
Apart from the phenomenal wealth of folk songs, modern Dogri literature has also been enriched by poets who have showed special facility for penning down songs that have become popular with masses. Some of such well known Dogri poets and song writers are Yash Sharma, Ved Pal Deep, Padma Sachdev, N D Jamwal, Bishan Singh Dardi, Surinder Sagar, Jatinder Udhampuri and others.
Rattan Bhardwaj first anthology of Dogri songs ‘Unbidde Moti’, is a welcome addition in corpus of Dogri poetry. The book contains one hundred eleven songs that revolve around ‘vira’ and ‘shringara’ rasa, patriotism, seasons and many other subjects that had caught fancy of the poet.
Rattan Bhardwaj’s preference to sing poetry instead of plain recitation has left a mark on the structure of his stanzas. He arranges his meters in such a way that imbues his poetry with a special musical quality.
Born in Lalechak, Bishnah, he was inclined to singing and music from childhood only. With the result he was a regular member of village ‘bhajan mandali’, lead singer in school prayer team and a regular actor in village Ram Lila.
Impressed by the poetry of maverick poet Durga Dass of Samba, who would sing and sell his poetry booklets at bus stations, in villages and towns of Jammu district, Rattan Bhardwaj also started writing poetry. His poetic journey got a fillip when as a young man he came to Akhnoor-where he was to settle down for good- as his poetry flourished in the literary climate of Akhnoor, the muffasil centre of Dogri literature and best known for master poet of the yore like Ram Dhan and ‘poet maudit’ Padam Dev Singh Nirdosh.
With reading of his first poem in 1993, the literary journey of Ram Rattan was to become a continuous and life long affair as a poet. Today he has penned down more than 400 hundred songs, bhajans, poems, gazals, ‘chamukhe’ etc. many of these have been read by him in poetic symposia.
Name of Book ‘Yatra Chakra’
Poet Shiv Nirmohi
Publisher Shivalik Prakashan, Painthal, Katra. Akhnoor. Price Rs 50/-
Duggar’s well known maverick writer Shiv Nirmohi by writing more than 35 books on various aspects of Duggar has done a yeoman service in making available for the students, scholars and laypersons a corpus of ready references about Dogra communities’ history and culture.
It is observed that writers after experiencing a sense of fulfillment about their own work and contributions in their chosen fields often venture to write autobiographies which are ostensibly a frank and truthful account of their life.
‘Yatra Chakra’, the latest book by Shiv Nirmohi and marks the second book in series of his autobiographical trilogy. The first being the ‘Jeevan Chakra’, which was released last year.
‘Yatra Chakra’, is an exclusive account of various journeys that the author undertook to various parts of the country to satisfy his itchy feet as well as to fulfill his insatiable quest to a have first hand experience about similarities and differences in life rhythms in rural and urban India through tangible and intangible cultural expressions. The book thus a travelogue is again one of the popular literary genres.
What distinguishes ‘Yatra Chakra’ is that it often intersects with essay writing, where each trip becomes the occasion for extended observations on a nation and people. Although it is difficult to absorb a sense of place with out settling into a locality for an extended period, Shiv Nirmohi manages to give a feel of the place through his selective observations laced with a travel writer’s sensibility. In his descriptions travel and nature writing merges. Since most of his writings revolve around history and sociology there is an obvious intersection of these disciplines.
The thirty ‘yatra’ accounts included in the book almost cover the entire length and breadth of the country and Nepal, include destinations like South India, Utakala, Ganga Sagar, Kathmandu, Mumbai, Nasik, Ahmadabad, Pavagarh, Somnath, Kuchh, Mount Abu, Haldi Ghati, Palitana, Brij Mandal, Pushkar, Chittorgarh, Jaipur, Kashi, Magadha, Pryagraj, Ayodhaya, Ujjain, Uttranchal, Missouri, Kumaon, Shimla, Mani Mahesh, Kullu-Manali, Amarnath and Pongang.
For a layman Shiv Nirmohi’s detailed description- of rail journeys, stations en route, meetings and information gathered and shared from co-passengers, local landmarks-almost succeeds in creating a visual narrative. Notwithstanding the occasional subjective comments by the author about the surroundings, his descriptions can act as handy reference for those have never been or who intend to travel to places mentioned in the book.
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