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New geographies
THERE is a pertinent paradox about poetry today: while it is being written widely, it is read the least. This reviewer, who is associated with a publishing house that has concentrated mainly on poetry for the last couple of years, is sure that poetry publishing will not fall flat if, in any case, a fraction of the poets who want to get their books published show an equal concern for buying a book by a fellow poet, at least once in a while. If poets do not want to read poetry, how can they expect a common reader, who is not as much experienced in the subtleties of the medium, to go for it?
Hence, what sort of deep water Jayanta Mahapatra, the Editor has been in, in his probably desperate struggle for continuing Chandrabhaga is presumable. In a previous issue, he made it honestly and unequivocally clear, asking: "How can we go on if we don't get adequate support from our readers?" However, he and his poet-associate, Rabindra K. Swain have seen to its survival up to Number 8 in the New Series. So much said, because the fact that a publication of this type stays alive is as significant as what it brings about.
The current issue, like all the previous ones, contains original Indian English writing as well as translations from the regional languages, Bengali, Oriya, Hindi, Assamese and Malayalam. Also, there are some translations from the Nepali. Except a few, like Harekrishna Deka's short story, "Snake", translated from the Assamese by Mitra Pukhan and V. T. Usha's "Invisible Bodies: Andal, Bhakti, and the Language of Poetic Discourse", a study on how the Bhakti movement provided a genuine background for women to express themselves, all are poetry.
Worth mentioning about this volume is the equal importance the editors have given to original English writings and to translation from the regional languages; a dealing relatively unlikely in a publication of this kind. Hence, Saratchndra Thiyyam who writes in the Manipuri and D. Vinayachandran from the Malayalam do not fall behind Subash Mishra or Robin S. Ngangom who write in English.
And, though impertinent, this textual juxtaposition contextualises certain delicate problems that involve creative expression and language; mainly the interrelatedness of reality and language and as to what extent a poet can express him/her self in a language that is not his/hers own by evolution. Or, why is it that those who write in English fall short in going beyond the pronounced plane of what they write about, while those in the regional languages are able to transcend its empirical contours?
For example: in some way or other, void, emptiness, stagnation or the state of being decayed, is a recurring subject for many poets, crossing linguistic borders. But, when Sivareddy writes, in Telugu: "to rot while being alive is the worst possible state", we feel the words outdoing their customary meaning and reach otherwise inexpressible aspects of the contemporary life. And, Lakshmi Kannan, unable to improve on the metaphors, like the key, the door and unlocking, which have immense transformational possibilities, falls through predictably ordinary expressions like, "I stood outside, a stranger/ at my own threshold". This reinforces the umbilical link between poetry and the cultural, political and historical repositories of a people from where words carry its transcendental potency, which often goes tangential in a language that is not assimilated into everyday life's ingenious inner layers.
What is most welcome about this volume is its focus on the poetry from the Northeast and Nepali. Perhaps, this is the first time that a journal is throwing light onto the unexplored literary geographies of this sub-continent. And, though they sometimes appear naïve, Rajkumar Bhubonsana, Mitra Pukhan, Rajendra Bhandari Jatin Nipun all make us feel the freshness with which they see and experience a life that is little known to us.
Chandrabhaga, Number 8, 2003, editor: Jayanta Mahapatra, Rs. 125.
THACHOM POYIL RAJEEVAN
Thachom Poyil Rajeevan is the Editor of Yeti Books.
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`Worth mentioning about this volume is the equal importance the editors have given to original English writings and to translation from the regional languages.'
