Tag: Jayant Mahapatra

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Review

Mapping the Mind

Book Review by Navleen Multani

Title: Mapping the Mind, Minding the Map

Editors: Basudhara Roy and Jaydeep Sarangi

Publisher: Sahitya Akademi

Mapping the Mind, Minding the Map edited by Basudhara Roy and Jaydeep Sarangi anthologises twenty contemporary poets. This book unveils a large canvas of poems penned by poets hailing from diverse locations and cultures, evoking thoughts on existential dilemmas of the contemporary world. The 391 pages of the anthology comprise poems by multiple poets: Adil Jussawalla, Arundhati Subramaniam, Ashwani Kumar, Bashabi Fraser, Bibhu Padhi, Jayant Mahapatra, K. Satchidanandan, K.Srilata, Keki N.Daruwalla, Lakshmi Kannan, Mamang Dai, Nabina Das, Robin S. Ngangom, Sanjukta Dasgupta, Tabish Khair, Usha Akella, Yogesh Patel and more

Every poem entails evocative images, visual and syntactic cues that put forth poetics of everyday life. Traversing maps and minds, this engaging collection of two hundred poems unravels different places and persons. The anthology is a poetic narrative and holistic exploration of locating oneself through language. As the book brings together experiences and knowledge of space, it pushes readers to rethink how landscape shape identity.

Memories encompassing reflections on landscapes, ancient history, myth, family, home, towns, cities, countries, music, seasons, elements of nature, disasters, wants, love and wounds of Homo Sapiens, women, mother as well as immigrants abounds the creation of every poet. Memories of special days, seasons, cities and cultures culminate in the compositions of Mamang Dai. Nabina Das’ creations talk about death and else. Sanjukta Dasgupta juxtaposes past and present to celebrate free spirit of Kali, Alakshmi and Millenial Sita.

This compilation, published by Sahitya Akademi, is an itinerary for dreamers and travellers alike. Ten poems by each poet weave a tapestry of emotions, experiences, moments and memories that define persons, places, practices and cultures. Every word, image and syntactical turn in these poems moves readers to discover poet’s emotional state. Events and myriad experiences, memorable and unpleasant, form an intricate reflection on life. The poems are also revelations about the contemporary world. The mosaic of memories present a ceaseless stream of significant moments that mould the minds and the maps. The compositions heighten consciousness, enrich the understanding of readers and deepen their humanity. The poems make the readers encounter hardships, moments of despair, compassion, empathy and resilience to extract invaluable insights. Reflections on difficult and dark times infuse renewed strength to deal with adversity.

Every poet uses different linguistic register to delve into solitude, decay, death and a new force that nurtures mind as well as takes to greater understanding about existence. “When Landscape Becomes Woman” by Arundhati Subramaniam reveals “That a chink in a wall is all you need to tumble into a parallel universe”. Whether it is Bashabi Fraser’s “Mothers All” claiming, “They are the bravest soldiers-marching on”, or Adil Jussawalla’s “Refuge” telling “Mother tells her rosary from six to seven, her one hour refuge,” each poet, irrespective of gender, envisions an independent and autonomous identity. “What’s wrong with us Kali women?”, “Maryada[1] and modern Draupadi”, “Woman in a Landscape” by Adil Jussawalla, “History”, “Draupadi”, “Partition Ghazal”, “The Tribal Goddess” and “Patna to Nalanda-1979” by Keki N.Daruwalla transport readers from past to present and illuminate multi-facets of life. “Somewhere like a shadow in the night like a black mineral in the earth, /Somewhere in a mirror where you can see your dreams a poem awaits deftly angled light,” writes Keki Daruwalla. Ashwani Kumar’s poems dwell on Alzheimer’s, lies emerging from deception, town vanished in the reservoir of waters and the strange ways of the world.

The deftly crafted poems blend imagery, thoughts and experiences. Many of the poems are centred on home, landscape and seasons. Titles of a few poems like “Mitti[2]’, “Bhakti[3]”, “Haldi[4]”, “Mahaprajapati[5]”, “O Boisakh[6]” and “Lopamudra[7]” have not been provided with a translation. Supplementing these titles are poems like “Earthrise”, “Missives of Music”, “The Same Moon from Edinburgh to Calcutta: A Refracted Lens”, “Sunrise at Puri-on-Sea”, “The River” and “Earth Day”.

The poems ranging from prose to typographic and linguistic variations, Mapping the Mind, Minding the Map speaks to larger issues of urban Indian identity, acceptance, adaptation and cultural estrangement. These map the poetics of womanhood, the body, institution, family and love. By doing so, the anthology erases traditional boundaries to develop a new poetic form. The poems are ensembles of words that unite to present verbal, vocal and visual sphere of communication.

This three-dimensional language becomes carrier of aesthetic message of the poet. The reduction of language to a word or fragments in many of the poems is similar to the reduction of landscape to map elements selectively and generally. This gives a distinct charm to the anthology. The poems explode with bird-names, names of cities and countries making these compositions a dialectical map. Very aptly the poems, as Howard McCord contends, can be comprehended as “a map on which articulation of consciousness can be charted, and the serial flow we associate with prose can be gathered into clusters and islands of words which reveal the individual’s voice and vision, even his philosophical stance, more accurately than a line broken by a general rule imposed.” Poems in Mapping the Mind, Minding the Map are maps that offer ways to know simplified, generalised and selective views on the world and human existence.

[1] Dignity

[2] Mud

[3] Devotion

[4] Turmeric

[5] The woman who raised Buddha

[6] The second month in the Bengali calendar which coincides with April-May

[7] A philosopher who lived in the Rigvedic age

Dr Navleen Multani is Associate Professor, Head, School of Languages, and Director, Public Relations at Jagat Guru Nanak Dev Punjab State Open University, Patiala (India). She is Area Editor with Oxford Online Bibliographies: Literary and Critical Theory.

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Editorial

What do they Whisper?

No, they whisper. You own nothing.
You were a visitor, time after time
climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.
We never belonged to you.
You never found us.
It was always the other way round.

‘Moment’ by Margaret Atwood

With an unmanned mission reaching the moon — that moon that was chipped off the Earth’s surface when Theia bashed into the newly evolving planet — many feel mankind is en route to finding alternate biomes and perhaps, a solution to its housing needs. Will we also call moon our ‘Homeland’ and plant flags on it as we do on Earth?  Does the Earth — or the moon — really belong to our species. Do we have proprietary rights on these because of lines drawn by powerbrokers who say that the land belongs to them?

These are questions Margaret Atwood addresses in her writings which often fall into a genre called cli-fi. This is gaining in popularity as climate has become uncertain now with changes that are wringing fear in our hearts. Not all fear it. Some refuse to acknowledge it. While this is not a phenomenon that is fully understood by all of us, it’s impact is being experienced by majority of the world — harsh stormy weather, typhoons, warmer temperatures which scorch life and rising water levels that will eventually swallow lands that some regard as their homeland. Despite all these prognostications, wars continue to pollute the air as much as do human practices, including conflicts using weapons. Did ‘climbing a hill’ and ‘planting the flag’ as Atwood suggests, ever give us the rights over land, nature or climate? Do we have a right to pollute it with our lifestyle, trade or wars — all three being human constructs?

In a recent essay,   Tom Engelhardt, a writer and an editor, contended, “Vladimir Putin’s greatest crime wasn’t simply against the Ukrainians, but against humanity. It was another way to ensure that the global war of terror would grow fiercer and that the Lahainas of the future would burn more intensely.” And that is true of any war… Chemical and biological weapons impacted the environment in Europe and parts of Afghanistan. Atom bombs polluted not only the cities they were dropped in, but they also wreaked such havoc so that the second generation’s well-being continues impacted by events that took place more than seven decades ago. Yet another nuclear war would destroy the Earth, our planet that is already reeling under the impact of human-induced climate change. Flooding, forest fires and global warming are just the first indications that tell us not only do we need to adapt to living in changed times but also, we need to change our lifestyles, perhaps even turn pacifist to survive in a world evolving into an altered one.

This month some of our content showcase how to survive despite changes in norms. Suggesting how to retain our flora in a warming world is a book, Roses in the Fire of Spring: Better Roses for a Warming World and Other Garden Adventures, by M.S. Viraraghavanand Girija Viraraghavan, the grandson-in-law and granddaughter of the second President of India, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975). They have been in conversation with Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri to explain how they have adapted plants to create hybrids that survive changing climes. Would it be wishful to think that we can find solutions for our own survival as was done for the flora?

Critiquing the darker trends in our species which leads to disasters is a book by an eminent Singaporean writer, Isa Kamari, called Maladies of the Soul. He too looks for panacea in a world where the basic needs of humans have been satiated and they have moved on towards overindulgence that can lead to redundancy. In a conversation, he tells us how he hopes his writings can help towards making a more hopeful future.

This hope is echoed in the palliative poems of Sanket Mhatre from his book, A City full of Sirens, excerpted and reviewed by Basudhara Roy. Bhaskar Parichha’s review of Samragngi Roy’s The Wizard of Festival Lighting: The Incredible Story of Srid, is a tribute also from a granddaughter to her grandfather celebrating human achievements. Somdatta Mandal’s discussion of fiction based on history, Begum Hazrat Mahal: Warrior Queen of Awadh by Malathi Ramachandran not only reflects the tenacity of a woman’s courage but also explores the historicity of the events. Exploring bits of history and the past with a soupcon of humour is our book excerpt from Syed Mujtaba Ali’s Tales of a Voyager (Joley Dangay[1]), translated from Bengali by Nazes Afroz. Though the narrative of the translation is set about ninety years ago, a little after the times of Hazrat Mahal (1820 –1879), the excerpt is an brilliant introduction to the persona of Tagore’s student, Syed Mujtaba Ali (1904-1974), by a translator who describes him almost with the maestro’s unique style. Perhaps, Afroz’s writing bears these traces as he had earlier translated a legendary work by the same writer, In a Land Far from Home: A Bengali in Afghanistan. Afroz starts with a startling question: “What will you call someone who puts down his profession as ‘quitting job regularly’ while applying for his passport?”

Other than a semi-humorous take on Mujtaba Ali, we have Rhys Hughes writing poetry in a funny vein and Santosh Bakaya giving us verses that makes us laugh. Michael Burch brings in strands of climate change with his poems as Jared Carter weaves in nature as we know it. George Freek reflects on autumn. We have more poetry by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, Pramod Rastogi, Peter Devonald, Afshan Aqil, Hela Tekali and many more, adding to the variety of colours that enhance the vivacity of conversations that run through the journal. Adding more vibrancy to this assortment, we have fiction by Paul Mirabile, Saranyan BV and Prakriti Bandhan.

In non-fiction, we have Devraj Singh Kalsi’s funny retelling of his adventures with a barber while Hughes‘ essay on the hugely popular Tintin makes us smile. The patriarchal past is reflected in an essay by G Venkatesh, whereas Suzanne Kamata from Japan talks of women attempting to move out of invisibility. Meredith Stephens and Candice Louisa Daquin both carry on the conversation on climate change. Stephens explores the impact of Californian forest fires with photographs and first-hand narrative. Vela Noble draws solace and strength from nature in Kangaroo Island and shares a beautiful painting with us. Madhulika Vajjhala and Saumya Dwivedi discuss concepts of home.

Two touching tributes along with a poem to recently deceased poet, Jayanta Mahapatra, add to the richness of our oeuvre. Dikshya Samantrai, a researcher on the poet, has bid a touching adieu to him stating, “his legacy will continue to inspire and resonate and Jayanta Mahapatra’s name will forever remain etched in the annals of literature, a testament to the enduring power of the poet’s voice.”

Our translations this time reflect a diverse collection of mainly poetry with one short story by Telugu writer, Ammina Srinivasaraju, translated by Johny Takkedasila. Professor Fakrul Alam has introduced us to an upcoming voice in Bengali poetry, Quazi Johirul Islam. Ihlwha Choi has translated his own poetry from Korean and brought to us a fragment of his own culture. Fazal Baloch has familiarised us with a Balochi ballad based on a love story that is well known in his region, Kiyya and Sadu. Our Tagore translation has attempted to bring to you the poet’s description of early autumn or Sharat in Bengal, a season that starts in September. Sohana Manzoor has painted the scene depicted by Tagore for all of us to visualise. Huge thanks to her for her wonderful artwork, which invariably livens our journal.

Profound thanks to the whole team at Borderless for their support and especially to Hughes and Parichha for helping us source wonderful writings… some of which have not been mentioned here. Pause by our content’s page to savour all of it. And we remain forever beholden to our wonderful contributors without who the journal would not exist and our loyal readers who make our existence relevant. Thank you all.

Wish you all a wonderful month.

Mitali Chakravarty

borderlessjournal.com

[1] Translated literally, it means Water & Land

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Tribute

Jayanta Mahapatra: A Poetic Luminary

By Dikshya Samantrai

Jayant Mahapatra (1928-2023), Courtesy: Creative Common

While we celebrate the life and works of Jayanta Mahapatra, we are reminded that his poetry transcends time and place. It invites us to contemplate our own existence, our relationships, and our place in the world. Through his words, he has left an indelible mark on the world of literature, demonstrating that poetry has the power to illuminate the soul and bridge the gaps that separate us.

In the realm of Indian English poetry, few names shimmer as brightly as Jayanta Mahapatra’s. With his pen as his brush and words as his palette, Mahapatra has painted a rich tapestry of emotions, existential contemplations, and cultural explorations across his entire oeuvre. His poetic journey is a testament to the transformative power of words, a journey that has touched the hearts and minds of readers across the globe. Born in Cuttack, Odisha, in 1928, Jayanta Mahapatra emerged as a prominent figure in Indian English poetry during the latter half of the 20th century. His literary contributions are marked by an intricate interplay between his Odia heritage and a universal sensibility, transcending geographical and linguistic boundaries. His poetry resonates with the human soul, delving into the complexities of existence and the nuances of human emotions.

Mahapatra’s poetry is characterised by its profound introspection. He peers into the innermost recesses of the human psyche, unearthing the facets of identity, memory, love, and loss. His verses serve as mirrors, reflecting not only his own experiences but also inviting readers to confront their own inner landscapes. This journey of self-discovery is a central theme in much of his work. A Rain of Rites(1976), marked his debut in the world of poetry. In this collection, Mahapatra’s poetic voice emerges with striking clarity. He grapples with the isolation of the individual in a complex world, where traditions and rituals rain down upon us like a deluge. His poems often evoke a sense of longing and the search for self-identity, themes that resonate with many who grapple with the modern human condition. Some of his most celebrated poems like “Five Indian Songs”, “Samsara”, “The Whorehouse in a Calcutta Street”, “Hunger”, and “Dawn at Puri” are featured in this collection.

Mahapatra’s deep connection to his homeland, Odisha, infuses his poetry with a unique sense of place and culture. His verses are filled with vivid depictions of Odisha’s landscapes, its people, and its age-old traditions. The collections Shadow Space (1997), Life Signs (1983) and Waiting (1979) stand as testaments to this connection. Through his words, he transports readers to the shores of Puri, the temples of Konark, and the chaotic streets of Cuttack in poems at the same time intertwining them with stark social evils such as rape, poverty, widowhood and casteism. Mahapatra often juxtaposes moments of exquisite beauty with stark desolation in his poems. This interplay between the beautiful and the unsettling creates a sense of dissonance that challenges conventional notions of aesthetics and forces readers to grapple with the coexistence of contrasting elements in life.

In “Relationship” (1980), the book that fetched him the Sahitya Akademi Award, Mahapatra delves into the intricate web of human connections of his personal life. Briefly, “Relationship” is a single poem that deals with the diverse relationships the poet shares with the Konark temple, Kalinga war, friends, parents, anxieties, scruples, suffering, and glory and decay of Odisha. In his words, the poem “was a romance with my own land and with my innermost self”. He explores the complexities of relationships, both personal and societal, with a keen and compassionate eye. Many of his poems resonate with readers on a universal level, as they ponder the nature of love, the fragility of bonds, and the ever-shifting dynamics of human interaction.

Mahapatra’s poetry often treads the fine line between the spiritual and the worldly. In Temple (1987), he dives deep into the realm of faith and spirituality. His verses serve as a bridge between the sacred and the profane, inviting readers to reflect on the profound interplay between the material and the divine. These poems are an exploration of the human quest for transcendence, a theme that has been a consistent thread in his work. In his collections such as Hesitant Light (2016), Land (2013), Random Descent (2005) The False Start (2001), Mahapatra continued to delve into existential questions with unwavering honesty. A number of his poems serve as a mirror to the complexities of life, urging readers to confront the transient nature of existence, the ever-elusive pursuit of meaning, and the relentless passage of time. Throughout his career, Jayanta Mahapatra has exhibited a strong sense of social consciousness. He uses his poetry as a medium to address issues of poverty, inequality, and human suffering. His empathetic voice bears witness to the world’s injustices, serving as a reminder of the poet’s responsibility to shed light on society’s darker corners. His poetry challenges us to confront uncomfortable truths and advocate for change through the power of words in poems such as “Crossing the River”, “Village Mythology”, “Progress”, “Bazaar Scene”, “These Women”, “Blind Singer in a Train”, “Hunger” and many others.

Jayanta Mahapatra’s literary journey has been paved with accolades and awards that reflect his enduring impact on literature. He was honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1981, the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1987, and the Padma Shri, one of India’s highest civilian honours, in 2009. These accolades acknowledge not only his literary prowess but also his ability to touch the hearts of readers with his profound insights and evocative verses.

Jayanta Mahapatra’s legacy is not confined to his words on paper; it lives on in the hearts and minds of those who have been touched by his verses. His poetry is a timeless gift to humanity, a profound reflection on the human experience, and an enduring testament to the power of the written word. It becomes a powerful catalyst for introspection and reflection. A deeper understanding of both the self and the world challenges readers to confront uncomfortable truths, inviting them to embark on a journey of self-discovery and intellectual engagement. His work not only unsettles but also deeply enriches and provokes us to think. We are reminded that his legacy will continue to inspire and resonate and Jayanta Mahapatra’s name will forever remain etched in the annals of literature, a testament to the enduring power of the poet’s voice.

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Dikshya Samantarai is a PhD Research Scholar from the Department of English, School of Humanities, IGNOU. Working on the representation of body politics in Jayanta Mahapatra’s poetry, her research contributes to the ambit of critical discourses in Indian English.

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Click here to access Monalisa No Longer Smiles on Kindle Amazon International