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Bir goes on in the same vein and then takes a spiritual turn. He
finds certain people, though extremely rare, like the celestial
hymns of Guru Nanak, and yet others with equipoise in ecstatic
bliss of Guru Arjan’s Sukhmani. In a poem on egotism
the poet comes back to the mundane where man is possessed by
pride, lust, rage and avarice. He covets controlling all the
physical and spiritual sources of the universe. The poet avers, "Meri
locha hai/ Mai brihmand da kendar bindu bana/... Dunia da har
jeev-jantu/ Meri soch nu nat-mastac howe/ Ved, Simratian, Puran,
Bible, Koran/ Granth, Mahakaav har darshan/ Mere aham ton shuru
hon..."(I yearn to be the nucleus of the universe.... I
avidly desire that everything alive should bow before me. The
Vedas, the Simratis, the Purans, the Bible,
the Koran, the Granth, all epics and all schools
of thought should begin from me.)
The poet gives an
interesting idea of history in the poem "Itihaas"
(history) where he distinguishes history from the life stories
of nawabs, kings and emperors. The poet states, "Itihaas
manukhi peerh/ Manukhi dawand/ Manukhi sangarsh/ Parain ton
khamban tak/ Hathan ton rimot tak/... Hal ton tractor tak/....
Dive ton dudia balban tak/ kishti ton pandubbian tak/... Muuk
ton bolan tak/ Hi itihaas hai." (History is human
suffering, human conflict and human struggle. History is human
endeavour to take flight on wings. History is the movement from
the hand to the remote-control gadget, from the ploughshare to
tractor, from twig lamp to neon light, from raft to submarine
and from muteness to modulating languages).
From the travail
of history, the poet really takes to wings. Now he meditates
over the predicament of an airhostess who comes so close to you
on the plane and becomes a complete stranger outside. This
situation-specific paradox unfolds another dimension of life.
The poet says: "Airhostess/ hasun hasun kardi/ Istakbal
kardi hai/ usde chehre to gulab de full khirhde han/ Te hoth
nire gulab dian patian/ Kadi biwi di bhain ban khana khuandi hai/
Te kadi bandi hai saki/ Gilas khali nahi hon dindi/... Ohio air
hostess/ Je kade kade waiting hall jan/ Airport te mil jawe/ Tan
ajnabian wang/ kalon di lang jandi hai." (The smiling
airhostess greets you at the portal of the plane. Her face
blooms like a rose and her lips are rose petals. She offers food
like a favourite sister-in-law or plays the tireless
wine-waiter. But if she happens to meet you in the waiting hall
or on the airport premises, she passes you by like a stranger).
The image of the
airhostess transports the poet to a nostalgic dreamland where he
once encountered an "airhostess" on the plane of life
like Keats’ La Bella Dame Sans Merci. This deceit leads
the poet to "Nautanki (force)," a satire on the
present-day leaders. He states, "Jadon koi panj karar pa
ke jhuth bolda/ jadon koi tasbi te baith makaar tolda/ Jadon koi
kanna’ch janeu lapet ast bolda... tan lagda/ Babe Nanak nu
pathar mare gaye hon". (When someone with five symbols
of the Sikh faith tells blatant lies and another practises
hypocrisy while saying the rosary or utters falsehoods wearing
the sacred thread, I feel as if Baba Nanak has been cruelly
stoned.)
Bir is more
concerned about the bona fide of the seasonal poets who proclaim
criminals to be crusaders and murderers to be heroes in their
panegyric verses. At such times he feels as if Muse has been
raped. Many poems in this collection expose the dishonesty and
deceit by the people at the helm of affairs in our society. The
poet in the end implores one and all to go back to nature. He
passionately appeals for an escape from the jungle of
metropolitan life to the resplendent jungle of Mother Nature.
B.S. Bir is a conscious poet with a genuine concern for the
regeneration of our socio-political system.
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NABHA
was once made famous by Bhai Kahan Singh, the compiler of Gurushabd
Ratnakar Mahan Kosh (encyclopaedia of Sikh literature). Now the
efforts of another Nabha-based family, led by B.S. Bir, might retain
this town on the literary map of Punjab.
