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Koee Ek Kona and
Sesh Ko Mat Dekho
Koee Ek Kona is a collection of 18 short stories beginning with Bookh, which is as much about hunger as it is about the yearning of an orphan for motherly love. The stories narrate episodes that spin yarns about relationships depicting selfishness, egoism and contradictions in mankind. Some characters gradually learn how to compromise and adjust with situations that are beyond their control, like Samira, while others, like the ‘Daily Passenger’ grudgingly submit themselves to them. Kirchein is perhaps the best of the lot and most convincing. The evolution of the characters and situations in it is realistic and the end brings out the hollowness of human assertions. While his Daud belongs to a different genre, there are a number of stories like Tootne Se Judne Tak, Gullak and Barf that appear to be examining human relationships and emotions with a rather inadequate understanding of psychology and therefore leave the reader rather dissatisfied. Perhaps Nijhawan believes that since life is a series of stops, a storywriter has the liberty to create stories which are to a degree half baked. Nijhawan is at his best when he is simply narrating situations and incidents, but when he attempts to delve deep into the complexities of human mind, he not only becomes unconvincing but also a dealer of amateurish explanations. Thus, Meindhaki becomes a surrealist depiction of a situation that gets repeated through the generations, but Nirnaya Se Pehle is weak as both the characters and the situation are too artificial to be convincing. Nijhawan also uses phrases that are jarring. They take away much from his simple style which otherwise instantly succeeds in establishing a rapport with the reader.
Sesh Ko Mat Dekho is the latest collection of Nijhawan’s poems and is a curious mixture of poems that hold out hope and optimism as well as depict the frustration of experiencing a hollow life. Nature and its lessons to mankind too are never far away from the consciousness of the poet and juxtaposed with them is the desperate need for searching meaning and joy in life. Hawa Roshni Nahin Hai and Chalo, Hawaoein Se Baatein Karein effectively draws the picture of the tranquil movement of the wind and then goes on to contrast it with the turmoil that human life can create. His Mutthibhar Sukh simultaneously brings out pathos and hope that are so integral to human life that often it becomes difficult to distinguish the domain of one from the other. Nijhawan is one of those rare poets of the region in whose poetry ‘cotton’ finds a prominent place. Few poets have drawn upon cotton to portray happiness and even fewer city-bred artists have given it space in a region where it plays a vital role in socio-economic environment. |
V
Perhaps Nijhawan is a much
better poet than a storywriter. As a storywriter he is at times guilty
of making ordinary situations too complex for the reader and at others
the turn of his phrases becomes taxing, to say the least. But when free
of the necessity to write long sentences and passages, he is convincing
with his diction as well as the message.